Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка. Тивьяева И.В. - 120 стр.

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In these expressions, the action that the sentence describes (nominating,

sentencing, promising) is performed by the sentence itself; the speech is the act it

effects (unlike in so-called constantives that only carry a piece of information). In

contrast, perlocutionary

speech acts cause actions that are not the same as the

speech.

Felicity conditions are conditions necessary to the success of a speech act.

They are conditions needed for success or achievement of a performative. Loosely

speaking, felicity conditions are of three kinds: preparatory conditions, conditions

for execution and sincerity conditions.

Preparatory conditions include the status or authority of the speaker to

perform the speech act, the situation of other parties and so on. Only certain people

are qualified to declare war, baptize people or sentence convicted felons.

The situation of the utterance is important. If the US President jokingly

“declares” war on another country in a private conversation, then the USA is not

really at war. This, of course, happened (on 11 August 1984), when Ronald

Reagan made some remarks off-air, as he thought, but which have been recorded

for posterity: “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed

legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

One hopes that this utterance also failed in terms of sincerity conditions.

Conditions for execution require that external circumstances must be

suitable. “Can you give me a lift?” requires that the hearer has a motor vehicle and

is able to drive it somewhere and that the speaker has a reason for the request.

Sincerity conditions show that the speaker must really intend what he or

she says. In the case of apologizing or promising, it may be impossible for others

to know how sincere the speaker is. Moreover sincerity, as a genuine intention

(now) is no assurance that the apologetic attitude will last, or that the promise will

be kept. There are some speech acts – such as plighting one’s troth or taking an

oath – where this sincerity is determined by the presence of witnesses.