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3.6. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts A direct speech act is one whose proposition is clearly represented in the utterance and understood by the addressee. For instance,
the statement 15.4. Please put on the fan.
Is a direct speech act because it is clearly seen as a request that the addressee do something –
put on the fan. Some speech acts are not this direct in their proposition, yet the addressee will still through inference and implicature understand the intention of the speaker. For example, the statement
15.5. It’s hot inhere. May bean indirect counterpart of 15.4. The addressee will by inference understand that being hot is uncomfortable. So the addressee will recognize the utterance as an indirect speech act that is making a request of him to put on the fan. Even though
the utterance is a statement, its function is that of a command. It is also possible for the speaker to accomplish his intention by using the utterance
15.6. Do we have to stay in this heat all day which is a question, but still achieving the same purpose of indirectly requesting the addressee to put on the fan. The addressee would not have understood the speaker’s intention if he/she had taken 15.4 as a mere statement
of factor as a Polar or Yes/No question.
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