While the focus of this chapter is on semantics and pragmatics from a usage- based perspective, it also examines why a separate tradition that does not reject a modular view of language, Cognitive Pragmatics, has developed in parallel. We believe our comparative approach will prove useful for those interested in Cognitive Linguistics. The main objective of this chapter is thus twofold, since we pro- pose to account for the emergence and establishment of the semantic-pragmatic continuum in the usage-based paradigm, while also explaining the rise of a distinct paradigm dedicated exclusively to pragmatics.