Pragmatics (Oxford Introduction to Language Study Series)

Yule's way of writing is simply amazing. He takes a difficult topic and makes it interesting, simple and easy to relate to. If you want a more detailed or technical book, then this probably isn't the book for you, that much is true, but Pragmatics is a pretty good introduction book. In fact, it's been used as one of the entrance exam books for philology in some universities (Finland). On the other hand, the book is refreshing to return to later on as well, specifically because it's not highly technical. If you wind up studying linguistics, a lot of the literature you read is full of details and terms, usually to the point it's slow to read and hard to understand.Bottom line, it's a fun and educational book.

I liked the text a lot and, especially, I liked the examples provided.A very good intro text into Pragmatics.

George Yule's "Pragmatics" is a great little introduction on the topic of English pragmatics, but that is all it is. It is a brief insight into some of the key concepts of the field and one that I found very useful. For this reason, I would recommend it.However, it is a very short book, and those with more experience, (or any experience at all, for that matter), would probably prefer something more substantial. It is really a whirlwind tour of pragmatics and nothing more.That said, I found it very readable and easily understood. It was certainly not all that taxing on the reading skills, and the main concepts and definitions were well explained.This is a good book to start with, and I recommend it for a launching point to further reading.

Great deal.

This book is all you could ask for in terms of an easy introduction to pragmatics. It is concise, simple, well-planned, clear, and full of useful examples.Slightly over a hundred pages, this is an ideal read if you're looking for basic knowledge on pragmatics in general. I know no better book for that.Highly recommended. In addition, this was the reference book in one my classes on pragmatics, so if university teachers consider it good enough for their classes, you can consider it good enough for yourself. And good enough, it sure is.

Actually I wanted a more detailed book as source but this book is just a brief source. When I looked online, I thought it was a normal book but unfortunately it appeared to be like a booklet, or a small book so to speak. Still, it is OK and I like it because I can make use of it too.

The series in which appeared this book is designed to give a large-scale view of different areas of language. It should be used as an introduction to more specific ... introductions. The titles in the series are all divided into four sections: Survey, Readings, References and Glossary.The Survey of Pragmatics contains nine chapters, each of roughly 10 pages: 1) Definitions and background; 2) Deixis and Reference; 3) Reference and inference; 4) Presupposition and entailment; 5)Cooperation and implicature; 6) Speech acts and events; 7)Politeness and interaction; 8) Conversation and preference structure; 9) Discourse and culture.The Readings are one-page texts extracted from the specialized literature and are followed by a couple of questions. The References help the reader providing him with a selection of titles for every chapter of the Survey. The proposed books are classified in terms of difficulty, from introductory to advanced level. Technical terms are in bold and are explained once more in the Glossary at the back of the book.I think the author has succeeded in giving a bird's view of several fields of pragmatics. Of course, the discussion is somewhat condensed and could, at least at some points, be clearer or give some more details. But one should be aware of the difficulty of explaining a lot of stuff to people with no assumed prior knowledge of the subject and having only 90 pages at one's disposal! Nonetheless, I missed formal definitions of technical terms in the Survey. The author often gives them only indirectly, and the reader must extract them himself from the text. Sincerely, I did not find the Readings useful at all and I would have wished to find more titles and more details in the comments under each of them in the References.

good

A very good introduction and preparation for reading (and understanding) Levinson. for beginners as well as advanced students or just people who are interested in pragmatics. It is recommendable for getting an overview of pragmatics.

This book is a fantastic introduction to Pragmatics. A really easy read for beginners, with simple explanations and lots of examples. And added to that, the short length means you don't lose the will to live part-way through! Definitely recommend for any linguistics students.

Of all the subjects that fall under the umbrella of linguistics, pragmatics is my least favourite. I have read only a couple of books on the subject, but this was by far and away, the most accessible and least loathsome.

Great for someone who is starting with the topic of Pragmatics. The book is more of an introduction. It is very well written and is easy to understand.