Review: Modern Linguitics

The study of linguistic meaning is generally divided in practice into two main fields, semantics and pragmatics. Semantics deals with the literal meaning of words and the meaning of the way they are combined, which taken together form the core of meaning, or the starting point from which the whole meaning of a particular utterance is constructed. Pragmatics deals with all the ways in which literal meaning must be refined, enriched or extended to arrive at an understanding of what a speaker meant in uttering a particular expression.

This book will mainly concentrate on literal meaning, the content of words and This book will mainly concentrate on literal meaning, the content of words and expressions which is fairly constant from one occasion of use to another.

This book grew out of a semantics course taught at the second-year level in the general Arts or Sciences bachelor’s degree at the University of Canterbury. Most of the students are studying linguistics or philosophy as a major subject, but they also come from a number of other fields in the humanities, physical sciences or professional studies. They generally have taken an introductory course in either linguistics or philosophy. A mixed undergraduate class in semantics presents the dilemma of deciding what to do about the conceptual and notational complexity of formal theories. A detailed formalization procedure is not of the greatest interest to many of the students, and if the full formal apparatus is used, it isn’t possible to introduce more than a limited range of data. If a very limited range of data is covered, this leaves a gap in the linguistics programme, particularly for the teaching of syntax, where some acquaintance with semantic issues is increasingly useful and important. The aim of this book is to introduce a wider range of topics in formal semantics with a limited formal apparatus.

1.      First Order Logic

2.      Modality and Possible Worlds

3.      Natural Language Quantifiers

4.      Definite Descriptions

5.      Indefinite Descriptions, Plurals, Generics and
Mass NPs

6.      Tense and Aspect

7.      Events

8.      Aspectual Classes of Events

9.      Thematic Roles Reviewed

10.  Implicature and Explicature

Strength

This book explain the matery clearly

Kate Kearns
Senior Lecturer , Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury
New Zealand