Pragmatics

Pragmatics, authored by Anne Wichmann, Karin Aijmer, and Dawn Archer, is a key title in the Routledge Applied Linguistics series. This paperback, published in 2012, offers a comprehensive introduction to essential themes in the study of pragmatics, making it an invaluable resource for students and researchers alike. The book is organized into three distinct sections. The first part lays the groundwork by defining core terms and presenting practical approaches to analysis. The second part extends this understanding through a curated selection of influential readings and contextual discussions. In the final section, readers actively engage with the material through thought-provoking tasks, encouraging them to explore and refine their own research perspectives. Drawing on contributions from figures such as Geoffrey Leech, Michael McCarthy, Thomas Kohnen, Joan Manes, and Nessa Wolfson, Pragmatics covers a broad array of topics including speech acts, pragmatic markers, implicature, research methods, facework, politeness, and prosody. It also considers the social and cultural dimensions of language, addressing issues in cross-cultural pragmatics and the interplay of power in various communicative contexts. Further enhancing its utility, the book incorporates a diverse range of corpora to offer practical examples and exploratory exercises. With its structured approach and interactive components, Pragmatics stands as an essential guide for deepening one’s understanding of applied linguistics.