Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics

Among the recent developments in the language sciences, the coming-of-age of the field of pragmatics and its official inauguration in the mid-seventies stand out as some of the most significant ones. The present work endeavours to sum up the development of the youngest offspring of linguistics in a number of conscientiously chosen, well-elaborated concepts that may be said to characterize both the discipline and its most famous practitioners. The increasingly complex notions and devices developed by linguists to cope with the description of naturally occurring language phenomena, have been joined with techniques and approaches due to the socially oriented schools of thought that see language first of all as a means of communication between human users. Based on the highly acclaimed and award winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics this volume provides a collection of articles throughout which the vast scope of the field of pragmatics is unfolded and explained in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation. It covers the history and the development of pragmatics and also looks at the future perspectives.

Table of Contents:
Selected papers: Action Theory and the Production of Speech (B. Tuller, J.A.S. Kelso). Child language—Overview (S. Strömqvist). Definition of the Situation (N.K. Denzin). Education and Language—Overview (K. Perera). Foreigner Talk (M. Clyne). General Semantics (W.S. Bainbridge). Home Language and School Language (M. MacLure). Immigrant Language Issues (M. Heller). Journalism (C. Maclean). Kinship Terminology (E.L. Schusky). Language and Society (K. Rajagopalan). Linguistic Ethonocentrism (M.L. Apte). Manipulation (N. Fairclough). Moods, Clause Types, and Speech Acts (K. Allan). Nationalism and Language (L. Greenfield). Ordinary Language Philosophy (L.J. Cohen). Politeness (G. Kasper). Reading, Theories of (G.E. MacKinnon). Semantics and Pragmatics (A.H. Jucker). Speech Acts and Grammar (K. Allan). Taboo Words (M.L. Apte). Verstehen (G. Oakes). Written and Spoken Language: Relationship (H. Haberland).

Review :
Roger Schank, Northwestern University, USA Jacob Mey and his contributors have produced a treasure trove! Freud and e-mail in one volume: the Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics is an invigorating reminder of the essential diversity of language use. Richard W. Janney, University of Munich, Germany No one is better qualified to sort out the pragmatic wastebasket than Jacob Mey, co-founder of the Journal of Pragmatics, editor of one of the earliest collections of articles on pragmatics, and author of the first accessible pragmatics textbook. His new Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics is another impressive achievement, containing hundreds of excellently written articles reflecting the broadest possible spectrum of pragmatic interests. Students of pragmatics will appreciate its clear treatment of basic concepts, principles, theories, and methods. Professionals will profit from its comprehensive, authoritative, thematically organized overview of historical developments and future research perspectives. With this breadth and depth, the Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics is predestined to become the standard pragmatics reference work for the turn of the millenium. Anyone interested in pragmatics must have it in their personal library. Ken Turner, University of Brighton ...a book that contains much of interest to students of linguistics and to the discipline's more seasoned professionals. ...readers who share the editor's preference for a sociological perspective will find much in this book for them to consult with frequency. Journal of Linguistics The Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics is a rich and rewarding introduction to the dizzying range of issues, methodologies and topics that have come to fall under the general rubric of pragmatics. Ranging from such traditional topics as Anaphora, Aspect, Entitlement and Tense, to highly politicized issues such as Emancipatory Linguistics, Power and Language and Hegemony, the Encyclopedia is not so much an overview of an established academic field as an invitation to a debate over the question, "What is pragmatics?"... Useful for both experts and students, the Encyclopedia represents well the current state of pragmatics: variously diverse, rigorous, politically engaged, critical, formalistic, analytic, contemporary, and always challenging. Phenomenology and the Human Sciences Edwin Battistella, Wayne State College In the preface, Mey notes that encyclopedias have traditionally been fact books that allowed a wide audience to judge intellectual endeavours for themselves. In the Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics he has certainly accomplished this. Language Sergio Zanini, International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy ...the Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics represents an important book. It is impossible not to appreciate the contents and the format of the volume. Authors present, with competence and effectively, both classical and new issues of pragmatics. ...extremely positive opinion on the Concise Encylopedia of Pragmatics, which offers, a coherent, modern and pragmatic view on human communication behaviour... an important milestone in pragmatics and represents a reference book both for experts and for people not deeply involved in this linguistic research field. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics