The act of speech is termed

The acts speakers perform when they make an utterance are called speech acts.

A speech act is an utterance that serves a function in communication. We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. ... Here are some examples of speech acts we use or hear every day: Greeting: "Hi, Eric.

Explanation:

One important area of pragmatics is that of speech acts, which are communicative acts that convey an intended language function. Speech acts include functions such as requests, apologies, suggestions, commands, offers, and appropriate responses to those acts.

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