The introduction situates the thirteen chapters of the volume in the field of discourse–pragmatic and change. It begins by explaining the history of the field, which was created from various strands of existing research in variationist sociolinguistics and pragmatics, and is now represented by the Discourse–Pragmatic Variation and Change (DiPVaC) Research Network, a group of scholars from a wide range of disciplines including sociolinguistics, pragmatics, conversation analysis, second language acquisition, corpus linguistics, and language contact. The introduction establishes the scope of the volume by identifying three major themes, including innovations in theory and method, innovative variables in English, and language contact, and explains how these themes fit together. It introduces the terminology used throughout the volume. Finally, it presents the structure of the volume and highlights the diverse perspectives, data sources, languages of analysis, and methodological and theoretical contributions of each chapter.

This study analyzes the use of general extenders in recorded conversations in English and Spanish between nine pairs of young adult Spanish–English bilingual friends from Southern Arizona. Building on previous studies in both languages, 325 tokens of general extenders were analyzed quantitatively according to frequency, length in words, and function (referential or non–referential), as well as the gender and language dominance of participants. It was expected that general extenders would be susceptible to borrowing in a language contact situation since discourse–pragmatic features often appear on the periphery of grammar and are detachable. However, in the speech of the same Spanish–English bilinguals, contact with English did not appear to influence the use of general extenders in Spanish. No English forms of general extenders were found in Spanish. Moreover, general extenders in Spanish were significantly longer and were used to fulfill referential functions more often than general extenders in English. As the first study to analyze the use of general extenders in English and Spanish in the speech of the same bilinguals, these results underline the ability of bilinguals to both understand and reproduce the subtleties of the use of these features in the two languages they speak.

After a brief overview of the advent of functional approaches to language in the mid– and late 1900s, stressing the importance of investigating pragmatic, i.e. implicit aspects of language use, and of simultaneously approaching language from different perspectives, this overview stresses the importance of understanding – rather than of finding some definite truth about language. The analysis of pragmatic particles (you know, like, well) in the mid–1960s showcased a plethora of challenges for investigations of language function and use that had previously not attracted scholars’ attention. This strand of research has fruitfully continued, especially so within the DiPVaC community, and constantly opens up new avenues of research. This overview lastly offers a reinterpretation of the author’s 1981 study of you know in terms of aspects of responsibility, suggesting that precisely responsibility – and its various facets – need to be given a more central task in future studies of language function and use, discourse, and pragmatics.