This book investigates the fundamental mechanisms of linguistic communication, specifically questioning how speakers and hearers successfully coordinate meaning despite the limitations of standard semantic and pragmatic theories. Ernest Lepore and Matthew Stone, both established scholars in the philosophy of language, challenge the traditional divide between literal meaning and contextual inference. They propose a new framework that emphasizes the active, imaginative role of participants in constructing shared understanding during discourse.

Experts in the philosophy of language recognize this work as a significant challenge to established paradigms in communication theory. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in analytic philosophy to fully grasp the authors' arguments.