In his seminal work , philosopher William P. Alston argues that the meaning of a sentence is fundamentally rooted in its illocutionary act potential . He defines an illocutionary act as the act of saying something with a specific "content," such as a request, an assertion, or a promise. The Core Theory: Sentence Meaning as Potential
Acts like stating, describing, or predicting that something is the case. Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning
The broader framework of speech-act theory, which Alston refines, identifies three distinct layers of an utterance: In his seminal work , philosopher William P
Acts that commit the speaker to future action, like promising or vowing. The Core Theory: Sentence Meaning as Potential Acts
'ing). When a speaker utters a sentence, they take responsibility for certain conditions being true (e.g., in a request to open a window, the speaker is responsible for the condition that the window is actually closed). Taxonomy of Speech Acts
A sentence like "It's locked" has a basic meaning because it is usable to perform the act of asserting that something is locked.