Promises, threats, and the foundations of speech act theory
Antonio Blanco Salgueiro · Pragmatics Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) · 2015
I suggest that promises and threats are similar speech acts and pose analogous problems for Speech Act Theory. After showing that they share the same formal types, I argue against there being purportedly fundamental differences between them in regard to explicitability, deontics, and illocution/perlocution. I conclude that the joint analysis of promises and threats suggests the propriety of a holistic theory of illocutionary acts.