本书兼具学术专著和课程教材的特色与功能，以明了易懂的英语介绍了语用学这门学科的渊源、发展路径、主要理论、成果和研究方法。避免了一些国外同类教材语言晦涩费解给中国学生带来的理解困难。作为一个起步，本教材选取了这个领域最基本、最主要的内容，为学生日后进一步学习打下基础。

Chapter 1 Introduction
　1.1 The origin and development of pragmatics
　　1.1.1 The philosophical origin
　　1.1.2 The growth ofpragmatics in modem linguistics
　　1.1.3 The two traditions of study
1.2 Definitions ofpragmatics
1.3 Pragmatic study of meaning
1.4 The notion of context
　　1.4.1 The early explications of context
　　1.4.2 The role of context in utterance interpretation
　　1.4.3 The dynamic nature of context
　　1.4.4 The manipulability of context
Study questions
Further reading
Chapter 2 Reference and Deixis

Chapter 1 Introduction
　1.1 The origin and development of pragmatics
　　1.1.1 The philosophical origin
　　1.1.2 The growth ofpragmatics in modem linguistics
　　1.1.3 The two traditions of study
  1.2 Definitions ofpragmatics
  1.3 Pragmatic study of meaning
  1.4 The notion of context
　　1.4.1 The early explications of context
　　1.4.2 The role of context in utterance interpretation
　　1.4.3 The dynamic nature of context
　　1.4.4 The manipulability of context
  Study questions
  Further reading
Chapter 2 Reference and Deixis
  2.1 The notion of reference
  2.2 Major types of reference
　　2.2.1 Definite reference
　　2.2.2 Indefnite reference
　　2.2.3 Generic reference
　　2.2.4 Non-referential uses of referring expressions
  2.3 The philosophical studies of reference
　　2.3.1 Two theories of reference
　　2.3.2 Two distinct uses of definite descriptions
  2.4 Referential opacity
　……
Chapter 3 Speech Act Theory
Chapter 4 Conversational Implicature
Chapter 5 Pragmatic Studies of Politeness
Chapter 6 Pragmatic Studies of Conversation
Chapter 7 Presupposition
Chapter 8 Cross-cultural Pragmatics
Chapter 9 Application of Pragmatics:Demonstration Analysis
Chapter 10 Pragmatics Ressearch Methodology
References
Glossary