felicity conditions
Speech act prerequisites
Felicity conditions are the circumstances that must be met for a speech act to succeed.
A promise requires the speaker to intend fulfillment; a command requires authority over the listener; a bet requires both parties to accept the stakes.
When conditions aren't met, the act misfires: I now pronounce you married fails if the speaker lacks legal authority.
The term comes from speech act theory in philosophy of language.
- appropriatenessQuality of being suitable
- contextCircumstances shaping meaning
- presuppositionImplicit prior assumption
- uptakeAbsorption or understanding
- illocutionary forceCommunicative purpose of utterance
Austin · meaning · sincerity · preparatory · essential · intentionality · reference · turn-taking · hearer · propositional · social rituals · declaration · etiquette · request · authority · promise · binding · speaker
- pragmaticspresupposition, context, inference, locution, pragmatics
- speech actsspeaking, talking, uttering, pronouncement, locution
type of linguistic constraint
felicity conditionsgrammatical rules
Standards governing correct sentences