[[J.L. Austin]], also known as [[John Langshaw Austin]], was a British philosopher and linguist who developed the speech act theory. He was born on March 28, 1911, in Lancaster, England, and passed away on February 8, 1960, in Oxford, England. Austin's work on speech acts revolutionized the study of language and communication. He argued that when people use language, they do more than just communicate information; they perform actions through their speech. Austin believed that understanding how language functions to perform these actions is essential for a comprehensive understanding of human communication. One of Austin's most influential works is his book "[[@AUSTINHowThings|How to Do Things with Words]]," published posthumously in 1962. In this book, he introduced the concept of speech acts and identified three types: [[locutionary]] acts (the act of saying something), [[illocutionary]] acts (the act performed by saying something), and [[perlocutionary]] acts (the effect or impact achieved by saying something). Austin emphasized that the meaning of an utterance goes beyond its literal or descriptive content. He argued that context plays a crucial role in interpreting an utterance's meaning by considering factors such as the speaker's intentions and the social norms governing language use. Furthermore, Austin introduced several important concepts within speech act theory. He discussed performative utterances – where an utterance itself performs an action – such as "I promise," "I apologize," or "I declare." He also explored felicity conditions, which are the necessary conditions for a successful performance of a particular speech act. Austin's work had a significant influence on various fields such as linguistics, philosophy of language, pragmatics, sociology of language, and communication studies. His ideas paved the way for later developments in these areas and continue to shape our understanding of how language is used to perform actions in everyday life. Overall, J.L. Austin made substantial contributions to the study of language and communication through his development of the speech act theory, providing a framework for understanding the complex ways in which people use language to perform actions. # References ```dataview Table title as Title, authors as Authors where contains(authors, "J.L. Austin") or contains(authors, "J. L. Austin") or contains(authors, "John Langshaw Austin") ```