Pragmatics deals with the question of how the relationship between a linguistic utterance and what is expressed by it can be described. This study book offers a clear presentation of the theoretical foundations and addresses not only classical areas such as speech act theory and intention analysis but also text linguistics and conversation analysis. Recent developments in the field play a central role, especially the partly experimental methods of modern pragmatics. Fundamental concepts are illustrated through practical examples such as online discussion forums and language in politics.