How to read Austin

Bibliographic Data

ID5847714
AuthorsMarina Sbisà (0000-0001-7387-9691, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume17
Issue3
Pages461-473
Publication date2015-02-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePragmatics Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1018-2101 • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/prag.17.3.06sbi
OpenAlexW2324456889
LanguageEN
Citations received37
References cited16

The goal of this paper is a reassessment of the contributions provided by John L. Austin's book "How to Do Things with Words" to pragmatics. It discusses some assumptions belonging to the received reading of the volume, as regards its aim and structure, the conceptions of illocution and of perlocution, and the alleged exclusion of "non-seriousness". Against the received reading, it is argued that "How to Do Things with Words" is structured as a proof by contradiction of the claim that all speech should be considered as action, that in illocution a major role is played by the conventionality of effects, that perlocution presupposes a conception of action as responsibility, and that Austin had reasons not to deal with "non-seriousness" in detail, albeit recognizing the issue as relevant to the study of the uses of language. In the conclusions, the tenets attributed to Austin are neither crtiticized nor defended, but an attempt is made to say what are their implications for research into language use and for philosophy

Contradiction · Seriousness · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies