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Pragmatic research dealing with speech acts has invariably focused on analysing the speaker's performance of speech acts (strategies employed, factors affecting speech-act performance, etc.). This paper argues for including the analysis of the ‘opting out’ choice (the speaker's decision not to perform a speech act) into the realm of pragmatic study. The opting out choice is as much a pragmatic choice as any strategic choice employed in speech-act performance, made through activating the same components of pragmatic knowledge. Analysing reasons for opting out reported by speakers can help validate claims about conditions for speech acts and factors influencing speech-act performance. The data presented to illustrate the point come from the study of the speech act of complaining.
M. P. BONIKOWSKA (1988) studied this question.