John L. Austin" was one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century. The William James Lectures presented Austin's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts on a wide variety of philosophical problems. These talks became the classic "How to Do Things with Words." For this second edition, the editors have returned to Austin's original lecture notes, amending the printed text where it seemed necessary. Students will find the new text clearer, and, at the same time, more faithful to the actual lectures. An appendix contains literal transcriptions of a number of marginal notes made by Austin but not included in the text. Comparison of the text with these annotations provides new dimensions to the study of Austin's work.

《走近形式语用学》是《西方最新语言学理论译介》丛书的一种，系统介绍了当前国际语言学界关于形式语用学的最新进展，内容包括语用推理的实用逻辑观念；言语行为理论的形式语用学；博弈语用学；量化、数量和形式潜伏语用分析条件句增力研究；汉语违实句分析等。《走近形式语用学》在介绍西方理论的同时，力求有原创性的观点和分析。《走近形式语用学》还特别注重对汉语的研究，研究课题基本上都是在中文出版物中较新的题目。