This accessible and lively introduction to semantics and the multi-faceted nature of language guides the student and non-specialist through the major ways in which the English language makes meaning. The author discusses the meaning of linguistic units at all levels of language, from sound to discourse, while studying also the role of theories and models themselves in helping us to understand human linguistic behaviour. Through examples and exercises, readers are encouraged to think through and evaluate complex ideas and theories for themselves.
Preface.- Phonetic Symbols.- Introduction.- Sounds and Meaning.- Words
and Meaning.- Structure and Meaning.- Textual Meaning.- Contextual Meaning.-
Meaning and Reality.- Further Reading.- Glossary.- Notes.- Index.
LESLEY JEFFRIES is Principal Lecturer in the Division of English, University of Huddersfield. Her writing on stylistics and critical linguistics includes The Language of Twentieth-Century Poetry.
