Perlocutionary act

A perlocutionary act is any speech act that amounts to persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something.

The term was introduced by J. L. Austin in his work How to Do Things With Words.

Unlike illocutionary acts, which stress some linguistic performance, a perlocutionary act's effect is in some sense external to the performance. It may be thought of, in a sense, as the effect of the locutionary act. Therefore, when examining perlocutionary acts, the effect on the hearer or reader is emphasized.