ABSTRACT
An illocutionary act is an act which a speaker performs in saying something. It can characteristically be made explicit by the use of a performative verb formula. For example, if a speaker says, ‘I’ll be there’ and it is unclear whether it is a promise that has been made the speaker can make it explicit by saying ‘I promise that I’ll be there.’ Many types of illocutionary acts can be attributed to speakers by ascribing to them sentences which contain ‘that’-clauses which specify the content of the illocutionary act which the speaker performed. 1 To revert to our example above, we can say about our speaker that she promised that she would be there. In so saying we attribute to the speaker the act of promising by ascribing to her the sentence ‘She promised that she would be there’ which contains the content clause ‘that she would be there’.
