Speech acts

A British Linguist, J. L. Austin, defines the distinction between a statement that describes and another one that commands as two separarate parts of speech. On the one hand, constantives are sentences that describe something as true or flase; they "are". False constantives occur when the information has proven to be incorrect. On the other hand, performatives are sentences that denote an action; they "do".They are meant to inspire actions, such as recylcling, they act upon the world. Sometimes words themselves are actions, this is what is known as speech acts. These actions include ordering, promising, apologising,warning, sentencing, marrying. However, performatives depend on the context and reception, these are known as felicity conditions. They are the rules under which the performative can be enacted. These conditions are fairly logical, and the performative should: have a proper authority, be understood, be clear, be able to be executed. Just because a performative meets the felicity conditions and is clearly stated, it does not mean it is implicititly followed.