Pragmatics : a multidisciplinary perspective

## An exploration of English pragmatics with a thorough integration of theoretical and experimental research A central goal of pragmatics is to identify the capabilities that underpin our ability to communicate ‘non-literal’ meanings. Guiding students through the many facets of English pragmatics, this textbook discusses the ways in which people successfully convey and recover meanings that are not simply associated with the combinations of words that they use. The book draws on a broad range of data, including psycholinguistic experimentation, studies of acquisition and corpus research, and uses real examples from English to illuminate contemporary debates in pragmatics and related fields. With exercises and discussion topics at the end of each chapter, it invites students to explore how pragmatic meaning can be explained in theoretical terms and contemplate whether these explanations command empirical support. * Wide-ranging treatment of the major topics in English pragmatics * Thorough integration of theoretical and experimental research * Accessible introduction to relevant empirical methods, assuming no prior expertise * Extensive reference to real examples of usage * Exercises and discussion topics

An exploration of English pragmatics with a thorough integration of theoretical and experimental research

A central goal of pragmatics is to identify the capabilities that underpin our ability to communicate 'non-literal' meanings. Guiding students through the many facets of English pragmatics, this textbook discusses the ways in which people successfully convey and recover meanings that are not simply associated with the combinations of words that they use.

The book draws on a broad range of data, including psycholinguistic experimentation, studies of acquisition and corpus research, and uses real examples from English to illuminate contemporary debates in pragmatics and related fields. With exercises and discussion topics at the end of each chapter, it invites students to explore how pragmatic meaning can be explained in theoretical terms and contemplate whether these explanations command empirical support.

An analysis of the current state of linguistic pragmatics. Topics include coverage of pragmatic concepts and theories, pragmatic deficits in a range of child and adult language disorders and a pragmatic analysis of argumentation in topic issues such as AIDS and BSE The first truly multidisciplinary text of its kind, this book offers an original analysis of the current state of linguistic pragmatics.