This handbook provides a comprehensive overview, as well as breaking new ground, in a versatile and fast growing field. It contains four sections: Contrastive, Cross-cultural and Intercultural Pragmatics, Interlanguage Pragmatics, Teaching and Testing of Second/Foreign Language Pragmatics, and Pragmatics in Corporate Culture Communication, covering a wide range of topics, from speech acts and politeness issues to Lingua Franca and Corporate Crises Communication. The approach is theoretical, methodological as well as applied, with a focus on authentic, interactional data. All articles are written by renowned leading specialists, who provide in-depth, up-to-date overviews, and view new directions and visions for future research.

The contributions to this volume together confirm that though context and culture are complex and difficult notions, they are crucial to understanding the professional genres of modern business communication. In today's globalised business environment, professionals of all backgrounds are under pressure to employ new and different discourse standards to allow for smoother production and reception of business documents and dialogues. In this changing environment, the success of any commercial activity will depend on how competently business professionals respond to the cultural sensitivities and preferences of their partners. Taking a variety of approaches to professional genres, including customer complaints, mission statements, international contracts and decision-making meetings, the authors explore complex aspects of both cross-cultural and interpersonal issues in business discourse and suggest practical applications of their analytical findings.