| Physical description |
xiv, 310 pages ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Cambridge textbooks in linguistics. |
|
Cambridge textbooks in linguistics.
|
| Notes |
Includes indexes. |
| Bibliography |
Bibliography: pages 295-301. |
| Contents |
1 A contextual approach to lexical semantics 1 -- 1.2 Meaning and grammar 1 -- 1.3 Data of semantics 8 -- 1.4 Disciplining intuitions 10 -- 1.5 Meaning of a word 15 -- 2 Syntagmatic delimitation of lexical units 23 -- 2.2 Semantic constituents 24 -- 2.3 Semantic constituents which fail the test 29 -- 2.4 Indicators, tallies and categorisers 32 -- 2.5 Phonetic elicitors of semantic traits 34 -- 2.6 Words 35 -- 2.7 Idioms 37 -- 2.8 Degrees of opacity 39 -- 2.9 Idioms and collocations 40 -- 2.10 Idiom and 'dead' metaphor 41 -- 3 Paradigmatic and syntactic delimitation of lexical units 49 -- 3.2 Selection and modulation of senses 50 -- 3.3 'Indirect' tests for ambiguity 54 -- 3.4 Direct criteria for ambiguity 58 -- 3.5 Some difficult cases 62 -- 3.6 Non-lexical sources of ambiguity 66 -- 3.7 Establishment of senses 68 -- 3.8 Sense-spectra 71 -- 3.9 Syntactic delimitation 74 -- 3.10 Lexemes 76 -- 4 Introducing lexical relations 84 -- 4.2 Congruence 86 -- 4.3 Cognitive synonymy 88 -- 4.4 Hyponymy 88 -- 4.5 Compatibility 92 -- 4.6 Incompatibility 93 -- 4.7 Congruence variants 95 -- 4.8 Partial relations 96 -- 4.9 Quasi-relations 97 -- 4.10 Pseudo-relations 98 -- 4.11 Para-relations 99 -- 4.12 Syntagmatic relations of meaning between lexical units 100 -- 5 Lexical configurations 112 -- 5.2 Hierarchies 112 -- 5.3 Proportional series 118 -- 6 Taxonomies 136 -- 6.1 Hyponymy and incompatibility 136 -- 6.2 Taxonymy 137 -- 6.3 Characteristics of natural taxonomies 145 -- 6.4 Over-specification, under-specification and the generic level 155 -- 7 Meronomies 157 -- 7.1 Introductory: parts and pieces 157 -- 7.2 Defining meronymy 160 -- 7.3 Aspects of transitivity: integral parts and attachments 165 -- 7.4 Characteristics of meronomies 168 -- 7.5 Close relatives of the part-whole relation 172 -- 7.6 Meronomies and taxonomies 177 -- 8 Non-branching hierarchies 181 -- 8.2 From branching to non-branching 181 -- 8.3 Chains, helices and cycles 187 -- 8.4 Ranks, grades and degrees 192 -- 9 Opposites I: complementaries and antonyms 197 -- 9.1 Oppositeness 197 -- 9.2 Complementaries 198 -- 9.3 Antonyms 204 -- 9.4 Sub-classes of antonyms 206 -- 9.5 Inherentness 214 -- 9.6 Implicit superlatives 216 -- 9.7 Stative verbs 217 -- 9.8 Contrastive aspects 218 -- 10 Opposites II: directional oppositions 223 -- 10.1 Directional opposites 223 -- 10.2 Directions 223 -- 10.3 Antipodals 224 -- 10.4 Counterparts 225 -- 10.5 Reversives 226 -- 10.6 Relational opposites: converses 231 -- 10.7 Indirect converses 233 -- 10.8 Congruence variants and pseudo-opposites 240 -- 11 Opposites III: general questions 244 -- 11.1 Impartiality 244 -- 11.2 Polarity 246 -- 11.3 Linguistic polarity and natural polarity 247 -- 11.4 Logical polarity 252 -- 11.5 Neutralisation and semantic markedness 255 -- 11.6 Nature of opposition 257 -- 11.7 What makes a 'good' opposition? 262 -- 12 Synonymy 265 -- 12.1 Absolute synonyms and the scale of synonymity 265 -- 12.2 Cognitive synonyms 270 -- 12.3 Plesionyms 285 -- 12.4 Congruence relations and synonymy 289 -- 12.5 'Absolute', 'cognitive' and 'plesio-' relations outside synonymy 290. |
| Summary |
Lexical Semantics is about the meaning of words. Although obviously a central concern of linguistics, the semantic behaviour of words has been unduly neglected in the current literature, which has tended to emphasize sentential semantics and its relation to formal systems of logic. In this textbook D. A. Cruse establishes in a principled and disciplined way the descriptive and generalizable facts about lexical relations that any formal theory of semantics will have to encompass. Among the topics covered in depth are idiomaticity, lexical ambiguity, synonymy, hierarchical relations such as hyponymy and meronymy, and various types of oppositeness. Syntagmatic relations are also treated in some detail. The discussions are richly illustrated by examples drawn almost entirely from English. |
|
Although a familiarity with traditional grammar is assumed, readers with no technical linguistic background will find the exposition always accessible. All readers with an interest in semantics will find in this original text not only essential background but a stimulating new perspective on the field. |
| Subject |
Semantics.
|
| ISBN |
0521276438 (paperback) |
|
052125678X |
|
