According to Austin (1962), Speech acts can be analysed on three levels:
1. A locutionary act, the performance of an utterance: the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning,
comprising phonetic, phatic and rhetic acts corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of
any meaningful utterance;
2. An illocutionary act: the pragmatic 'illocutionary force' of the utterance, thus its intended significance as a
socially valid verbal action;
3. And in certain cases a further perlocutionary act: its actual effect, such as persuading, convincing, scaring,
enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something, whether intended or not.
To give a simple and conclusive definition, Speech-act theory has 3 integrate parts:
1. Locutionary act: the utterance of a sentence.
2. Illocutionary act: the very act of the sentence.
3. Perlocutionary act: the effects or consequences of the sentence.