Speech Acts and Space(s): Language Pragmatics and the Discursive Constitution of the Social

Abstract

By referring to language-pragmatic versions of action theory, I attempt in this paper to introduce a perspective which overcomes a series of modernistic legacies of earlier action theories in human geography. Such a development allows a nonessentialist stance while preserving the conceptual richness and consistency of action theory. The concept of speech acts will be interpreted as a blueprint for the analysis of interactions in general—not only human communications but also those involving nonhuman entities and physical conditions—and is a perspective that is particularly attractive for human geography. However, one of the consequences is that the notion of space and its role for the identity of the discipline need to be reconsidered.