Semantics 3/e

The third edition of this popular textbook provides an engaging and accessible introduction to semantics for students new to the field.
Explores the basic concepts and methods of the field and discusses some of the most important contemporary lines of research
Contains new solutions to chapter exercises in order to familiarize the student with the practice of semantic description
Completely revised and updated to reflect recent theoretical developments
Includes new sections on classifiers and noun classes, as well as conceptual integration

John I. Saeed is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Head of the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College, University of Dublin. He is the author of several books, including Somali Reference Grammar (second edition, 1993) and Somali (1999).

“This book is an invaluable resource for students and instructors. It offers impressively broad coverage of semantic theory, and it strikes an ideal balance between theoretical developments and empirical investigation.”
Christopher Potts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“This lively and engaging book provides an excellent introduction to current linguistic semantics.
Its coverage is comprehensive, taking readers from foundational concepts, through descriptive techniques, to theoretical approaches to the subject. The use of languages other than English to exemplify the discussion is particularly refreshing, and this revised edition will continue to provide teachers with a clear and easy to use textbook, and students with a solid foundation in semantics.”
Ronnie Cann, Edinburgh University

List of Figures and Tables.
Preface.
Abbreviations and Symbols.
Part I: Preliminaries.
1. Semantics in Linguistics.
1.1 Introduction.
1.2 Semantics and Semiotics.
1.3 Three Challenges in Doing Semantics.
1.4 Meeting the Challenges.
1.5 Semantics in a Model of Grammar.
1.6 Some Important Assumptions.
1.7 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
2. Meaning, Thought and Reality.
2.1 Introduction.
2.2 Reference.
2.3 Reference as a Theory of Meaning.
2.4 Mental Representations.
2.5 Words, Concepts and Thinking.
2.6 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
Part II: Semantic Description.
3. Word Meaning.
3.1 Introduction.
3.2 Words and Grammatical Categories.
3.3 Words and Lexical Items.
3.4 Problems with Pinning Down Word Meaning.
3.5 Lexical Relations.
3.6 Derivational Relations.
3.7 Lexical Universals.
3.8 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
4. Sentence Relations and Truth.
4.1 Introduction.
4.2 Logic and Truth.
4.3 Necessary Truth, A Priori Truth and Analyticity.
4.4 Entailment.
4.5 Presupposition.
4.6 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
5. Sentence Semantics 1: Situations.
5.1 Introduction.
5.2 Classifying Situations.
5.3 Modality and Evidentiality.
5.4 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
6. Sentence Semantics 2: Participants.
6.1 Introduction: Classifying Participants.
6.2 Thematic Roles.
6.3 Grammatical Relations and Thematic Roles.
6.4 Verbs and Thematic Role Grids.
6.5 Problems with Thematic Roles.
6.6 The Motivation for Identifying Thematic Roles.
6.7 Voice.
6.8 Classifiers and Noun Classes.
6.9 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
7. Context and Inference.
7.1 Introduction.
7.2 Deixis.
7.3 Reference and Context.
7.4 Knowledge as Context.
7.5 Information Structure.
7.6 Inference.
7.7 Conversational Implicature.
7.8 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
8. Functions of Language: Speech as Action.
8.1 Introduction.
8.2 Austin’s Speech Act Theory.
8.3 Categorizing Speech Acts.
8.4 Indirect Speech Acts.
8.5 Sentence Types.
8.6 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
Part III: Theoretical Approaches.
9. Meaning Components.
9.1 Introduction.
9.2 Lexical Relations in CA.
9.3 Katz’s Semantic Theory.
9.4 Grammatical Rules and Semantic Components.
9.5 Components and Conflation Patterns.
9.6 Jackendoff’s Conceptual Structure.
9.7 Pustejovsky’s Generative Lexicon.
9.8 Problems with Components of Meaning.
9.9 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
10. Formal Semantics.
10.1 Introduction.
10.2 Model-Theoretical Semantics.
10.3 Translating English into a Logical Metalanguage.
10.4 The Semantics of the Logical Metalanguage.
10.5 Checking the Truth-Value of Sentences.
10.6 Word Meaning: Meaning Postulates.
10.7 Natural Language Quantifiers and Higher Order Logic.
10.8 Intensionality.
10.9 Dynamic Approaches to Discourse.
10.10 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
11. Cognitive Semantics.
11.1 Introduction.
11.2 Metaphor.
11.3 Metonymy.
11.4 Image Schemas.
11.5 Polysemy.
11.6 Mental Spaces.
11.7 Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar.
11.8 Summary.
Further reading.
Exercises.
Solutions to Selected Exercises.
Bibliography.
Index