linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...

, an utterance is ''felicitous'' if it is pragmatically well-formed. An utterance can be infelicitous because it is self-contradictory, trivial, irrelevant, or because it is somehow inappropriate for the context of utterance. Researchers in

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

and pragmatics use felicity judgments much as syntacticians use

grammaticality In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to form ...

judgments. An infelicitous sentence is marked with the

pound sign The pound sign is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England. The same symbol is used for other currencies called pound, such as the Gibralta ...

. The terms ''felicitous'' and ''infelicitous'' were first proposed by

J. L. Austin John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointed out that we u ...

as part of his theory of

speech acts Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

. In his thinking, a

performative utterance In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the social reality they are describing. In a 1955 lecture series, later published as ''How to Do ...

is neither true nor false, but can instead be deemed felicitous or infelicitous according to a set of conditions whose interpretation differs depending on whether the

utterance In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, often beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of oral languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written langu ...

in question is a declaration ("I sentence you to death"), a request ("I ask that you stop doing that") or a warning ("I warn you not to jump off the roof").

Felicity conditions for declarations

* ''Conventionality of procedure'': the procedure (e.g. an

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...

) follows its conventional form * ''Appropriate participants and circumstances'': the participants are able to perform a felicitous speech act under the circumstances (e.g. a judge can sentence a criminal in court, but not on the street) * ''Complete execution'': the speaker completes the speech act without errors or interruptions

Felicity conditions for requests

* ''Propositional content condition'': the requested act is a future act of the hearer * ''Preparatory precondition'': 1) the speaker believes the hearer can perform the requested act; 2) it is not obvious that the hearer would perform the requested act without being asked * ''Sincerity condition'': the speaker genuinely wants the hearer to perform the requested act * ''Essential condition'': the utterance counts as an attempt by the speaker to have the hearer do an act

Felicity conditions for warnings

* ''Propositional content condition'': it is a future event * ''Preparatory precondition'': 1) the speaker believes the event will occur and be detrimental to the hearer; 2) the speaker believes that it is not obvious to the hearer that the event will occur * ''Sincerity condition'': the speaker genuinely believes that the event will be detrimental to the hearer * ''Essential condition'': the utterance counts as an attempt by the speaker to have the hearer recognize that a future event will be detrimental

References

* Austin, J. L. (1962) ''

How to Do Things With Words John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointed out that we use l ...

''. Oxford University Press. * Searle, J. R. (1969) ''Speech acts''. Cambridge University Press. {{Formal semantics Pragmatics Semantics Linguistics Philosophy of language

Felicity conditions for declarations

Felicity conditions for requests

Felicity conditions for warnings

See also

References