The Handbook of Pragmatics aims to provide easy access for scholars with widely divergent backgrounds, but with convergent interests in the use and functioning of language to the different topics, traditions and methods which together make up the field of Pragmatics, broadly conceived as the cognitive, social and cultural study of language and communication. The Handbook of Pragmatics will be an annually updated publication. The main body of the Handbook will be produced in loose-leaf format in a handsome 3-ring binder and is preceded by a bound Manual which contains a descriptive catalogue of all the major traditions and methods related to Pragmatics. The Manual was written by over 100 contributors. Within the subsequent five years, the loose-leaf Handbook will provide descriptions of all central topics and concepts in Pragmatics. After this phase, the Handbook will continue to be expanded and updated annually. The project is thus a state-of-the-art source book for researchers.The Handbook of Pragmatics is one of the major tools of the International Pragmatics Association to achieve its goals: of disseminating knowledge about pragmatic aspects of language; of stimulating various fields of application by making this knowledge accessible and revealing different points of view and various methodologies; of finding, in the process, a significant degree of coherence.