Entry #4 - Speech Acts

Video Summary:

British Linguist J.L. Austin coined the term "Speech acts" in 1962. He established the difference between a statement that describes, from one that commands. Austin defined this distinction as two separate parts of speech. So, he divided words into two categories: constatives: words that describe a situation and performatives: words that denote an action. In other words, a constative "is" and a performative "does". 

“To say something is to do something” (J.L. Austin)