Written by over 100 contributors, this manual aims to provide easy access to the different topics, traditions and methods which together make up the field of pragmatics. It contains an introductory chapter and covers all the main topics related to pragmatics. The book forms an introduction to pragmatics, while the main body of the handbook comprises looseleaf supplements. These are published at yearly intervals, the first of which (90-272-2157-X), comes with a 3-ring binder, big enough to hold 3-4 years of installments.

Table of Contents:
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.)