Pragmatic Competence Book

Ronald Carter's publication, 'Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk' is an attempt to build on existing theories of creativity in order to examine whether language can be a creative phenomenon in everyday conversation, or specifically reserved for the solitary literary genius. It asks questions such as whether we create language ourselves or simply build upon existing idioms within the general mass populace, bringing about an argument as to whether anyone can create linguistic creativity, either with conscious effort or via literary devices.
The book itself is in actuality the first set-text for the Open University Level 3 module 'E301: The Art of English', which explores the English language as a creative phenomenon in both spoken and written interaction. I chose to take this module as an optional course in order to complete a BA in Humanities with English Language, and this book certainly aids in helping to understand what the OU's course materials attempt to teach its students. In fact, Ronald Carter himself provides a few articles and chapters to the E301 module, so this first set-text is an excellent addition to what is an already interesting academic journey.
Published by Routledge in 2004, it can be said that the examples that Carter provides are a bit dated, especially since, in 2014, we are steadily entering into a greater technological age with smartphones, and computer tablets, for example. (This goes for the course itself I would say.) However, Carter's utilisation of the Cancode database and heavy focus on other such linguistic corpora illustrates just how he attempts to explore everyday language as creative in its ubiquitous presence.
Splitting his publication into three parts of 'Backgrounds and Theories', 'Forms and Functions' and 'Contexts and Variations', Carter outlines examples and explorations of spoken discourse taken from the Cancode database across six chapters altogether. He focuses on the clines and continua of linguistic creativity, with background exploration of theories from fellow linguists and scholars, in order to examine how our everyday speech can be seen as a creative act, using viewpoints from various cultures and time periods.
I would say that 'The Art of Common Talk' is definitely not intended for light reading; far from it. The E301 course team gives its students two weeks to read this set-text, and I found it extremely difficult to follow for the first few days. However, once I got into Carter's format and began to understand his terminology better, I became enthralled with the idea that language can have the power for fictional worlds to be created on a daily basis, via our creative methods of language usage. We ultimately have power over our spoken interaction, which can be either intertextually influenced or created via interdiscursive methods.
If you are an aspiring linguist and decide to pick up this book as some exploration of the art of spoken discourse, please be patient and take your time in coming to grips with Carter's own specific methodology regarding his subject matter. I would give the same advice to Open University E301 students, and I would also advise that you work with your tutor and fellow students in examining Carter's viewpoints from a critical perspective, especially since it is more than likely that the OU will expect at least some reference to this material when submitting your tutor-marked assignments online.