Expressions, Speech Acts and Discourse

First published in 1981, Let's Talk and Talk About It is regarded as a cornerstone of research in pragmatics, which laid new and lasting foundations for the teaching of English. Forty years on, this extensively updated version is fully tailored for the 21st century. It provides a pedagogic interactional grammar of English, designed for learners and teachers of English and textbook writers, as well as experts of pragmatics and applied linguistics. The book includes a rigorous pragmatic system through which interaction in English and other languages can be captured in a replicable way, covering pragmatically important expressions, types of talk and other interactional phenomena, as well as a ground-breaking interactional typology of speech acts. The book is also illustrated with a legion of interactional and entertaining examples, showing how the framework can be put to use. It will remain a seminal work in the field for years to come.

Willis Edmondson was Professor of Applied Linguistics at Hamburg University. His research interests included language teaching and learning, English studies and pragmatics. He was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Applied Linguistics (Wiley). Juliane House is Professor Emerita at Hamburg University and Professor at the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics. She is also Distinguished University Professor at Hellenic American University. Juliane is Past President of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies. Dániel Kádár is Ordinary Member of Academia Europaea (M.A.E.). He is Professor and Director of Research Centre at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and Research Professor at the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics.