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SocioRhetoric · a catalogue of speech acts

A New Catalogue
of Speech Acts

Every utterance is a move, locatable on five axes at once. Set them side by side and most “communication breakdown” turns out to be a quarrel over coordinates two through five while both sides believe they are disputing the first.

I

The Five Dimensions

Tap a dimension to isolate its coordinate across the whole catalogue.

II

The Catalogue

III

The Locator

One sentence, two readings. Set what the speaker intends and what the hearer receives; the misfire is the mismatch.

“With respect, I think you're conflating two separate issues.”

BOTH AGREE ON COORDINATE 1: it is an assertion. The dispute lives in coordinates 2–5.

Speaker intends

Orientation · keyed to
Motive · whose interest
Scope · read as
Direction · targets

Hearer reads

Orientation · keyed to
Motive · whose interest
Scope · read as
Direction · targets

Where the two land

Resulting (mis)fire — the mismatch between them

IV

The Misfire Key

Felicity is not a property of the utterance but of the alignment of these coordinates between the parties. Most “communication breakdown” is a quarrel over coordinates two through five while both sides believe they are disputing the first.