Pragmatics: Current developments in the philosophy of language and linguistics

Abstract This special issue presents a snapshot of pragmatics at a moment of rapid expansion, where the field’s traditional concerns with speech acts, implicature, and reference now intersect with questions of power, social norms, and psychological agency. Moving beyond familiar textbook examples, the contributions selected here examine how language operates within contexts of public contestation, interpersonal conflict, digital communication, and even private reasoning. Several papers revisit core pragmatic concepts; others extend pragmatic tools into new domains. Together, these articles demonstrate a field both theoretically rigorous and socially attuned, revealing pragmatics as the site where fine-grained linguistic structure meets the broader dynamics of social life.