Page 491 - Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Language

<form> (description)
(preparatory condition)
<illocutionary intention)
?[jO]
S asks H about a hypothetical world in which O.
S has reason to believe that H can or might be able to respond appro- priately to what is asked in the utter- ance but wishes to appear tentative and not impositive.
S reflexively intends the utterance to betakenasaskingHaboutOinsome hypothetical world.
He spends his money how he pleases. (lOc) It's better than we expected. (10d) AlthoughhewasverytiredHarrydrovemehome (lOe) fearing I'd be mugged.
Some adverbial clauses share but also modify the pri- mary illocution of the main clause; for example, To be frank/honest/serious I don't promise to come, but I'll try to do so: here S is speaking frankly, honestly, or seriously and not 'notpromising' frankly, etc. Exclamatory codas like the tags in So I'ma klutz, am I?! or The checkbook wasn 't in your pocket, wasn 't it?! emphasize the irony but do not otherwise alter the nonliteral illocutionary intention. VP complement clauses also share the primary illocution of the main clause, but occasionally contribute to the illocutionary force of the utterance; for example, / say I promise to visit tomorrow (you deaf old coot) can be used to (re)make a promise.
Coordinate, conjoined, and appositive clauses of the same type share the primary illocution of the first clause in sequence: / admit responsibility for the fin- ancial loss and hereby resign from the board has the primary illocution of a statement and the compound illocutionary points of an admission and a resignation. Come in but don't stay long has the primary illocution of the imperative but compounds an invitation with a prohibition. I forbid you to go to the pinballparlour; you can go to a movie, though states first a prohibition and then permission. Suzy, who loves cats, would never torture one states information within a denial.
Alternatively, coordinate, conjoined, and apposi- tive clauses may have different primary and indirect illocutions which will carry through to the compound or complex illocutionary point of U. In If I were to take out a loan, how much interest will I have to pay? or How much interest will I have to pay if I take out a loan? the subjunctive protasis identifies a hypothetical world in which S takes out a loan; but the main point of the utterance is the question in the apodosis. Smoke, and you 'II get cancer uses an imperative telling H to smoke, conjoining it with a statement of the conse- quence of doing so—together they are intended to function as a warning not to smoke. Befrank/Tell me
frankly, what do you think? presents an imperative invitation for H to be frank in responding to the request for information (the same effect is achieved when the clause sequence is reversed: What do you think? Be frank). In I met Ted—Did you know he div- orcedMonica,bytheway?—lastnightattheclub..., the interrogative expressing a yes-no question is located as an appositive clause within the stating of a report.
A positive imperative may take a negative inter- rogative tag and together they mean'S proposes to H that H do A unless H does not want to agree to do A'; e.g., Sit down,/won't you-. This is typically an
The primary illocutions fall into four classes cor- responding to Searle's (1975a) notion 'direction of fit':
Declaratives show a words-to-world fit: the words match the way the world was or is or will be.
Requests and imperatives both show a world-to-words fit: things are to happen in the world to make it match the prepositional content. They differ because Sexpressly gives H the option not to comply when using a request; whereas with imperatives, S expressly gives H no option but to comply.
For expressives, direction of fit is irrelevant. Subjunctives fit the words to a hypothetical world. Interrogative subjunctives seek to fit the actual world to a
hypothetical world: things are to happen in the actual world to make it match the words that describe the hypothetical world.
The recognition of clause type identifies the primary (or initial) illocution in U, but not S's illocutionary point. For instance, depending on tone of voice and the context of utterance, (1) could have various illo- cutionary points: it could be a comment, a warning, scorn, a challenge, etc. Canyou open the window?could be a question about the openability of the window, about H's ability to open the window, or a request to have the window opened. In order to determine which of these is meant, H will begin from the primary illo- cution and draw inferences from S's tone of voice and the context of utterance, knowledge of conversational conventions, and often general knowledge, until s/he is satisfied that S's message has been understood. An inferential process of this nature is described in Searle (1975b), Bach and Harnish (1977), and Allan (1986).
Many sentences contain more than one clause. Clauses that occur within the structure of noun phrases share the primary illocution of their governing clause and contribute nothing to the illocutionary force of U. Examples are the restrictive relative clauses underlined in (8), the NP complement in (9), and the adverbial adjunct clauses in (10):
The plums Joe bought got squashed on the journey home. (8a)
Here's the anthology in which Edith's poem is published. (SB)
It's a pity that Eric missed the early train. When he arrives, call me.
Will you go wherever he does?
(9) (10a) (10b)
Speech Acts andGrammar
469