First published in 1985, this book aims to develop an approach to speech acts that has the virtue of being straight-forward, explicit, formal and flexible enough to accommodate many of the more general problems of interactive verbal communication. The first chapter introduces situation semantics with the second addressing the assumptions implied by the problem of representing speaker intentionality. The third chapter presents a streamlined theory of speech acts and the fourth tests the predictions of the theory in several hypothetical discourse situations. A summary and suggestions for further research is provided in chapter five, and appendices facilitate reference to key concepts.

Preface; Acknowledgments; List of Figures; Chapter 1 Situations and Speech Acts 1.0. Introduction 1. Situations and Situation-Types 1.2 Discourse Situations 1.3 Speech Acts 1.4 Desiderata for a theory of Speech Acts; Chapter 2 Speech Acts Types 2.0. Introduction 2.1. Effect and Intentionality 2.2. Moves in Discourse Situations 2.3. Some Speech Act Types; Chapter 3 A Theory of Speech Act Interpretation 3.0. Introduction 3.1. Interpretive Constituents 3.2. Illocutionary Mode functions 3.3 Reconciliation with Context 3.4. Matching Types and Implementing Choices; Chapter 4 Speech Acts, Meaning, and Truth 4.0. Introduction 4.1. Orientation in the World 4.2. Assertion and Truth 4.3. Questions and Responses 4.4. Lies; Chapter 5 Summary and Evaluation 5.0. Introduction 5.1. The Thesis Summarized 5.2. The thesis Evaluated 5.3. Directions for Future Research; Notes; Bibliography; Appendix A; Definitions of Concepts; Appendix B: The Speech Act Types; Appendix C: The Formal Apparatus