Thisbookoffersaconcisebutcomprehensiveentry-levelguidetothestudyofmeaningincontext.Therecanbeabigdifferencebetweenwhataspeakersaysandwhattheymean-i.e.betweenliteralmeaningandintendedmeaning.AspeakerwhosaysIneedcoffeecanmeananythingfrom’Pleasebuymorecoffee’to’I’mreallysleepy’.Howisahearertoknow?Inthisbook,BettyBirnerexploreshowwegetfromwhatissaidtowhatismeant,fromtheperspectiveofboththespeakerandthehearer,dealingwitharangeofcontext-dependentissuesinlanguagealongtheway:literalandnon-literalmeaning,implicature,speechacts,reference,definiteness,presupposition,andinformationstructure.Sherevealshowlanguageuserscaninfereachother’smeaningsusingnotjustwhatisbeingsaidbutalsothecontextandanassumptionofrationalityandcooperation.Thisslimguidesummarizesthemostimportantandfoundationaltheoriesinthefieldoflinguisticpragmatics,illustratedwithplentyofreal-lifeexamples,andincludingahelpfulglossaryofkeyterms.Writteninalivelyandaccessiblestyle,thebookwillappealtoawiderangeofreaders,fromundergraduateandgraduatestudentsofpragmaticstogeneralreadersinterestedinhowwesuccessfullycommunicatewithoneanother.
