ABSTRACT
Every utterance adopts a stance of some kind in relation to its recipient. The most obvious kind of action performed by utterances is that of ‘stating’ or ‘informing’. It is pre-eminently this kind of action that is performed, for example, by railway station announce ments of the type, ‘The train arriving on platform one is the eight twenty-five to London Paddington. A buffet car may be found in the middle of the train.’ But this is clearly not the only kind of action undertaken by utterances. Take, for example, everyday random bits of verbal communication such as the following:
‘Please lower your head when leaving your seat.’
