ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the definition and origin of pragmatics, tracing its beginnings in philosophy and its emergence as a sub-field of linguistics. Distinction is drawn between the Anglo-American and the Continental European tradition within pragmatics and the resultant distinction between a ‘component view’ and a ‘perspective view’, respectively. Through the process of defining pragmatics, we outline an approach that embraces the richness of both the component and perspective positions. The chapter also surveys the ways in which pragmatics has been studied over the years, from introspection to the empirical turn. More recent developments within the empirical approach are detailed in terms of the core functions of corpus linguistics. The chapter showcases the main corpus software functions, with sample analyses and screenshots. These functions include the use of word frequency and key word lists and concordance lines. This brings the reader through the typical iterative analytical processes of this approach in the context of the study of pragmatics. The chapter also explores definitions of multi-word units, collocation, colligation and semantic prosody. Finally, there is an overview of the chapters in the book. The chapter ends with a set of recommended readings.
