Introduction to Pragmatics

A new edition of an essential pragmatics textbook, updated for a new generation of students

Introduction to Pragmatics equips students with a comprehensive understanding of how context shapes language, covering both foundational concepts and cutting-edge issues with an interdisciplinary approach. Assuming no previous background in the subject, this student-friendly textbook describes how meaning is created and interpreted.

This fully revised new edition addresses contemporary questions surrounding language in society, with increased focus on technological trends and real-world applications of pragmatics. Updated chapters explore politeness theory, presupposition, the boundary between semantics and pragmatics, the pragmatics of linguistic diversity and speech communities, the philosophical background of pragmatics, and the role of language in law, advertising, and politics. Two entirely new chapters on social pragmatics and artificial intelligence (AI) are accompanied by expanded material on noncanonical syntax, information structure, and lexical pragmatics.

Offering an ideal balance between theoretical foundations and practical applications, Introduction to Pragmatics, Second Edition:

• Provides clear and accessible explanations of complex concepts such as presupposition, implicature, inference, and optimality theory
• Engages with AI and machine communication, exploring the implications for human-language interaction
• Offers fresh examples, comprehension exercises, and discussion questions to engage students in real-world language analysis
• Features new case studies that focus on contemporary issues such as politics and propaganda

Introduction to Pragmatics, Second Edition, is the ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in pragmatics and semantics as well as related courses in linguistics and language education.

BETTY J. BIRNER is Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University, where she taught Linguistics and Cognitive Science for 24 years. She has published widely on the subjects of pragmatics, semantics, and information structure, particularly on noncanonical syntactic constructions. Her recent publications include Meaning: Semantics, Pragmatics, Cognition and Pragmatics: A Slim Guide.