Understanding Communication is an introduction to pragmatics aimed primarily at undergraduate students. It provides an introduction to major theoretical issues involved in explaining human communication from a cognitive perspective. The book takes as its starting point the view that communication crucially depends on the expression and recognition of intentions. It examines how this view and the further assumption that people tend to pay attention to those phenomena which seem relevant to them provide the basis for understanding various aspects of communication and the complex relations between them. This, relevance-theoretic, perspective on communication is introduced and explained through detailed use of examples drawn from real-life situations. Accessible and wide-ranging, this textbook will be essential reading for students on linguistics, language and communication studies programmes. Written in an engaging style, it will also appeal to readers with a more general interest in communication.