This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of a wide range of developmental and clinical issues in pragmatics. Principally, the contributions to this volume deal with pragmatic competence in a native language, in a second or foreign language, and in a selection of language disorders. The topics which are covered explore questions of production and comprehension on the utterance and discourse level. Topics addressed concern the acquisition and learning, teaching and testing, assessment and treatment of various aspects of pragmatic ability, knowledge and use. These include, for example, the acquisition and development of speech acts, implicatures, irony, story-telling and interactional competence. Phenomena such as pragmatic awareness and pragmatic transfer are also addressed. The disorders considered include clinical conditions pertaining to children and to adults. Specifically, these are, among others, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, and Alzheimer's disease.

This is the first volume to present individual chapters on the full range of developmental and acquired pragmatic disorders in children and adults. In chapters that are accessible to students and researchers as well as clinicians, this volume introduces the reader to the different types of pragmatic disorders found in clinical populations as diverse as autism spectrum disorder, traumatic brain injury and right hemisphere language disorder. The volume also moves beyond these well-established populations to include conditions such as congenital visual impairment and non-Alzheimer dementias, in which there are also pragmatic impairments. Through the use of conversational and linguistic data, the reader can see how pragmatic disorders impact on the communication skills of the clients who have them. The assessment and treatment of pragmatic disorders are examined, and chapters also address recent developments in the neuroanatomical and cognitive bases of these disorders.

The selected contributions in this volume bring together applications of pragmatics in speech and language pathology, as well as discussions of the applicability of different theoretical strands of the study of human linguistic interaction and its cognitive bases to the field of communication disorders. The authors address practical issues in the classification, assessment and treatment of pragmatic disorders both in developmental and acquired contexts. Further major concerns are the theoretical foundations of clinical pragmatics (such as linguistic pragmatics, functional approaches to language analysis, and cognitive science), and the development of clinical pragmatics.

This wide-ranging survey of the state of the art in clinical pragmatics includes an examination of pragmatic disorders in previously neglected populations such as juvenile offenders, children and adults with emotional and behavioural disorders, and adults with non-Alzheimer dementias. This book makes a significant contribution to the discussion of pragmatic disorders by exploring topics which have a fast-rising profile in the field. These topics include disorders in which there are both pragmatic and cognitive components, and studies of the complex impacts of pragmatic disorders such as mental health problems, educational disadvantage and social exclusion. This book also presents a critical evaluation of our current state of knowledge of pragmatic disorders. The author focuses on the lack of integration between theoretical and clinical branches of pragmatics and argues that the work of clinicians is all too often inadequately informed by theoretical frameworks. She attempts to bridge these gaps by pursuing a closer alliance of clinical and theoretical branches of pragmatics. It is claimed that this alliance represents the most promising route for the future development of the field. At once a yardstick measuring progress thus far in clinical pragmatics, and also a roadmap for future research development, this single-author volume defines where we have reached in the field, as well as where we have to go next.​

This innovative, comprehensive course textbook uses a clinical approach to explore pragmatics and pragmatic language skills. Drawing on authentic, real-life examples of pragmatic breakdown in children and adults who have developmental or acquired language disorders, Louise Cummings expertly guides readers to core insights and principles for understanding where context and meaning in human communication meet. Key features include: Chapter-opening learning objectives and chapter-closing summaries Authentic illustrative cases of atypical pragmatic interaction Exercises for checking knowledge and understanding Annotated recommended further reading A detailed glossary of important terms in pragmatics and clinical linguistics Aimed equally at undergraduate and graduate students who are coming to pragmatics for the first time, the text discusses the key issues and concepts of this field in a fascinating new way. With a common, easy-to-follow structure across chapters and a wealth of pedagogical resources, this is an essential text for students of linguistics and applied linguistics, communication studies, speech-language pathology, psychology and cognitive science, and beyond.

A critical examination of the current state of our knowledge of pragmatic disorders. It provides a comprehensive overview of the main concepts and theories in pragmatics, examines the full range of pragmatic disorders that occur in children and adults and discusses how they are assessed and treated by clinicians.

The pragmatic system consists of the rules for appropriate and communicatively-effective language use. This book provides an integrated view of the acquisition of the various pragmatic subsystems, including expression of communicative intents, participation in conversation, and production of extended discourse. The three components of the pragmatic system are presented in a way that makes clear how they relate to each other and why they all fall under the rubric of "pragmatics". The authors combine their own extensive work in these three domains with an overview of the field of pragmatic development, describing how linguistic pragmatics relates to other aspects of language development, to social development, and to becoming a member of one's culture.

Questions and exercises on the full range of pragmatic and discourse disorders allow readers to develop and test their understanding.

What are communication disorders? How are they identified, assessed and treated? This introductory textbook presents the full range of developmental and acquired communication disorders, including specific language impairment, dysarthria, apraxia of speech, aphasia and stuttering. Covering clinical features, diagnosis and treatment, the book is an indispensable resource for students of linguistics, and speech and language therapy. Communication Disorders also: - Includes clinical linguistic data throughout to illustrate specific features of communication disorders - discusses disorders often neglected in introductory books, such as glossectomy and gender dysphoria - Contains in-text references to a companion website which has colour photographs, audio and video files, and 200 self-test questions - Provides exercises with answers, key point boxes, case studies, suggested readings and a glossary