Semantics

This is a general introduction to semantics for readers new to the subject. The book is designed to be accessible to undergraduate students of language and linguistics, as well as the general reader. The aim of the book is to introduce some of the central areas of investigation in the field, and to enable the reader to proceed into the more specialized and technical literature. The book is organized into three parts: the first is concerned with the place of semantics within linguistics and its relationship to other disciplines, such as philosophy and psychology, which share some of the same interests. Part two is the main part of the book, and introduces central topics in the description of word and sentence meaning. Part three reviews three important current theoretical approaches to semantics. Each chapter contains exercises to familiarize the reader with the practice of semantic description.