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Semantics

Defining the Discipline

• By Robert A. Hipkiss

• Price: $28.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 144
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 1st July 1995
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-1593-1

About the Book

The subject of semantics has been appropriated by various disciplines including linguistic philosophy, logic, cognitive psychology, anthropological linguistics, and computer technology. As a result, it is difficult to define the study of semantics as an actual discipline without discovering what each field using a semantic approach to its subject matter has contributed to the understanding of what words mean. This volume is a result of those discoveries.

Primarily an introductory work, this volume outlines the approaches that various disciplines have taken to the subject, attempts to show their relationships and their limitations, and presents the more important aspects of each approach -- from psychosemantics to artificial intelligence -- using pertinent source material from psychology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, and sociology. For individuals coming to the study of semantics for the first time, or those who are interested in what the overall study may offer beyond their specialization, this volume will provide a helpful overview of the subject.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Introduction. Knowing and Meaning. Association and Logic. Truth, Meaning and Pragmatics. Word Formation and Definition. Grammar and Syntax. Metaphor and Related Figures of Speech. Contrastive Figures of Speech. Artificial Intelligence. General Semantics. Semantics: An Intrarelated Discipline.