CONSTATIVES AND PERFORMATIVES

Read the "J. L. Austin" section in Allan's article and build up definitions for the following terms (Always remember to follow "our" pattern for definitions! ):

CONSTATIVE
PERFORMATIVE
FELICITY CONDITIONS
ILLOCUTION
ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT

You'll see my feedback in blue.

Constative is the characteristic of a statement by which it can be consider either true or false.

I'm sorry but I don't agree with it being a characteristic.

A Performative is an utterance with no true communicative value which intends to perform a certain kind of action.

The first part of your definition looks a bit risky to me. The second part may be allright.

Illocution is the intention of a speaker/writer in performing a speech act.

Don't you think that it's not actually the intention but rather the level in which this intention manifests?

An Illocutionary Act is an utterance that names the act being performed by the verb.

Actually illocution and illocutionary act are rather close. We could conceive of the second as the successfully realized version of the first.

Illocutionary Force: it is an utterance's intention to perform an illocutionay act. How about something like: ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE is the feature in a speech act by which it evokes a possible human action in the real world through language.



Felicity Conditions are the characteristics needed for a performative speech act to be successfull.

OK, but the success relates to what?

The CONSTATIVE utterance is a statement that can be either true or false.

Good.

The PERFORMATIVE is a characteristic of an utterance that implies carrying out an action (or, in other words, as its name indicates implies performing an act) and, thus, it can not be true or false but successful or unsuccessful.

OK, but it's not a characteristic, rather, it's also an utterance.

The FELICITY CONDITIONS (preparatory, executive, sincerity and fulfillment conditions) are the four basic requirements that a performative utterance should fulfill to be considered ‘happy’ or ‘felicitous.’

OK, but what does it mean they are felicitous? (It's always advisable not to define a term with a derivation, i.e. felicity - felicitous)

ILLOCUTION is the underlying intention that is expressed in a speech act.

Is it an intention or a speech act level? And is the illocution expressed? What do you mean by "expressed"? Explicit?

The ILLOCUTIONARY ACT is the deed that the Subject performs when saying a contextualized Utterance to a Hearer.

I don't quite see why it is a "deed".

The ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE is the strength that carries/ underlies that Utterance.

I don't get it.

A constative is a statement that has the property of being true or false.

Good.

A performative is a statement that does not have truth value and that is only used to perform a particular action.

Weak. Revise how to build up proper definitions (avoid using derivations of the term to define).

Felicity Conditions are the necessary features that make any performative possible or successful.

Good

Illocution is the purpose or goal that is behind any speech act.

I'd revise the "Y" part of the definition.

Illocutionary Force is the strength or degree of effectiveness an utterance is said to have when a speaker makes an utterance to a hearer in context.

Revise language.

Illocutionary Act is what the speaker does when saying an utterance to a hearer in context.

Revise pattern for definitions

CONSTATIVE : is an utterance that can be true or false

ILLOCUTION : is the implicit intention of a speaker in producing a speech act.

FELICITY CONDITIONS: are the four characteristics that are required to consider an illocutionary act as " happy or felicitous" , ie, effective

ILLOCUTIONARY ACT : is what the speaker does when he says something to the hearer.

ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE : is the strenght with which an utterance is produced by a speaker.

PERFORMATIVE: it's an utterance done to carry out a certain action

Constative is the use of ordinary language to make utterances which have truth values.

Performative is the use of ordinary language to make utterances which do not have truth values. Instead, a performative utterance is used to perform an action.

Felicity conditions is the term used to refer to the situation under which a performative utterance is made. If all the relevant felicity conditions (preparatory, executive, sincerity, and fulfillment conditions) were satisfied for an illocutionay act, it is said to be “happy” or “felicious”.

Illocution is a component of the speech act which expresses the intention of the speaker / writer’s utterance, i.e. what is meant by the utterance.

Illocutionary force is the communicative significance a performative utterance has.

Illocutionary act is the function of the performative verb, eg: stating a fact, making a prediction / a promise / a request, etc.

A constative is a statement which may be true or false.

A performative is an utterance that performs a particular action when issued .

Felicity Conditions are the necessary conditions for a particular illocution to be successful.

Illocution is the aim of a speaker in making an utterance

The illocutionary Force is the intended force of a speaker’s utterance

Illocutionary Act is the attitude the speaker intends to express about a proposition

A constative is an utterance that can be either true or false.

A performative is a truth-value utterance that performs an action in itself.

Felicity conditions are the requirements that make a speech act effective in terms of its prerequisites, execution, sincerity and fulfilment.

An illocution is a speech act that signals the speaker's intention.

Illocutionary Force is the level of explicitness of the speaker's intention in a speech act.

An illocutionary act is the action carried out in an utterance that makes the speaker's intention explicit for the hearer in a context.

CONSTATIVES: they are sentences that have the property of being true or false. For example, a prayer is a sentence, but it cannot be assured that it is verifiable or erroneous.
PERFORMATIVES: they are sentences that are used to perform actions and may or may not take performative verbs. They are neither true nor false. For example: I apologise.
ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE: the illocutionary force of an utterance is the value it hass, i.e, how communicatively significant it is. For example: "I beg you not to do that" has the illocutionary force of imploring.
ILLOCUTION: illocution refers to any utterance, produced by a speaker or writer that intends to cause an effect on a listener or reader.
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT: it is the final act in the hierarchy of speaking that requires the presence of a performative verb which serves to name an action.
FELICITY CONDITIONS: they are characteristic of performatives. There are 4 kinds: -preparatory condition
-executive condition
-sincerity condition
-fulfilment condition.

