Variation and Change -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Introduction -- 1. Approaches to variation and change -- 2. Diachronic analysis and 'pathways' of change -- 3. Intra-lingual variation -- 4. Cross-language variation -- 5. Summary and outlook -- References -- Borrowing -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Short historical overview -- 3. Definitions of borrowing: Terminological issues -- 4. Different types/classifications of borrowing -- 5. The integration of borrowings -- 6. Constraints -- 7. Quantitative approaches -- 8. Psycholinguistic approaches -- References -- Contact linguistics -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Contact in relation to classificatory bases in linguistics -- 3. Contact and location -- 4. Direction of interference -- 5. Indirect influence in language contact -- 6. Contact as process: Towards pragmatics -- References -- Creoles and creolization -- References -- Dialect -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Other labels -- 2.1 Variety -- 2.2 Lect -- 2.3 Vernacular -- 2.4 Social dialects -- 3. Dialects as local forms of speech -- 4. Some examples of dialect studies -- 5. Some recent developments in the U.S. -- References -- Dialectology -- 1. Definition -- 2. An outline of history -- 3. Aims of the investigation -- 3.1 The impact of history on the origin and evolution of languages -- 3.2 Linguistic reconstruction -- 3.3 The study of universals of language, especially implicational scales -- 3.4 Sociopragmatic and attitudinal aspects -- 3.5 Communicative aspects -- 4. Dialect atlases -- References -- Evolutionary pragmatics -- 1. Pragmaticism, pragmatics, adaptation and the evolution of language -- 2. Sign-functions and their evolutionary significance -- 2.1 The triad of sign functions -- 2.2 The evolutionary interpretation of the triad of functions -- 2.3 Selective value of communication and symbolic behavior.

3. Can the pragmatics of tool production and tool-use tell us something about the origin of language? -- 3.1 Instrumentality in higher mammals and man -- 3.2 Is tool-making a pragmatic source of propositional semantics? -- 3.3 Cro-Magnon life space and the pragmatic space of decorated caves -- 4. From ecological to cultural pragmatics -- 5. Conclusions -- References -- Historical linguistics -- 1. Introduction -- 2. HL in pre-generative work -- 3. HL and generative grammar -- 4. New perspectives -- 5. Explicit -- References -- Historical pragmatics -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Origins -- 3. Data problems -- 4. Topics -- 4.1 Discourse markers -- 4.2 Speech acts -- 4.3 Politeness -- 5. New perspectives -- References -- Implicature and language change -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Analyses citing conversational principles -- 3. Implicature and metaphor -- 4. Implicature, metonymy and merger -- 5. Inferences based on lexical concepts -- 6. Summary -- References -- Interlanguage pragmatics -- 1. Definition and scope -- 2. Pragmatic comprehension -- 2.1 Comprehension of nonliteral utterances -- 2.2 Assessment of politeness -- 2.3 Sociopragmatic assessment -- 3. Production of linguistic action -- 4. Development of pragmatic competence -- 4.1 Cross-sectional studies -- 4.2 Longitudinal studies -- 4.3 Theoretical accounts -- 5. Pragmatic transfer -- 5.1 Definition -- 5.2 Positive transfer -- 5.3 Negative transfer -- 5.4 Transferability -- 6. Communicative effect -- 7. Pragmatic norms -- 8. Language teaching -- 9. Research methods -- 10. Further reading -- References -- Jargon -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Studies of delinquent jargon and the introduction of a 'value-giving measure' -- 3. Interpretations of antilanguages and their functions -- 3.1 Halliday: The concept of antilanguage -- 3.2 Sociolinguistic functions of delinquent jargon -- 4. Varieties of jargon.

5. Conclusions -- References -- Language change -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Issues in language change -- 2.1 Internal and external factors -- 2.2 Simplicity and symmetry -- 2.3 Iconicity and indexicality -- 2.4 Markedness and naturalness -- 2.5 Telic changes and epiphenomena -- 2.6 Mergers and distinctions -- 2.7 Possible changes -- 2.8 Unidirectionality of change -- 2.9 Ebb and flow -- 3. Change and levels of language -- 3.1 Phonological change -- 3.2 Morphological change -- 3.3 Syntactic change -- 4. The study of universal grammar -- 4.1 The principles and parameters model -- 5. Semantic change -- 6. Pragmatic change -- 7. Methodologies -- 7.1 Comparative method -- 7.2 Internal reconstruction -- 7.3 Analogy -- 8. Sociolinguistic investigations -- 8.1 Data collection methods -- 8.2 Genre variation and stylistics -- 9. Pathways of change -- 9.1 Long-term change: Grammaticalization -- 9.2 Large-scale changes: The typological perspective -- 10. Contact accounts -- 11. Language areas (Sprachbünde) -- 12. Conclusion -- References -- Language contact -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Societal multilingualism -- 3. The bilingual individual -- 4. Language mixing in conversation -- 5. Contact-induced language change -- 6. Contact, typology and language classification -- 7. Concluding remarks -- References -- Reconstruction -- References -- Register -- 1. History of the term 'register' -- 2. Systematization of the term -- 3. Perspectives -- 3.1 Functional linguistics à la Ferguson -- 3.2 Intercultural communication -- 3.3 Linguistic pragmatics -- 3.4 Variation linguistics -- References -- Typology -- References -- Variational pragmatics -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Pragmatic coordinates -- 2.1 The scope of pragmatics -- 2.2 The place in pragmatics -- 2.3 Levels of pragmatic analysis -- 3. Variational coordinates -- 3.1 Variation and identity -- 3.2 Pragmatic variation.

3.3 What is a pragmatic variable? -- 4. Methodological concerns -- 4.1 Some basic principles -- 4.2 Data -- 5. Development -- 5.1 History -- 5.2 Research trends -- 6. Perspectives -- References -- Index -- The series Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights.