Pragmatics: A Resource Book for Students (Routledge English Language Introductions)

Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students.

Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings – all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible ‘two-dimensional’ structure is built around four sections – introduction, development, exploration and extension – which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.

Previously published as Pragmatics and Discourse, the new edition of this best-selling textbook:

• has been revised and reorganised to focus solely on pragmatics
• covers the core areas of the subject (context, co-text, speech acts, conversation structure, the cooperative principle, politeness) and extends to more applied areas (corpora and communities, and culture and language learning)
• draws on a wealth of texts, from political speeches by the British Prime Minister and newspaper articles from the Telegraph and the Times of India, to extracts from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman
• provides classic readings from the leading scholars in the discipline, including Ruth Wodak, Jonathan Culpeper, Ronald Wardhaugh and Betty Birner
• is accompanied by a companion website featuring extra material, activities, and advice for professors and students on how to use the book.

Written by an experienced teacher and researcher, this accessible textbook is an essential resource for all students of English language and linguistics.

Joan Cutting is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Edinburgh, UK.