Includes index.

1. Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; Preface; A note on symbols; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Historical preamble; 1.2 Semantics and pragmatics; 1.2.1 An example: the Cooperative Principle of Grice; 1.3 General pragmatics; 1.4 Aspects of speech situations; 1.5 Rhetoric; 2 A set of postulates; 2.1 Semantic representation and pragmatic interpretation; 2.2 Rules and principles; 2.3 Convention and motivation; 2.4 The relation between sense and force; 2.5 Pragmatics as problem-solving; 2.5.1 The speaker's task, viewed in terms of means-ends analysis. 2.5.2 The addressee's task, seen in terms of heuristic analysis2.6 Conclusion; 3 Formalism and functionalism; 3.1 Formal and functional explanations; 3.2 Biological, psychological, and social varieties of functionalism; 3.3 The ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions of language; 3.3.1 A process model of language; 3.3.2 An illustration; 3.3.3 The textual pragmatics; 3.4 The ideational function: discreteness and determinacy; 3.5 Examples of 'overgrammaticization'; 3.6 Conclusion; 4 The interpersonal role of the Cooperative Principle. 4.1 The Cooperative Principle (CP) and the Politeness Principle (PP)4.2 Maxims of Quantity and Quality; 4.2.1 Implicatures connected with definiteness; 4.3 Maxim of Relation; 4.4 The Hinting Strategy and anticipatory illocutions; 4.5 Maxim of Manner; 4.5.1 The obliquity and uninformativeness of negation; 5 The Tact Maxim; 5.1 Varieties of illocutionary function; 5.2 Searle's categories of illocutionary acts; 5.3 Tact: one kind of politeness; 5.4 Pragmatic paradoxes of politeness; 5.5 Semantic representation of declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives; 5.6 The interpretation of impositives. 5.7 Pragmatic scales5.8 Tact and condescension; 6 A survey of the Interpersonal Rhetoric; 6.1 Maxims of politeness; 6.1.1 The Generosity Maxim; 6.1.2 The Approbation Maxim; 6.1.3 The Modesty Maxim; 6.1.4 Other maxims of politeness; 6.2 Metalinguistic aspects of politeness; 6.3 Irony and banter; 6.4 Hyperbole and litotes; 6.5 Conclusion; 7 Communicative Grammar: an example; 7.1 Communicative Grammar and pragmatic force; 7.2 Remarks on pragmatic metalanguage; 7.3 Some aspects of negation and interrogation in English; 7.3.1 Syntax; 7.3.2 Semantic analysis; 7.3.3 Pragmatic analysis. 7.3.3.1 Positive propositions7.3.3.2 Negative propositions; 7.3.3.3 Ordinary yes-no questions; 7.3.3.4 Loaded yes-no questions; 7.4 Implicatures of politeness; 7.5 Conclusion; 8 Performatives; 8.1 The Performative and Illocutionary-Verb Fallacies; 8.2 The speech act theories of Austin and Searle; 8.2.1 Declarations; 8.3 Illocutionary performatives: descriptive and non-descriptive approaches; 8.4 Illocutionary performatives and oratio obliqua; 8.5 The pragmatics of illocutionary performatives; 8.6 The performative hypothesis; 8.7 The extended performative hypothesis; 8.8 Conclusion.