Reviewed by Omaima Ayoub, Islamic Foundation School

The handbook of pragmatics serves the interdisciplinary nature of the field of pragmatics as a subdivision within language studies. This printed version of the online Handbook of pragmatics comes in a loose-leaf format to facilitate flexibility and expandability for new articles and revised versions of older ones. It is divided into three sections: the ‘User’s guide’, the ‘Manual’, and the handbook body.

The ‘User’s guide’ provides an inclusive index of all cross-references, and the ‘Manual’ includes a preface and a general introduction that present key information for the handbook authors and readers. The ‘Manual’ encompasses the major traditions that underlie the field of pragmatics, the major methods of research used in pragmatics inquiry, and the different kinds of notational systems used in the field. Urpo Nikanne’s ‘Conceptual semantics’ and Terhi Ainiala’s ‘Socio-onomastics’ are the two full-length papers from the ‘Manual’ included in this printed version. In ‘Conceptual semantics’, Nikanne illustrates the four features that define conceptual semantics as a part of generative linguistics: research objectives, background assumptions, methodological guidelines, and technical solutions. In ‘Socio-onomastics’ (i.e. sociolinguistic study of names), Ainiala examines the socio-onomastic research on Finnish place names.

The main body of the handbook is comprised of articles that are organized alphabetically. Varying in length and focus, these articles present an up-to-date overview of different topics within the field of linguistic pragmatics. Only six full-length articles are provided in the printed version of the handbook.

Martin Gill’s article, ‘Authenticity’, explains the complex concept of authenticity within sociolinguistics and pragmatics. Li Wei’s ‘Contact’ outlines the key causes, processes, and outcomes of language contact, discusses its theoretical and methodological approaches, and outlines its main issues within the field.

Liesbet Quaeghebeur’s contribution, ‘Embodiment’, draws on transcendental embodiment to discuss perception and cognition as different aspects of the embodiment hypothesis currently held in cognitive linguistics. Marjut Johansson and Eija Suomela-Salmi’s article, ‘Enonciation: French pragmatic approach(es)’, traces the history of the French enunciation theory and surveys its traditions and the formulation of its main concepts. Finally, in ‘Listener response’ Deng Xudong depicts a wide range of research traditions used in the study of the conversational phenomenon of listener responses. Xudong’s other article, ‘Overlap’, reviews a huge body of literature on the study of the conversational phenomenon of overlap.

Overall, The handbook of pragmatics is a valuable reference book for students and scholars of linguistics in general and sociolinguistics and pragmatics in particular.