Análise das teorias dos atos de fala de Searle e de Austin: aspectos fundamentais do significado de um proferimento performativo.

Abstract

In this work, we intend to discuss about extralinguistic aspects of meaning in a context of utterances, specifically, by means of the Speech Acts Theories of John L. Austin and John R. Searle. The first chapter consists in the introduction of the subject-matter with the contextualization of the problem under Austin’s conception, pointing out issues that form the base of his speech act theories, such as appropriate circumstances, presupositions, entails and implies. In the chapter about Searle, we will present essential extralinguistic aspects, which underpin and serve as a base for the functioning of his speech acts theory, such as Intentionality and Background. After that, we will present his speech acts theory as a means of demonstrating the fundamental aspects of meaning in a speech context and we will contrast Searle and Austin’s conception of speech acts and some recent developments as well. In this work we defend some theses, they are (i) the context is a crucial aspect for the speech acts theories, when we aim to understand the linguistic relations in a speech situation; (ii) supporting contextualism leads us to defending extralinguistic aspects which are also fundamental in understanding meaning within theories of speech acts; (iii) the analysis of language in the speech acts theories is essential for us to understand the functioning of linguistic practices.