Law & Liberty We are just coming off another summer of Pride here in the US, so let’s try out a thought experiment to assess where we are as a society. Imagine yourself in a crowded room with few exits. Everyone is chatting amicably when someone yells, “Fire!” What happens?
My guess is you expected people to start fleeing the room, or some other appropriate response to a fire. But let me ask the question slightly differently. When someone yells, “Fire!” what happens linguistically?
According to philosopher J. L. Austin’s speech-act theory in his influential book How to Do Things with Words, there are at least three things that happen in such a scenario: locution, illocution, and perlocution. In locution, there is a simple transfer of information: a fire is present. In illocution, the exclamation had some effect on the speaker: perhaps he or she became a hero in his or her own mind and began helping others to safety. In perlocution, some effect occurred in the minds of the listeners: they may have fled in terror or rushed to assist others. The exclamation of “Fire!” changed the status quo dramatically.
Read Full Article Here…(lawliberty.org)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
Live Stream + Chat (zutalk.com)
