This overview of Gumperz' (G) contribution to linguistic anthropology (LA), linguistics, and pragmatics (Pr) shows how from a career shaped in structuralist dialectology, G's interest in linguistic variability led him to structuralism critiques, untill his full-fledged account of contextualization allowed him to break with structuralism and lay the foundations of the semiotic approach to language as social practice (in the construction of social meaning in which interpretation and comprehension are key notions, enlaced with shared common ground construction), marking much current Pr and LA work. His work made situated communicative practice the centre of concerns and central to social reality construction as indicated by his conversational inferencing theory, and intercultural communication a locus for exploring social difference and inequality. The latter recognition provided an advance in the grasp of structure-agency relationships, and an attentional shift in sociolinguistics from linguistic form to linguistic practice. During his "Indian phase", Gumperz had became one of the leading sociolinguists via the formulation of the basic notions of speech community and linguistic repertoire. Some critics mistakingly found him overconcerned with misunderstandings, whilst his foundational work demonstrates a strong concern with power relations. He also made a significant contribution to the transcription process, his way being more akin to the current GAT system.