In this article we consider the main concepts of speech acts theory, the stages of its development within philosophical language studies and its interaction with linguistics. The notion of a speech act has become one of the key priorities for the development of research in linguistic pragmatics. We analyse the conceptions of British, American and German scientists, who studied and developed the theory of speech acts, and those of their followers. A special focus is laid on E. Koschmieder's conception of coincidence.

speech acts theory, speech acts, pragmatics, the speaker, philosophy, language, speech utterance, coincidence