The Directive-Commissive Continuum
Traditional and contemporary accounts of speech acts (Serale 1969, 1979, Wierzbicka 1987) display a great deal of variation regarding the categorisation of the acts of threatening, inviting, and offering as either directive or commissive. Given that these three illocutionary types include both direc...
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| Language: | Spanish |
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Universidad de Zaragoza: Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana
2001
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| author | Pérez Hernández, Lorena |
| author_browse | Pérez Hernández, Lorena |
| author_facet | Pérez Hernández, Lorena |
| author_sort | Pérez Hernández, Lorena |
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| description | Traditional and contemporary accounts of speech acts (Serale 1969, 1979, Wierzbicka 1987) display a great deal of variation regarding the categorisation of the acts of
threatening, inviting, and offering as either directive or commissive. Given that these three illocutionary types include both directive and commissive features, some speech act theorists, like Bach and Harnish (1979) and Hancher (1979), have postulated the existence of a borderline category of directive-commissive acts, whose members are equally directive and commissive. My aim in this paper is twofold. First, I provide arguments supporting the claim that, in contrast to Bach and Harnish's and Hancher's predictions, the illocutionary force of threats, invitations, and offers is not directive and commissive in equal proportions. Second, I argue that it is not necessary to posit the existence of a new ad hoc category of directive-commissive speech acts. In the light of cognitive linguistics and prototype theory, the three illocutionary types under consideration can be accommodated as just borderline cases which occupy different intermediate and commissive illocutions. |
| first_indexed | 2026-10-16T13:24:02Z |
| format | Article |
| fullrecord | <oai_dc:dc xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"><identifier>dialnet-ART0000007710</identifier><datestamp>2026-10-06</datestamp><dc:title>The Directive-Commissive Continuum</dc:title><dc:creator>Pérez Hernández, Lorena</dc:creator><dc:subject>Speech acts</dc:subject><dc:subject>directive acts</dc:subject><dc:subject>commissive acts</dc:subject><dc:subject>cognitivism linguistics</dc:subject><dc:subject>prototype theory</dc:subject><dc:description>Traditional and contemporary accounts of speech acts (Serale 1969, 1979, Wierzbicka 1987) display a great deal of variation regarding the categorisation of the acts of
threatening, inviting, and offering as either directive or commissive. Given that these three illocutionary types include both directive and commissive features, some speech act theorists, like Bach and Harnish (1979) and Hancher (1979), have postulated the existence of a borderline category of directive-commissive acts, whose members are equally directive and commissive. My aim in this paper is twofold. First, I provide arguments supporting the claim that, in contrast to Bach and Harnish's and Hancher's predictions, the illocutionary force of threats, invitations, and offers is not directive and commissive in equal proportions. Second, I argue that it is not necessary to posit the existence of a new ad hoc category of directive-commissive speech acts. In the light of cognitive linguistics and prototype theory, the three illocutionary types under consideration can be accommodated as just borderline cases which occupy different intermediate and commissive illocutions.</dc:description><dc:publisher>Universidad de Zaragoza: Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana</dc:publisher><dc:date>2001</dc:date><dc:type>text (article)</dc:type><dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format><dc:identifier>https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=253871</dc:identifier><dc:identifier>(Revista) ISSN 1137-6368</dc:identifier><dc:identifier>(Revista) ISSN 2386-4834</dc:identifier><dc:source>Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies, ISSN 2386-4834, Nº 23, 2001 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Language and Lingüistics), pags. 77-98</dc:source><dc:language>spa</dc:language><dc:rights>LICENCIA DE USO: Los documentos a texto completo incluidos en Dialnet son de acceso libre y propiedad de sus autores y/o editores. Por tanto, cualquier acto de reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública y/o transformación total o parcial requiere el consentimiento expreso y escrito de aquéllos. Cualquier enlace al texto completo de estos documentos deberá hacerse a través de la URL oficial de éstos en Dialnet. Más información: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS STATEMENT: Full text documents hosted by Dialnet are protected by copyright and/or related rights. This digital object is accessible without charge, but its use is subject to the licensing conditions set by its authors or editors. Unless expressly stated otherwise in the licensing conditions, you are free to linking, browsing, printing and making a copy for your own personal purposes. All other acts of reproduction and communication to the public are subject to the licensing conditions expressed by editors and authors and require consent from them. Any link to this document should be made using its official URL in Dialnet. More info: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI</dc:rights></oai_dc:dc> |
| id | dialnet-ART0000007710 |
| institution | Dialnet |
| language | spa |
| last_indexed | 2026-10-16T13:24:02Z |
| publishDate | 2001 |
| publishDateRange | 2001 |
| publishDateSort | 2001 |
| publisher | Universidad de Zaragoza: Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana |
| publisherStr | Universidad de Zaragoza: Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana |
| record_format | oai_dc |
| spelling | dialnet-ART00000077102026-10-06The Directive-Commissive ContinuumPérez Hernández, LorenaSpeech actsdirective actscommissive actscognitivism linguisticsprototype theoryTraditional and contemporary accounts of speech acts (Serale 1969, 1979, Wierzbicka 1987) display a great deal of variation regarding the categorisation of the acts of threatening, inviting, and offering as either directive or commissive. Given that these three illocutionary types include both directive and commissive features, some speech act theorists, like Bach and Harnish (1979) and Hancher (1979), have postulated the existence of a borderline category of directive-commissive acts, whose members are equally directive and commissive. My aim in this paper is twofold. First, I provide arguments supporting the claim that, in contrast to Bach and Harnish's and Hancher's predictions, the illocutionary force of threats, invitations, and offers is not directive and commissive in equal proportions. Second, I argue that it is not necessary to posit the existence of a new ad hoc category of directive-commissive speech acts. In the light of cognitive linguistics and prototype theory, the three illocutionary types under consideration can be accommodated as just borderline cases which occupy different intermediate and commissive illocutions.Universidad de Zaragoza: Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana2001text (article)application/pdfhttps://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=253871(Revista) ISSN 1137-6368(Revista) ISSN 2386-4834Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies, ISSN 2386-4834, Nº 23, 2001 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Language and Lingüistics), pags. 77-98spaLICENCIA DE USO: Los documentos a texto completo incluidos en Dialnet son de acceso libre y propiedad de sus autores y/o editores. Por tanto, cualquier acto de reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública y/o transformación total o parcial requiere el consentimiento expreso y escrito de aquéllos. Cualquier enlace al texto completo de estos documentos deberá hacerse a través de la URL oficial de éstos en Dialnet. Más información: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS STATEMENT: Full text documents hosted by Dialnet are protected by copyright and/or related rights. This digital object is accessible without charge, but its use is subject to the licensing conditions set by its authors or editors. Unless expressly stated otherwise in the licensing conditions, you are free to linking, browsing, printing and making a copy for your own personal purposes. All other acts of reproduction and communication to the public are subject to the licensing conditions expressed by editors and authors and require consent from them. Any link to this document should be made using its official URL in Dialnet. More info: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI |
| spellingShingle | Speech acts directive acts commissive acts cognitivism linguistics prototype theory Pérez Hernández, Lorena The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title | The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title_full | The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title_fullStr | The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title_short | The Directive-Commissive Continuum |
| title_sort | directive commissive continuum |
| topic | Speech acts directive acts commissive acts cognitivism linguistics prototype theory |
| url | https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=253871 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT perezhernandezlorena thedirectivecommissivecontinuum AT perezhernandezlorena directivecommissivecontinuum |