ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with some of the different senses that the term 'intention' has in pragmatics, and the way they are related to each other. After a brief historical sketch, it describes the intentional approach to pragmatics as an attempt to account for the intentionality of language in terms of intentional action. The chapter explains the basic tenets of two very influential proposals: the Gricean theory of conversation and speech act theory. It also deals with a review of contemporary debates on the foundations of pragmatics where intentions have a predominant role to play. The intentional approach to language is an attempt to bring both senses of 'intention' together by reaching an explanation of the intentionality of language in terms of the intentional performances of social agents. The former initiated a branch of pragmatics mostly focused on communicative processes, whereas the latter aims to explain the occurrence of social performances that imply changes in speakers' normative status.
