Pragmatics: The Basics

Billy Clark is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at Northumbria University, UK.

• List of figures and tables; Acknowledgments; Conventions; Preface; 1. Introduction: the very basics; 2. Meaning more than we say: Grice’s suggestion; 3. Adjusting the maxims: neo-Gricean pragmatics; 4. Principles and heuristics: relevance theory; 5. Managing interaction: (im)politeness; 6. What words can do: speech acts; 7. Beyond words: prosody; 8. Beyond words: nonverbal and multimodal communication; 9. The future: developing pragmatic theories; Glossary; References; Bibliography

"This is a clear and engaging introduction to a wide range of pragmatic theories and their applications. Clark makes a compelling case for the importance of Pragmatics to our understanding of everyday human communication, but does so without compromising theoretical rigour. The book is packed with lively examples and invitations to engage more fully with the subject through further reading and creative exercises. It is highly recommended both to beginning students of Pragmatics and to those who want to find out more about the subject."Siobhan Chapman, The University of Liverpool, UK"If you are looking for an accessible but highly illuminating introduction to the field of pragmatics this book is for you. In Pragmatics: The Basics Billy Clark masterfully navigates what lies at the core of pragmatics with admirable balance and poise, and insightfully lays out both how the field has developed and where it is heading."Michael Haugh, The University of Queensland, Australia"With original chapters on prosodic meaning and multimodal communication, this book does a lot more than just cover the basics: it offers a record of where pragmatics has been and proposes a manifesto for where it can go."Marina Terkourafi, Leiden University, The Netherlands