contents

introduction .5

1. Language, speech acts and performatives .6

1.1. Explicit and implicit performatives .7

1.2. Felicity conditions .9

2. The locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts

.11

2.1. Locutionary acts .12

2.2. Illocutionary acts .13

2.3. Perlocutionary acts 17

3. Indirectness .17

3.1. The theory of implicature, the cooperative principle and maxims .18

4. Life x 3 21

4.1. Direct speech acts as a reaction to direct speech acts .22

4.2. Indirect speech as a reaction to direct speech acts 24

4.3. Direct speech as a reaction to indirect speech acts 27

4.4. Indirect speech as a reaction to indirect speech acts .30

4.5. Data evaluation .32

conclusion .34

bibliography .36

appendix 3