Synopsis:
- Problems are expressed in sentences of the language, and they can be understood only after a meticulous analysis of the sentences
- The function of sentences is not so much to describe the state of the world as to cause an action
- "Performative" sentences (requests, promises, etc) are neither true nor false: they are meant to cause an action
- "Pragmatics" is the study of "speech acts"
- "Locutionary" act (the words employed to deliver the utterance)
- "Illocutionary" act (the type of action that it performs, such as warning, commanding, promising, asking)
- "Perlocutionary" act (the effect that the act has on the listener, such as believing or answering)
- All language is, ultimately, an illocutionary act
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