Introduction to Semantics

This textbook helps undergraduate students of language and linguistics taking their first steps in one of the core areas of grammar, introducing them to the basic ideas, insights, and techniques of contemporary semantic theory. Requiring no special background knowledge, the book starts with everyday observations about word meaning and use and then hightlights the role of structure in the analysis of the meanings of phrases and clauses, zooming in on the fascinating and vexing question of how speakers manage to meaningfully communicate with sentences and texts they have never come across before. At the same time, the reader becomes acquainted with the modern, functionalist characterization of linguistic meaning in terms of reference (extension) and information (intension), and learns to apply technical tools from formal logic to analyzing the meaning of complex linguistic expressions as being composed by the meanings of their parts. Each of the nine main chapters contains a variety of exercises for self-study and classroom use, with model solutions in the appendix. Extensive English examples provide ample illustration.

• A highly accessible introduction to an elementary subfield of linguistics
• A must-have for all first year students of linguistics world-wide
• Requires no previous knowledge of formal logic
• Contains exercises plus an answer key perfect for self-study and classroom use
• A rich selection of English examples and phenomena
• Exceptional in its extensive treatment of compositional semantics
  

Thomas Ede Zimmermann, Goethe University Frankfurt; Wolfgang Sternefeld, University of Tübingen.