Expressivity and Speech Acts

Abstract The study of verbal expressions through which speakers convey attitudes, feelings, or emotions toward people, objects, or situations can be approached from various perspectives. This chapter examines pejoratives and amelioratives, particularly slurs, through the lens of speech act theory, emphasizing the importance of illocutionary and perlocutionary dimensions in understanding these expressions. It engages with existing scholarship that views such terms as inherently expressive acts, advancing a theory that more explicitly frames pejoratives and amelioratives as linguistic tools for performing expressive speech acts. This approach addresses common critiques of expressivism and provides a framework applicable to any expression conveying a speaker’s positive or negative attitudes. The chapter also explores alternative perspectives within speech act theory that do not categorize pejoratives as inherently expressive.