Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics) 3rd Edition by Alan Cruse (PDF)

Description

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the ways in which meaning is conveyed in language, covering not only semantic matters but also topics normally considered to fall under pragmatics. Above all, the book displays and explains the richness and subtlety of meaning, with the aid of numerous examples and exercises throughout the text. Highly readable, written with style and wit, Meaning in Language is not bound to any particular theory, but provides explanations of theoretical approaches and perspectives as the context requires, with a stress throughout on the need for conceptual clarity. The text and exercises in this third edition have been fully updated to take into account the most recent developments in the field and new chapters have been added, one on the semantics of prepositions and another on the semantics of derivational affixes.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review Praise for the Second Edition “Enjoyable throughout…an extremely good textbook. … Certainly, the cognitive theory of meaning will get a boost with this introductory textbook.”–Linguist List About the Author Alan Cruse was formerly Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Manchester.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I was delighted to find an introductory book aimed at students of language written by someone with an eye toward where semantics and pragmatics overlap (I think it’s a terrible misfortune that they are separate disciplines). Cruse’s 3rd/2011 edition is a wonderful pragmatic-oriented survey of issues in (primarily English) semantics. It gives clear and concise summaries of many important topics (emphasizing lexical semantics, reference, and pragmatic inferences), along with penetrating examples, and–unlike many of its siblings–does not get hung up on idiosyncratic examples or convoluted formalisms. The author has a great sense of humor aimed at those who appreciate wordplay, presumably everyone who would consider reading it.

⭐It deals with a complex subject in a complex way. At times its explanations are opaque for someone who is not conversant with the discipline. Certainly not a book for someone who is looking for an introduction

⭐Easy to read. Good introduction to present-day semantics of natural language. The final chapter on pragmatics is a bonus, as most texts about general semantics say little about pragmatics.

⭐Easy read and easy to follow.

⭐Great read if you are looking for an an easily understandable book on language and logic. Recommended to anyone looking for a starter book on these subjects.

⭐This is a book I wish I had read years ago. Cruse has an ear for detail coupled with a gift for clarity and when it comes to giving readers a full sense of how phrasing and context influence meaning in communication there’s not much if anything that he misses. I think the only terms he missed were chiasmus and eponym.The writing flows smoothly, the concepts build on each other and by then end one has a terrific vocabulary for describing a wide variety of semantic structures. While the examples are mostly English, any student or teacher of language would be well served to have a copy on hand if only for the precise definitions and the entirely apropos and sometimes quite humorous illustrative examples. In particular I loved the ways in which he treated ambiguity, apposition, categorization, hidden rules of usage and his view of language as a multi-dimensional linked network of associations..

⭐The book as a lot of awesome detail. The author really gets you into it. It’s a great read! Keeps me coming back for more.

⭐A good refresher couse from my Semantics class back in Jr. High School. I am spending extra time in working with my Linguistics skills that I took for granted in jr. high school. I will keep you posted as I go along and advance.

⭐My entry to this field came from reading Lakoff, but I had read Murphy (both referenced in Cruse) earlier. I write computer software that consults a real-world ontology (Wordnet), and hopefully will soon construct ontologies automatically by reference to Wikipedia and the like. I found Framenet and Verbnet on the Web but they are of little use. For example, the verb “drive” has a subject that is “animate”. True, but far too general. People drive vehicles, whilst dogs drive sheep. And incidentally, pre-amplifiers drive power amplifiers, but these are not animate. So at least 3 polysemes that should be treated separately.So I read books like this one by Cruse (and Pinker, Lakoff, Deutscher, Jackendoff), for clues as to how to write the code. But I am having to make it all up myself. Reading the books should help to lay out the constraints on the solutions.Even when they get deeper than syntax, Linguistic books seem to be stuck with the early stage of checking for “well-formedness”. Well, Wikipedia is already well-formed, so this obsession is of little use to me.But this Cruse book seems to inform me. I will now go back to his earlier joint books on Verb Frames.

⭐book contains inaccuracies and orthography mistakes in the examples in the foreign languages.

⭐good material for diploma studies

⭐Muy interesante! . Es conveniente una buena formación gramatical antes de leerlo.Y muchas ganas de aprender, abstenerse sin un buen nivel de ingles.語彙意味論、意味論、語用論のテキストである。初版（1999）、第2版（2004）、そして第3版と版を重ねているところを見ると、語彙意味論、意味論、語用論の大学および大学院テキストとして評判が良いからであろう。評者も大学院で使ったことがある。益するところ大であった。たとえば、1.Britain lies under 1m of snow.2.Britain mourns the death of the Queen Mother’s corgi.3. Britain has declared war on San Marino.ではどれも「英国」であるが、細かく見ると１は地理的な「英国」であり、２は英国民としての「英国」であり、３は政治的な「英国」（＝英国政府）である。このような微細な違いはいくら丁寧に辞書を見ても分からない。もう一例をあげよう。４. My mother was only two years old when war broke out.この英文は正しいのだが何となく違和感がある。これをうまく説明する用語として「時間を超えた同一人物の普遍性」（constancy of identity over time）を紹介している。などなど。ただ用例の容認性の判断と意味解釈は著者Cruseの直観的判断であるので、英米人はみな同じ反応をするかというとその保証はない。このことを頭において読む必要があるが、本書にはダイヤモンドの原石がゴロゴロころがっているといっても過言ではない。素晴らしいテキストであり研究書でもある。

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