Pragmatics is one of the most fascinating fields in linguistics. Going
beyond the literal meaning of utterances, it is concerned with the
study of phenomena that crucially rely on context and speaker
intentions. Recent years have seen a shift in focus to empirical
investigations of core phenomena ranging from conversational
implicature to politeness. In this seminar, we will take a close look
at selected studies, and you will develop your very own study to
investigate politeness.