Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 5.1 (2009) / Special Issue on Speech Actions: 18 DOI 10.2478/v100160090004z   ∗ University of Łódź   β University of Zielona Góra THE MANY FACES OF SPEECH ACT THEORY – EDITORIAL TO SPECIAL ISSUE ON SPEECH ACTIONS Over the past decades speech act theory has evolved in many directions and, as a result, it may be more reasonable to talk about speech act theories than one received model. Most of the contemporary developments explicitly refer to John L. Austin and John Searle as their mentors. However, the (still growing) heritage has been used in a selective way and some of the newer approaches are not mutually compatible. What remains constant through all of them is the focus on language as a type (and means) of action and the underlying belief that communication is composed of linguistic acts. It is also important that these acts are not performed in isolation, but typically, in natural communication, form complex structures. It is, at least partly, the evasive nature of the interplay between the linguistic form used and the context in which it appears that constitutes the puzzle of performativity and illocutionary force. The editors decided to use the notion of speech “action” rather than “acts” in the title of this volume to indicate that, although any analysis of speech as action must pay proper attention to occasional, specific, or accidental occurrences of particular acts, the focus of this collection is on the systematic, methodological aspects of linguistic action and its types. The seven papers included in the volume ∗ Department of Pragmatics, University of Łódź, Al. Kosciuszki 65, 90514, Łódź, Poland email: wipiw@uni.lodz.pl β Institute of Philosophy University of Zielona Góra Al. Wojska Polskiego 71A, 65762 Zielona Góra, Poland email: mwitek@ifil.uz.zgora.pl