Volume two of the three-volume set of papers taken from the pragmatics conference takes the view that speaking consists of the adaptive making of choices. The book provides papers dealing with a spectrum of different levels of linguistic structure at which adaptation processes operate.

1. Preface; 2. On the contextualizing function of speech rhythm in conversation: Question-answer sequences (by Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth); 3. Explaining a missing modal meaning: Ideology and paradigm as pragmatic parameter (by Cushing, Steven); 4. Elements of morphopragmatics (by Dressler, Wolfgang U.); 5. Switch reference anomalies and 'topic' in west greenlandic: A case of pragmatics over syntax (by Fortescue, Michael); 6. Intonational phrases and syntactic focus domains (by Fretheim, Thorstein); 7. A pragmatic analysis of control in Chinese (by Huang, Yan); 8. Empathy as motivation for style shifting in narrative (by Kalliokoski, Jyrki); 9. Pragmatic constraints on ambiguous text (by Kess, Joseph F.); 10. From syntax to pragmatics: Inalienable possession in Brazilian Portuguese (by Kliffer, Michael D.); 11. On reference and deixis (by Kryk-Kastovsky, Barbara); 12. Contradiction and paradox in discourse (by Norrick, Neal R.); 13. On the language-internal interaction of prosody and pragmatic particles (by Ostman, Jan-Ola); 14. Ethnolinguistic and interpretative concepts in explaining language shift (by Schjerve-Rindler, Rosita); 15. Prolegomena to the pragmatics of "situational-intentional" varieties in Kilivila language (by Senft, Gunter); 16. The pragmatics of French newspaper headlines (by Thogmartin, Clyde); 17. My mom and I are the best friends (by Wodak, Ruth); 18. References; 19. Index of names; 20. Index of subjects