Pragmatics and Grammar lays out the issues regarding both the division of labor between grammar and pragmatics, and the levels in which grammar and pragmatics interface. The topic holds significance for philosophers and for linguists, especially for those with an interest in semantics, pragmatics, grammaticization and semanticization, and functional explanations for language. The book asks which phenomena should be classified as grammatical and which as pragmatic; if classified as pragmatic, what type of inference should be assumed; how pragmatic inference turns into grammatical code (grammaticization); what the minimal relevant basic meaning in discourse (‘what is said’) is; whether grammar is pragmatically motivated or arbitrary; and other related questions. This book offers a unified approach to the diverse questions in pragmatics and grammar by framing the issues in terms of codes versus inferences, as well as codes accompanied by inferences. Combining reanalysis of the standard problems with a new approach to naturally occurring discourse examples of language use, the book is innovative in grounding pragmatic, semantic and grammatical issues in empirical, sometimes statistical, evidence drawn from spoken corpus research.

The book is intended for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers who have an interest in pragmatics, grammar, and the connection between them. It is suitable for a course on the grammar/pragmatics interface, on pragmatics, and on grammaticization/semanticization. While it should preferably be used in the sequence presented for a grammar/pragmatics interface course, courses with a more specialized focus can make a more selective use of the parts, each of which is designed to stand on its own.