While ritual is often associated with phenomena such as ceremonies, cursing and etiquette, it actually encompasses something much more important: it includes all instances of communally oriented language use. As such, ritual manifests itself in many forms in our daily lives, such as politeness, swearing and humour, and in many different life situations, spanning trash talk in sports events, through market bargaining, to conventional social pleasantries. This pioneering book provides an introduction to ritual language use by providing a cutting-edge, language-anchored and replicable framework applicable for the study of ritual in different datatypes and languages. The framework is illustrated with a wealth of case studies drawn from Chinese and Anglophone rituals which demonstrate how to use it effectively. The book is essential reading for both academics and students, and is relevant to pragmatics, applied linguistics and other fields.

‘Kádár's book provides an engaging and rigorous account of the language use of ritual, which is a key phenomenon in human interaction. The author manages to bring the reader into the realm of ritual through a legion of intriguing examples, which make it a real pleasure to read this book. Ritual and Language is a must-read!’

Juliane House - Professor Emerita, University of Hamburg, and Professor, Hungarian Centre of Linguistics and Hellenic American University

‘In this highly readable and carefully argued monograph, Dániel Kádár puts forth the view that ritual is not just one aspect of language use but possibly the most primordial form of interpersonal pragmatics. As such, Ritual and Language deserves serious attention from those who are interested in language use in its various manifestations.’

Rong Chen - Professor at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino

‘Far from being limited to ceremonies, rituals are ubiquitous and vital in everyday social interaction. Yet they have not received a due attention in pragmatics, compared to politeness. Dániel Kádár, an eminent scholar of pragmatics, fills this gap and offers a thought-provoking theory of ritual, supported by an innovative bottom-up pragmatic approach, replicable across languages and contexts. A groundbreaking contribution to the field of pragmatics!’

Shigeko Okamoto - Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz

‘This impressive book offers a well-reasoned prioritisation of the central impact of ritual on all our communication practices. With plenty of data and the inclusion of replicable techniques for analysis, Ritual and Language provides new and seasoned researchers alike with systematic tools to question and critically explore interaction and social meaning.’

Meredith Marra - Director, Language in the Workplace, Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington