Introduction 8 Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. It studies the following topics: deixis(指示功能), speech acts, indirect language, conversation, politeness, cross-cultural communication, and presupposition. Dai he 2002:84)Introduction ❖ Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. It studies the following topics: deixis (指示功能), speech acts, indirect language, conversation, politeness, cross-cultural communication, and presupposition. (Dai & He, 2002: 84)