Felicity Conditions in Speech Acts - Types of Felicity Conditions - Pragmatics - Speech Acts

𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘀 - 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 - 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 - 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘀

For a speech act to ‘work’, Austin argued that there are several conditions that must be met, and these conditions are termed as felicity conditions.

The propositional content condition requires that the locution must exhibit conventionally acceptable words for erecting the speech act. 

The preparatory condition requires that specific requirements are existing such as that the utterance is made by a person that has the authority to do the action and that the utterance is stated in appropriate circumstances with appropriate actions. If that condition is not met the act has not been carried out. 


The person performing the speech act must (in most circumstances) have the required thoughts, feelings, and intentions for the speech act to be ‘felicitous.

The essential condition requires that the speaker commits himself to the speech act and takes upon himself the responsibility of carrying out the act. (Renkema 1993, 23)


Austin argued that this procedure must be carried out correctly and completely. And the person performing the speech act must (in most circumstances) have the required thoughts, feelings, and intentions for the speech act to be ‘felicitous. That is, the communication must be carried out by the right person, in the right place, at the right time and, normally, with a certain intention or it will not ‘work’. If the first two of these conditions are not satisfied, the act will not be achieved and will ‘misfire’. If the third of these conditions does not hold, then the procedure will be ‘abused’.



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