Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction

by Cliff Goddard

Overview

This lively textbook introduces students and scholars to practical and precise methods for articulating the meanings of words and sentences, and for revealing connections between language and culture. Topics range over emotions, speech acts, words for animals and artifacts, motion, activity verbs, causatives, discourse particles, and nonverbal communication. Alongside English, it features a wide range of other languages, including Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and Australian Aboriginal languages. Undergraduates, graduate students and professional linguists alike will benefit from Goddard's wide-ranging summaries, clear explanations and analytical depth. Meaning is fundamental to language and linguistics. This book shows that the study of meaning can be rigorous, insightful and exciting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199560288
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/25/2011
Series:	Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Cliff Goddard is Professor of Linguistics at Griffith University, Australia. He was previously Professor of Linguistics, University of New England. His books include The Languages of East and Southeast Asia (OUP 2005). He is co-editor with Anna Wierzbicka of Meaning and Universal Grammar (Benjamins 2002) with whom he is currently working on a book concerned with words and meanings.

Table of Contents

1. Semantics: The Study of Meaning2. Three Traditions: Lexicography, Logic, and Structuralism3. NSM and Other Contemporary Approaches4. The Semantics of Emotions5. Speech-act Verbs6. Discourse Particles and Interjections7. Animals and Artefacts8. Motion9. Physical Activity Verbs10. Causatives11. Grammatical Categories12. Developments, Extensions, and ApplicationsSolutions to Selected ExercisesBibliography