Myth of Speech Act as a Controlling Category in Pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

In this short article I point to the limitations of the theory of speech acts, perceived as the controlling element of pragmatic analysis. While admitting that the concept of speech act helps systematize and generalize the analysis at the level of a given, individual utterance, I indicate that such a potential is considerably weaker at the level of discourse. The reason for such a discrepancy is the relativity of the concept of intention expressed by speech act, which grows as the analysis moves upwards.

Keywords

• speech act theory
• austin
• micropragmatic level
• macropragmatic level