This is a succinct introduction to the rapidly developing field of pragmatics - the study of language from the point of view of its users, of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on other participants in communication.

Jacob L. Mey is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense Main Campus. In 1977 he founded, with Hartmut Haberland, the Journal of Pragmatics, of which he is the chief editor. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zaragoza, Spain in 1992. His latest publications include The Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics (editor, 1998), and When Voices Clash: A Study in Literary Pragmatics (1999).