Meaning in English: An Introduction

by Javier Valenzuela

Overview

This lively, compact textbook introduces readers to semantics - the study of how we construct meaning in communication. Easy to follow, and with a clear structure, it explains formal terminology in a simple and understandable way, without using formal notation or logic, and draws on dozens of examples from up-to-date empirical research findings. Offering a tight integration of classic semantic issues with cognitive science, Javier Valenzuela provides a complete and coherent overview of the main topics in this area, including a review of the empirical methods used in semantic theorizing, and discussions of both non-traditional and new topics, such as how meaning is acquired by children and how meaning is constructed cross-linguistically. Featuring illustrations, exercises, activities, suggestions for further reading, highlighted key terms, and a comprehensive glossary, this book is accessible to beginners and undergraduates, including those from non-linguistic backgrounds with no prior knowledge of linguistic analysis. It will be an essential resource for courses in English language, English studies, linguistics and the cognitive sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107096370
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2017
Series:	Cambridge Introductions to the English Language
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	7.09(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Javier Valenzuela is a Tenured Professor in Linguistics at the University of Murcia. He is the author of Lingüística y cognición: el lenguaje desde la lingüística cognitiva (with Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano, forthcoming) and editor of Lingüística Cognitiva (with Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2012) and he has published in journals including Cognitive Science, the Journal of Pragmatics, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and Language Sciences. He also served as President of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association from 2012 to 2016.

Table of Contents

1. What is semantics?; 2. Analyzing meaning; 3. Language and thought; 4. Word meaning; 5. Meaning relations; 6. Acquisition of meaning and cross-linguistic meaning; 7. Figurative meaning; 8. Sentential meaning; 9. Discourse meaning and pragmatics.