ABSTRACT
A linguistic act, or speech act, is an intentional, meaningful act performed with an expression or expressions. Even though the word ‘speech’ suggests saying something out loud, I use the two expressions ‘speech act’ and ‘linguistic act’ interchangeably for acts performed with expressions, whether they are out loud, in writing, or ‘in one’s head’. Both speakers/writers and their audiences (when they understand the speakers/writers) perform linguistic acts.
