The correct answer is 2. J.L. Austin and John Searle because they are the linguists most closely associated with the theory of speech acts.
Here's how:
J.L. Austin is considered one of the foundational figures in the development of speech act theory. In his work How to Do Things with Words (1962), Austin introduced the concept of performative utterances, where speaking itself can constitute an action. For instance, when someone says, "I promise to do X," the act of speaking actually performs the promise.
John Searle built on Austin's work and further developed speech act theory in his book Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969). Searle expanded the theory by introducing categories of speech acts, such as assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations, to better explain how language functions in communication.
Together, Austin and Searle created and refined the framework of speech act theory, which analyzes how utterances not only convey information but also perform various kinds of actions (e.g., making requests, giving orders, making promises, etc.).
The other pairs listed are associated with different areas of linguistics or philosophy:
Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker are associated with generative grammar and cognitive linguistics, not speech acts.
Paul Grice and Michael Devitt are known for their work on implicature (Grice's cooperative principle) and philosophy of language.
Franz Boas and Rudolf Carnap are influential in anthropology and the philosophy of science, respectively, but not in speech act theory.
Thus, option 2 is the correct answer because it links Austin and Searle, the key figures in the development of speech act theory.
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