CONSTATATIVE: A constatative statement has the property of being true or false
PERFORMATIVE: A performative statement can never be either true or false; it is only used to perform an action when it is uttered.
FELICITY CONDITIONS: They are all the necessary requeriments to make an utterance successful.
ILLOCUTION: It is the intention the speaker or writer has when producing an utterance to a hearer or reader.
ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE: It is the underlying power that the statement itself has, and that it is able to carry out an action even without a performative verb.
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT: It is the function of the performative verb, the speaker’s intention behind that verb when uttering a statement.

CONSTATIVE UTTERANCE: It is an utterance that has the property of being true or false. E.g.: A prayer.

PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE: It is an utterance used to perform an action. E.g.: I apologise, I welcome yo, etc.

FELICITY CONDITIONS: The conditions that make an utterance a happy contribution to the exchange. These may include quite sensitive aspects of the dynamics of the conversation, the relationships of the participants, and so on. An action may be infelicitous without being the saying of something false: it may be irrelevant, or ill-mannered, or baffling in its intent.

ILLOCUTION: The intention of a speaker/writer in saying/writing a particular thing.

ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE: An utterance involves not only the simple ‘locutionary’ act of producing a grammatical sentence, but also an ‘illocutionary force’ of effectiveness either as an affirmation or as a promise, a threat, a warning, a command, etc

ILLOCUTIONARY ACT: An utterance that accomplishes something in the act of speaking. The most explicit illocutionary acts are the performatives, which accomplish the very deed to which they refer, when uttered by authorized speakers in certain conditions: ‘I arrest you in the name of the law.’

Constative is an utterance that can be true or false
Performative is an utterance that is used to perform an action. It cannot be true or false.
Felicity conditions are certain requisites that performatives need to fulfill to be successful.
Illocution a locution that is produced by a spekaer with a certain purpose
Illocutionary force the specific function of an illocution
Illocutionary act[/b] the action that is performed by the speaker in the course of making an utterance

CONSTATTIVE: an utterance that conveys information and has truth values.
PERFORMATIVE: an utterance that is used to perform an action and does not communicate information.
ILLOCUTION: the intention of the speaker or writer’s utterance.
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT: the act that is performed as a result of the speaker making an utterance.
ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE: the underlying communicative purpose of an utterance, such as a statement, an offer, an explanation, depending on the context.
FELICITY CONDITIONS: certain expected or appropriate circumstances required for the performance of a speech act to be recognized as intended.

A performative is a neither true nor false utterance that performs an action in itself.

A constative is an utterance that can be either true or false.

Felicity conditions are the four necessary requirements which make a speech act effective in a given exchange.

An illocution is a speech act that signals the speaker's goal or purpose.

Illocutionary Force is the degree of manifest explicitness of the speaker's intention in a speech act.

An illocutionary act is the action performed by an utterance that consists both of the propositional content of this utterance (including references and a performative verb) and of a particular illocutionary force.

Constative: An utterance that has the property of being true or false.
Performative: An utterance that is used to perform an action.
Felicity conditions: The elements (preparatory, executive, sincerity, and fulfillment) of performatives that make an illocutionary act “felicious” or succesful.
Illocution: The intention that the speaker has in his speech act.
Illocutionay force: The truth value that makes a performative communicatively significant.
Illocutionary act: The function of the performative verb

A constative is an utterance that can be either true or false.
A performative is an utterance that is used to perform an action and can never be either true or false.
Felicity Conditions are a set of requirements that are needed for an illocutionary act to be effective.
The illocution is the intention that is manifested when uttering something.
The illocutionary force is the communicative purpose that accompanies the utterance.
The illocutionary act is the act that is accomplished when the speaker utters something to a hearer in a certain context.

A constative is an utterance which describes a state of affairs by asserting something that is either true or false.

A performative is an utterance that coincides with the action performed by uttering it. It may or may not contain a performative verb. Though the utterance can not be evaluated in terms of truth-falsehood, it can be judged as felicitous or infelicitous.

Felicity conditions are terms that must be fulfilled in order to determine the adequacy or satisfactory realization of a performative utterance. There are four kinds:
-preparatory condition
-excecutive condition
-sincerity condition
-fulfillment conditon.

Illocution is the underlying intention that is expressed in a speech act.

The illocutionary force of an utterance is the communicative purpose immersed in the illocutionary act performed. This force serves to define what a speaker utters as: denial, statement, and so on.

The illocutionary act is the final act in the hierarchy of speaking. Having a function in mind, the speaker actually does something (such as naming a child) by making an utterance to a hearer in a context.

Constative: is an utterance that has the property of being true or false (truth values).
Performative: is an utterance that is used to perform an action and that hasn't got the property of being true or false.
Felicity Conditions: are four requirements for a given illocutionary act. Once they are satisfied, the speech act can be described as "happy" or "felicitous".
Illocution: is the speech act level at which S expresses intention.
Illocutionary force: is the power that U is said to have (e.g. confirmation, a denial, a prediction, a promise, a request, etc.).
Illocutionary act: is the action S does in uttering U to H in context C. (e.g. states a fact or an opinion, confirms or denies sth, makes a prediction, a promise, a request, offers thanks or an invitation, etc.).

Please check feedback for the first three answers and crosscheck it with your own. Try to see if you can improve or confirm what you have thought out.