Temporal and Aspectual Forms of Verbs in Proposition of Commissive Speech Acts: the Case of Promise, Swear and Bet

Konstantin Khomutskii

doi:10.17323/2411-7390-2016-2-4-39-45

Abstract

Numerous research on Speech Act Theory considers the pragmatic functions of various types of speech acts, their illocutionary forces and implementation in language, focusing either on their locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary constituents or on their taxonomies, whereas the analysis of semantic and syntactic properties of performative formula remains scarce. The present paper reports on the study of temporal perspective of commissive speech acts in the English language. Specifically, it examines temporal-aspectual forms in propositions of performative verbs of promise, swear and bet. The methodology to investigate temporal-aspectual features of verbs in proposition includes literature review and a continuous sampling method with the help of which the author analysed approximately 1,800 performative utterances containing commissive performative verbs. The results of research demonstrate that the set of temporal-aspectual forms as well as their frequency differ from one commissive under the study to another, while the syntactic structures of propositions is homogeneous. The study also established the correlation between the illocutionary force of commissive performative verbs and temporal-aspectual forms of verbs in proposition. The results of the study might have practical implications in teaching English as a foreign language in terms of grammar and sociocultural aspects.

Highlights

Numerous research on Speech Act Theory considers the pragmatic functions of various types of speech acts, their illocutionary forces and implementation in language, focusing either on their locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary constituents or on their taxonomies, whereas the analysis of semantic and syntactic properties of performative formula remains scarce
Temporalaspectual forms of verbs in proposition are discussed, and syntactic structures applied in propositions of commissive performative utterances are scrutinized
It has been explained on the examples of commissive speech acts that the illocutionary force alongside with semantic meaning of performative verb predetermines the use of temporal-aspectual forms of verbs in the Simple Sentence 70%

Summary

Introduction

Numerous research on Speech Act Theory considers the pragmatic functions of various types of speech acts, their illocutionary forces and implementation in language, focusing either on their locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary constituents or on their taxonomies, whereas the analysis of semantic and syntactic properties of performative formula remains scarce. The present paper reports on the study of temporal perspective of commissive speech acts in the English language. It examines temporal-aspectual forms in propositions of performative verbs of promise, swear and bet. The results of research demonstrate that the set of temporal-aspectual forms as well as their frequency differ from one commissive under the study to another, while the syntactic structures of propositions is homogeneous. The study established the correlation between the illocutionary force of commissive performative verbs and temporal-aspectual forms of verbs in proposition. These are examples of performative utterances which contain performative verbs – ‘promise’ and ‘swear’ respectively. Performative verbs combine the action itself and the description of that action, so the speech act is performed indirectly

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Conclusion