Speech-Act Theory

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny”

A few days ago I mentioned the lecture series, Way with Words, that I’ve been listening to during my commute. Today I’ll stretch the meaning of “preparedness” to include public speaking and list some of the interesting things I’ve learned.

Speech-Act Theory
Sometimes words are just words (You’re married!?) and sometimes words change the world (I now pronounce you man and wife). The difference is called non-performative vs performative speech. The difference in wording may be very slight, “I think the Yankees will lose” (an opinion) vs “I bet you the Yankees will lose” (an action). Sometimes the distinction is blurry, misunderstood or deliberately abused. King Henry II once said, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest” (i.e. Thomas Beckett). Henry's statement might have been a rhetorical question but, being the words of a King, his knights took this as a command and beheaded Beckett. A President might abuse this by saying, “If only Castro were dead” (opinion or command?) and then disclaim responsibility when the CIA tries to assassinate Castro.

I bet you’ve experienced the situation where someone misinterprets your words. “That’s not what I said!” or “That’s not what I meant!” Speech-Act breaks communication into three parts:

Locutionary – what you said
Illocutionary – what you are alluding to, the message your listener hears
Perlocutionary – what you hope to persuade your listener to do

Suppose you say, “There is a large rock on my foot!”

Locutionary – stating a fact (rock on foot)
Illocutionary – I’m uncomfortable, this hurts
Perlocutionary – Please move this rock off my foot.

Communication can break down when we pack our words with a lot of implied meaning and the Locutionary is very different from the Perlocutionary. When a parent says, “go to bed”, this is short hand for “brush your teeth, put on PJs, and go to sleep.” If the child jumps into bed fully clothed and reads a book they are following the Locutionary (literal meaning) while ignoring the Illocutionary and implied Perlocutionary.

Bottom Line

In emergency situations it is critical to say exactly what you mean and not assume that people will fill in any blanks. An example of this is, “Someone call 9-1-1!” People standing around understand your intent but most are unlikely or unwilling to apply it to themselves and make the call. The correct thing to do is point to a person at the scene and say, “You. Call 9-1-1!” Now the required action and actor are very clear – the words and the action match. The selected person might object in which case you pick another person until one agrees to make the call.