Linguistic action theories of communication (original) (raw)

Early work on the philosophy of language was unconcerned with language as a tool for communication: the pioneers of 'ideal' language philosophy were interested in how insights from logical languages might be applied to the study of 'language' in a very general sense. This chapter traces the development of a less formalized approach to meaning and communication based around linguistic action. It discusses Austin's speech act theory and Grice's theories of conversation and meaning and shows how this work laid the foundations not only for a more action-oriented account of communication but also a more psychological view of pragmatics.