An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics (Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language) - Softcover

Griffiths, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474412831 ISBN 13: 9781474412834

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2016

Synopsis

This clear and accessible textbook introduces the crucial concepts essential to your study of the semantics and pragmatics of English. Coverage is wide-ranging, taking you from word meaning to the level of discourse, and explaining how these topics are treated in contemporary linguistic research. Chapters cover adjective, noun and verb meanings, situation types, figurative language, tense, aspect, modality, quantification, topic and focus. Explanations of entailment, compositionality and scope provide a foundation for subsequent study of formal semantics.

Supported by chapter summaries and with plenty of usage examples, exercises and discussion questions, you will not only gain a systematic overview of meaning in English but be equipped with the tools to argue for specific analyses as well.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Griffiths was a professor of English at Beppu University, Japan. He taught courses on semantics, the structure of English, psycholinguistics and general linguistics at a number of universities, including Beppu, the University of the South Pacific, and in the UK at York University and York St John.

Chris Cummins is Reader in Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh. His other works include Pragmatics (EUP, 2019) and Constraints on Numerical Expressions (2015), and he co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Experimental Semantics and Pragmatics (2019) with Napoleon Katsos.

From the Back Cover

‘This is an excellent self-contained introduction to the study of meaning. It is highly engaging, with a sensibly paced introduction of concepts and technical terms that are central to the study of semantics and pragmatics. This new edition provides an excellent update to the material while maintaining the accessible style of the original.’ Ronnie Cann, University of Edinburgh A clear and accessible introduction to the linguistic study of meaning The second edition of this bestselling textbook outlines the meaning potential (semantics) of English and how language knowledge is put to use (pragmatics). Readers will gain a systematic overview of meaning in English and will learn how to frame semantic and pragmatic analyses. The significant concepts introduced include denotation, sense relations (such as antonymy and hyponymy), explicature, implicature, presupposition, metaphor, reference, speech acts and quantification. The new edition of this textbook is compact and self-contained, offering: • Extended exercises at the end of each chapter • Expanded coverage of English pragmatics both at the sentence and discourse level • A new chapter devoted to sense relations • A wide-ranging and theoretically informed approach to meaning • Detailed treatment of selected areas of English. The first edition of An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics was written by Patrick Griffiths. The second edition has been revised by Chris Cummins. Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-1283-4 ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-1281-0 Barcode Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-1283-4 ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-1281-0 Barcode Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-1283-4 ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-1281-0 Barcode

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474412831
• ISBN 13: 9781474412834
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Cummins Chris