Aiming to provide easy access to the different topics, traditions and methods which together make up the field of pragmatics, this manual contains an introductory chapter and covers all the main topics related to pragmatics. A loose-leaf handbook, which is updated annually, is also available.

1. Preface; 2. The pragmatic perspective (by Verschueren, Jef); 3. Traditions; 4. Accommodation theory (by Coupland, Nikolas); 5. Action theory (by Allwood, Jens); 6. Analytical philosophy (by Sbisa, Marina); 7. Anthropological linguistics (by Blount, Ben G.); 8. Applied linguistics (by Gunnarsson, Britt-Louise); 9. Argumentation theory (by Eemeren, Frans H. van); 10. Artificial intelligence (by Gillis, Steven); 11. Autonomous vs. non-autonomous syntax (by Nuyts, Jan); 12. Behaviorism (by De Mey, Marc); 13. Case grammar (by Anderson, John M.); 14. Catastrophe theory (by Wildgen, Wolfgang); 15. Chomskyan linguistics (by Riemsdijk, Henk van); 16. Cognitive anthropology (by Levinson, Stephen C.); 17. Cognitive grammar (by Langacker, Ronald W.); 18. Cognitive linguistics (by Geeraerts, Dirk); 19. Cognitive psychology (by Caron, Jean); 20. Cognitive science (by Coulson, Seana); 21. Cognitive sociology (by Saferstein, Barry); 22. Componential analysis (by Goddard, Cliff); 23. Computational linguistics (by De Roeck, Anne); 24. Connectionism (by Weijters, Ton); 25. Construction grammar (by Kay, Paul); 26. Contact linguistics (by Meeuwis, Michael); 27. Conversation analysis (by Hutchby, Ian); 28. Conversational logic (by Lakoff, Robin T.); 29. Creole linguistics (by Muysken, Pieter); 30. Critical Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis (by Wodak, Ruth); 31. Critical theory (by Geldof, Koenraad); 32. Deontic logic (by Cornelis, Gustaaf C.); 33. Dependency and valency grammar (by Gebruers, Rudi); 34. Developmental psychology (by Ervin-Tripp, Susan M.); 35. Dialectology (by Schutter, Georges De); 36. Discourse analysis (by Ostman, Jan-Ola); 37. Discourse representation theory (by Kamp, Hans); 38. Epistemic logic (by Cornelis, Gustaaf C.); 39. Epistemology (by Buekens, Filip); 40. Ethnography of speaking (by Fitch, Kristine L.); 41. Ethnomethodology (by Firth, Alan); 42. Firthian linguistics (by Ostman, Jan-Ola); 43. Formal pragmatics (by Bunt, Harry); 44. Functional grammar (by Mackenzie, J. Lachlan); 45. Functionalism vs. formalism (by Nuyts, Jan); 46. Game-theoretical semantics (by De Mulder, Walter); 47. General semantics (by Allan, Keith); 48. Generative semantics (by McCawley, James D.); 49. Geneva school (by Roulet, Eddy); 50. Historical linguistics (by Goossens, Louis); 51. Intensional logic (by Gochet, Paul); 52. Interactional sociolinguistics (by Verschueren, Jef); 53. Interpretive semantics (by Nikanne, Urpo); 54. Lexical field analysis (by Geeraerts, Dirk); 55. Lexical functional grammar (by Ackerman, Farrell); 56. Literary pragmatics (by De Geest, Dirk); 57. Logical semantics (by Vergauwen, Roger); 58. Marxist linguistics (by Helsloot, Niels); 59. Mentalism (by Nuyts, Jan); 60. Metapragmatics (by Verschueren, Jef); 61. Modal logic (by Gochet, Paul); 62. Model-theoretic semantics (by Gochet, Paul); 63. Montague and categorial grammar (by Frosch, Helmut); 64. Neurolinguistics (by Bertuccelli Papi, Marcella); 65. Objectivism vs. subjectivism (by Schneider, Hans Julius); 66. Ontology (by Vergauwen, Roger); 67. Phenomenology (by Verschueren, Jef); 68. Philosophy of action (by Buekens, Filip); 69. Philosophy of language (by Kasher, Asa); 70. Philosophy of mind (by Cuypers, Stefaan E.); 71. Possible worlds semantics (by Gochet, Paul); 72. Pragmatism (by Buekens, Filip); 73. Prague school (by Sgall, Petr); 74. Psycholinguistics (by Prideaux, Gary D.); 75. Relevance theory (by Blakemore, Diane); 76. Rhetoric (by Kienpointner, Manfred); 77. Role and reference grammar (by Van Valin Jr., Robert D.); 78. Semiotics (by Pankow, Christiane); 79. Situation semantics (by De Mulder, Walter); 80. Social psychology (by Potter, Jonathan); 81. Sociolinguistics (by Romaine, Suzanne); 82. Speech act theory (by Sbisa, Marina); 83. Structuralism (by Willems, Dominique); 84. Stylistics (by Semino, Elena); 85. Symbolic interactionism (by Watson, Rod); 86. Systemic functional grammar (by Butler, Christopher S.); 87. Tagmemics (by Pike, Kenneth L.); 88. Text linguistics (by Beaugrande, Robert de); 89. Truth-conditional semantics (by Carston, Robyn); 90. Typology (by Comrie, Bernard); 91. Universal and transcendental pragmatics (by Leilich, Joachim); 92. Methods; 93. Contrastive analysis (by Jaszczolt, Katarzyna M.); 94. Corpus analysis (by Aarts, Jan); 95. Deconstruction (by Schirato, Tony); 96. Dialogical analysis (by Linell, Per); 97. Elicitation (by Senft, Gunter); 98. Error analysis (by Ringbom, Hakan); 99. Ethnography (by Agar, Michael); 100. Experimentation (by Sandra, Dominiek); 101. Fieldwork (by Senft, Gunter); 102. Interview (by Briggs, Charles L.); 103. Intuition and introspection (by Schneider, Hans Julius); 104. Linguistic explanation (by Frawley, William); 105. Logical analysis (by Vergauwen, Roger); 106. Reconstruction (by Nurse, Derek); 107. Statistics (by Hout, Roeland van); 108. Taxonomy (by MacLaury, Robert E.); 109. Notational systems; 110. Notation in formal semantics (by De Mulder, Walter); 111. Transcription systems for spoken discourse (by O'Connell, Daniel C.)

The number one resource for all people trying to come to grips with what is sought after in the field and to embark upon the field. This will become self-evident from the fact that almost every conceivable topic up to the time of writing in connection with the rubric of pragmatic is covered in the Handbook and that, more important, all the topics are written by leading scholars, many of whom are among the foremost authorities in their field. In other words, the breadth and the authoritativeness of the Handbook is beyond doubt.