Semantics (eBook)

John I. Saeed is a Fellow of Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland, where he is a professor of linguistics. He is the author of several books, including Irish Sign Language: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach (with Lorraine Leeson, 2012), and Somali (1999).

List of Figures.

Preface.

List of Abbreviations.

Part I: Preliminaries:.

1. Semantics in Linguistics.

Introduction.

Semantics and Semiotics.

Three Challenges in Doing Semantics.

Meeting the Challenges.

Semantics in a Model of Grammar.

Some Important Assumptions.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

2. Meaning, Thought and Reality.

Introduction.

Reference.

Reference as a Theory of Meaning.

Mental Representations.

Words, Concepts and Thinking.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

Part II: Semantic Description:.

3. Word Meaning.

Introduction.

Words and Grammatical Categories.

Words and Lexical Items.

Problems and Pinning Down Word Meaning.

Lexical Relations.

Derivational Relations.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

4. Sentence Relations and Truth.

Introduction.

Logic and Truth.

Necessary Truth, A Priori Truth and Analyticity.

Entailment.

Presupposition.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

5. Sentence Semantics 1: Situations.

Introduction.

Classifying Situations.

Modality and Evidentiality.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

6. Sentence Semantics 2: Participants.

Introduction: Classifying Participants.

Thematic Roles.

Grammatical Relations and Thematic Roles.

Verbs and Thematic Role Grids.

Problems with Thematic Roles.

The Motivation for Identifying Thematic Roles.

Voice.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

7. Context and Inference.

Introduction.

Deixis.

Reference and Context.

Knowledge as Context.

Information Structure.

Inference.

Conversational Implicature.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

8. Functions of Language: Speech as Action.

Introduction.

Austin's Speech Act Theory.

Categorizing Speech Acts.

Indirect Speech Acts.

Sentence Types.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

Part III: Theoretical Approaches:.

9. Meaning Components.

Introduction.

Lexical Relations in CA.

Katz's Semantic Theory.

Grammatical Rules and Semantic Components.

Components and Conflation Patterns.

Jackendoff's Conceptual Structure.

Problems with Components of Meaning.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

10. Formal Semantics.

Introduction.

Model-Theoretical Semantics.

Translating English into Logical Metalanguage.

The Semantics of the Logical Metalanguage.

Checking the Truth Value of Sentences.

Intensionality.

Word Meaning: Meaning Postulates.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

11. Cognitive Semantics.

Introduction.

Metaphor.

Image Schemas.

Polysemy.

Mental Spaces.

Construing a Scene.

Summary.

Further Reading.

Exercises.

Notes.

References.

Index.

"This lively book provides a truly comprehensive introduction to
current linguistic semantics. Used in introductory and intermediate
courses in semantics, it will supply teachers with an easy to use
basic text and students with an accessible source of dependable
information." Ronnie Cann, University of Edinburgh.

"This is a solid well-written and very comprehensive textbook
that will prove an invaluable resource in introductoy semantics
classes. The exercises are especially useful and the sections on
theoretical approaches represent ideal links to more advanced
semantic theory." David Adger, University of York.