Abstract
The methodological distinction that I wish to draw between description and explanation derives from two basic concepts relative to language. One is that all language and speech display both structure and content. In this chapter, we will analyze the nature of structure as it pertains to language use or speech acts. The question of content we will examine in the next chapter. "Structure" is a commonly used term and one that has become popular with the emergence of the Continental theories of 'structuralism" which are social and human science applications of a more or less formal linguistic model of behavior. This fact need not concern us beyond the notice that the present discussion is in no way related to any of the structuralist theories.