What is a direct illocution?

A direct illocution is an illocutionary act in which only the illocutionary force and propositional content literally expressed by the lexical items and syntactic form of the utterance are communicated.

• What is an illocutionary act?

Leech 1983 37–38

Searle and Vanderveken 1985 25

Searle 1979 30–32

Levinson 1983 274

Context for this page:

• Concept module: direct illocution
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): D
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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