This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the ways in which meaning is conveyed in language, covering not only semantic matters but also topics normally considered to fall under pragmatics. Above all, the book displays and explains the richness and subtlety of meaning, with the aid of numerous examples and exercises throughout the text. Highly readable, written with style and wit, Meaning in Language is not bound to any particular theory, but provides explanations of theoretical approaches and perspectives as the context requires, with a stress throughout on the need for conceptual clarity.
The text and exercises in this third edition have been fully updated to take into account the most recent developments in the field and new chapters have been added, one on the semantics of prepositions and another on the semantics of derivational affixes.
PART 1 FUNDAMENTAL NOTIONS ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Logic and Meaning ; 3. Concepts and Meaning ; PART 2 WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS ; 4. Lexical Units ; 5. Contextual Variability of Word Meaning ; 6. Paradigmatic Relations of Inclusion and Identity ; 7. Paradigmatic Relations of Exclusion and Opposition ; 8. Lexical Hierarchies ; 9. Syntagmatic Semantic Relations ; 10. Describing Lexical Senses 1: Dimensions and Structures ; 11. Describing lexical Senses 2: Approaches to the Specification of Word Meanings ; 12. Extensions of Meaning ; PART 3 GRAMMATICAL MEANING ; 13. Grammatical Meaning: Nouns and Noun Phrases ; 14. Argument Structure and Transitivity ; 15. Grammatical Meaning: Verbs and Adjectives ; 16. The Semantics of Prepositions ; 17. The Semantics of Derivational Affixes ; PART 4 PRAGMATICS ; 18. Speech Acts ; 19. Reference and Deixis ; 20. Conversational Implicatures ; Epilogue ; Answers to Questions ; References ; Author Index ; Subject Index
