Article published In:
PragmaticsVol. 20:2 (2010) ► pp.213–228
Promises, threats, and the foundations of speech act theory
I suggest that promises and threats are similar speech acts and pose analogous problems for Speech Act Theory. After showing that they share the same formal types, I argue against there being purportedly fundamental differences between them in regard to explicitability, deontics, and illocution/perlocution. I conclude that the joint analysis of promises and threats suggests the propriety of a holistic theory of illocutionary acts.
Keywords: Speech Act Theory, Threats, Promises, Holism
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
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