Why do speakers of all languages use different grammatical structures under different communicative circumstances to express the same idea? Professor Lambrecht explores the relationship between the structure of the sentence and the linguistic and extra-linguistic context in which it is used. His analysis is based on the observation that the structure of a sentence reflects a speaker's assumption about the hearer's state of knowledge and consciousness at the time of the utterance. This relationship between speaker assumptions and formal sentence structure is governed by rules and conventions of grammar, in a component called 'information structure'. Four independent but interrelated categories are analysed: presupposition and assertion, identifiability and activation, topic, and focus.

The relationship between language and ideology has long been central to research in discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, and has also informed other fields such as sociology and literary criticism. This book, by one of the world's leading pragmatists, introduces a new framework for the study of ideology in written language, using the tools, methods and theories of pragmatics and discourse analysis. Illustrations are drawn systematically from a coherent corpus of excerpts from late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history textbooks dealing with episodes of colonial history and in particular the 1857 'Indian Mutiny'. It includes the complete corpus of excerpts, allowing researchers and students to evaluate all illustrations; at the same time, it provides useful practice and training materials. The book is intended as a teaching tool in language-, discourse- and communication-oriented programs, but also for historians and social and political scientists.

《言外的语言学:日语语用学》的内容翔实，除在绪论中总的介绍了语言的内含意义和具体意义、语义学和语用学的区别、意义和语境、语境和含意之间的关系等有关语用学的入门知识之外，全书再分成五章：分别就意义、指示、推意（含意）、前提和言语行为等普通语用学必论的基本课题进行了详尽的讨论。小泉教授一反语言学专著的艰涩难懂、枯燥无味，他的《言外的语言学:日语语用学》读起来明白生动、饶有趣味，对书中的每个论题，他总爱引用日本的或外国的典故或传说作为引子，这些故事题材广泛，涉及日、外的文学、社会、文化、民俗，读者阅读《言外的语言学:日语语用学》，不但了解到论题中的语用现象，而且还增长了不少文学、历史、文化和民俗方面的知识。仅凭专著的这种安排，我们就不禁为小泉教授的渊博学识而折服。

《语用学》是《当代国外语言学与应用语言学文库》中的一本。《当代国外语言学与应用语言学文库》首批54种自2000年9月问世以来，取得很大成功，首印5000套供不应求，10月份便分开重印6000套。能在短短的几个月内出版发行如此宏大规模的语言学著作，这在我国学术出版发行史上是不多见的。自出版以来，许多单位和个人争相订购，研究生和大学生生把《文库》视为良师益友，教师无论老中青都把《文库》视为知识更新的源泉。实践证明，外研社推出的《文库》受到了国内语言学界和外语教学界的普遍好评，它将成为推动我国语言学教学与研究和外语教学与研究的一个宝库。 在成功出版《文库》首批54种的基础上，外研社现在又推出《文库》第二批58种。《文库》第二批具有五大特色：一、由58部英文原著组成，所覆盖的学科从首批的26个增加到现在的33个，新增学科包括语言学史、语言哲学、认知语言学、人类语言学、语言的起源、语法化学说等，能更广泛地满足读者的需求；二、收入了当代语言学大师索绪尔、萨丕尔、布龙菲尔德、韩礼德、乔姆斯基、奥斯汀、格莱斯、利奇等名家的最有影响的伤口具有更高的权威性；三、增加了牛津大学出版社、哈佛大学出版社等世界知名出版社出版的语言学经典著作；四、依然配有专家导读，专家的队伍比首批更为强大；五、世界著名语言学家乔姆斯基教授和我国著名语言学家沈家煊教授作序。