言語行為理論(speech act theory)是由英國哲學家約翰·奧斯丁於1962年#註1提出。這個理論認為,我們日常的對話可以分為六種話語區類型:
- 命令
- 要求
- 祝願 / 致歉
- 詢問 / 祈使
- 邀請
- 感歎
利用這種分類,有利於學習,而這種好處並不單單局限於第二語言的學習。
香港作家畢華流先生曾就這個理論,在他的作品《頑皮教室》裏用「下課了」這三個字來「說明」:在不同的場合下,同一句句子可以有不同的意思,並符合上述的六種話語分類。
- 透過說,「小心!地滑」,瑪莉做出提醒彼得要當心的言語行為。
- 透過說,「我會盡我所能,在家裏吃晚飯。」,彼得做出承諾在家裏吃晚飯的言語行為。
- 透過說,「各位先生女士,請您們留心喔!」,瑪莉請求聽眾安靜。
- 透過說,「和我比一下!目的地是那座建築物。」,彼得向瑪莉下戰書。
- 約翰·奧斯丁: How to Do Things With Words. Cambridge (Mass.) 1962 - Paperback: Harvard University Press, 2nd edition, 2005, ISBN 0-674-41152-8.
- William P. Alston: 'Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning'. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2000, ISBN 0-8014-3669-9.
- Doerge, Friedrich Christoph. Illocutionary Acts - Austin's Account and What Searle Made Out of It. . Tuebingen 2006.
- Dorschel, Andreas, 'What is it to understand a directive speech act?', in: Australasian Journal of Philosophy LXVII (1989), nr. 3, pp. 319-340.
- 約翰·羅傑斯·希爾勒, Speech Acts, Cambridge University Press 1969, ISBN 0-521-09626-X..
- 約翰·羅傑斯·希爾勒, "Indirect speech acts." In Syntax and Semantics, 3: Speech Acts, ed. P. Cole & J. L. Morgan, pp. 59–82. New York: Academic Press. (1975). Reprinted in Pragmatics: A Reader, ed. S. Davis, pp. 265–277. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1991)
- Geo Siegwart, "Alethic Acts and Alethiological Reflection. An Outline of Constructive Philosophy of Truth." In Truth and Speech Acts: Studies in the philosophy of language, ed. D. Greimann & G. Siegwart, pp. 41–58. New York: Routledge. (2007)
- Winograd, T. & Flores, F., Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design, Ablex Publishing Corp, (Norwood), 1986. ISBN 0-89391-050-3.
- Birgit Erler: The speech act of forbidding and its realizations: A linguistic analysis. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2010, ISBN 978-3-639-23275-2.
- Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford: Illocutionary acts, Subordination, and Silencing (頁面存檔備份,存於互聯網檔案館) in Analysis, July 2009.
- Outi, Malmivuori; Zu Stand und Entwicklung der Sprechakttheorie. Zu Grundsätzen der Theorie des spachlichen Handelns. AkademikerVerlag. 2012. ISBN 978-3-639-44043-0