Semantics

by John I. Saeed

A Kandinsky abstract seems appropriate on the cover of a text introducing modern semantics, as it interfaces with its mother discipline of linguistics, and the fields of psychology and philosophy (regarding meaning, thought, and reality). Saaed (U. of Dublin) frames topics in the description of word and sentence meaning (e.g. context, inference, and speech as action). He further reviews the three major theoretical approaches to componential theory, formal, and cognitive semantics. Exercises, suggestions for further reading, and a list of abbreviations and symbols should be useful to students. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, Textbooks, Reference, Academia, Read For School

592 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 1996

Reviews

[Eh?Eh!]

Words are hard.

[David]

As much philosophy as linguistics. Seems no one is completely sure how to analyze meaning in language, but plenty of people are ready to theorize.
Update: After studying more linguistics, I see that many of the concepts and theories introduced in this book have practical use in the study of syntax. I have found myself going back to Saeed for a concise explanation of ideas from relatively recent literature that are being used in theories of syntax.

[Morgan Brown]

Semantics more like pedantics

Seriously though Saeed provides a strong, broad introduction to semantics that is certainly readable, with good references and exercises. However, it being readable doesn't necessarily make it fun. I'm not asking for some GCSE level revision guide with puns every page, but some sketch of the practical applications of semantic theory would be good, as would an attempt to present semantic theories in a more invigorating fashion, building upon each other over the course of the book rather than hopping about haphazardly. Still, a worthwhile introduction.

[Ειρήνη Σαμψωνίδου]

it is extremly difficult to understand the meaning of many key meanings in Semantics

[Светлана]

Saeed does a good job providing a (cognitive) theoretical framework for descriptive semantics. I am not so interested in theory, but his writing style was straightforward enough.
Kroeger’s recent semantics book follows this one in content in a lot of ways, but provides a lot less theory and a lot more diagnostics for language analysis.

[Juan]

Todo cuenta y más un libro como este que no ha sido fácil y ha requerido tiempo.

Denso y concentrado, me ha costado terminarlo. Pero ya está, ahora a repasar. Sí, es un libro de texto; no lo he hecho por afición a la semántica aunque algunas partes pueden ser interesantes.

[Raphaella]

Read through chapter 5 for the exams (should have gone till chapter 8 but couldn't)

Nice read but again, not for the exams. We really need to have a talk about the way the material is examined in my uni....cool book though

[Hudaali]

Detailed ,yet interesting to read and very useful.

[Ecke Brandt]

🖕

[Rebecca]

A decent introduction to the subject.

[Jozette :)]

I hope linguists start agreeing on things soon. stop arguing guys :((

Ironically, I have noticed linguistics textbooks tend to be unnecessarily wordy and this is no exception.

[Stine]

Basic and very readable intro to semantics. Saeed writes very well, and includes lots of examples and exercises to his chapters. The book covers mostly everything within this subject, and the author does a good job presenting different theories and prominent names.
Very well organised and conducted. I would definately recommend this as an introduction to elementary semantics.

Includes exercises (and solutions) and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, bibliography, and word index.

[Elizabeth]

It does its job. I'm finding it hard to rate the book as I'm simply not that into semantics as compared to syntax or morphology. Still, it's very approachable, covers its ground, easy to read. The book is also well organized.

[WH]

This is a fun and readable introduction to semantics. It covers the major areas of the very broad field of semantics and pragmatics quite nicely. The exercises in this book are generally helpful.

[David]

I'm actually reading the 3rd ed.

[jenelle]

ez.

[Gita]

important book

[Rianna]

24/30 books read in 2015.

This is a good book if you want to learn about semantics. It covers all the bases. But it definitely isn't an easy read.

[Bahareh Sharifi]

بسیاری از مطالب با کتاب معنی شناسی دکتر صفوی اورلپ داشت ولی برای آشنایی با عبارات و اصطلاحات تخصصی معنی شناسی خواندن این کتاب می تواند مفید باشد.

[Zai]

very good book

[Twana]

how can get full detail about synonyms

[Ale]

Iummato