ABSTRACT
Many communication theorists have assumed that the relationship between messages and goals is relatively simple: A communicative task is defined by a specific objective or set of objectives, and for any task there is one general sort of message that is employed to do the job—it is the action that “counts as” getting the job done. Something like this image of message design can be found, for example, in analyses of communication based on speech-act theory (e.g., Bach and Harnish, 1972; Searle, 1972).
