Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction (Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics) [Paperback]

John Lyons (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521438772 | ISBN-13: 978-0521438773 | Publication Date: 1995

Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction is the successor to Sir John Lyons' important textbook Language, Meaning and Context (1981). While preserving the general structure of the earlier book, the author has substantially expanded its scope to introduce several topics that were not previously discussed, and to take account of new developments in linguistic semantics over the past decade. The resulting work is an invaluable guide to the subject, offering clarifications of its specialized terms and explaining its relationship to formal and philosophical and to contemporary semantics and pragmatics. With its clear and accessible style it will appeal to a wide student readership. Sir John Lyons is one of the most important and internationally renowned contributors to the study of linguistics. His many publications include his Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics (1968) and Semantics (1977).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...is essentially a guide for students to whom it will especially appeal by its clarity....This book remains the best textbook on the topic." Journal of Indo-European Studies

Book Description

Preserving the general structure of the author's important study Language, Meaning and Context (1981), this text has been expanded in scope to introduce several topics that were not previously discussed, and to take account of new developments in linguistic semantics over the past decade.

Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521438772
• ISBN-13: 978-0521438773
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,531,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terminologically precise, but a pain to read, January 9, 2009

By 

Discipulus (Deutschland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction (Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics) (Paperback)

For an introductory text, Lyons' book is strikingly precise. The author takes pains to be consistent in his use of semantic terminology and explicitly warns the reader where he isn't. Lyons also tries not to simplify matters too much and, again, cautions the reader whenever he needs to.

Unfortunately, the precision comes at a price: extreme verbosity, which makes the book a real pain to read. Lyons takes pages and pages to justify why he has chosen one term over the other, to remind the reader of simplifications that had to be made and, above all, to discuss exceptions and special cases. While exceptions are certainly interesting and should have a firm place in every academic textbook, Lyons' treatment of them is just way over the top. He discusses all kinds of exceptions at great length while hardly touching on the important stuff which you would expect from a textbook: semantic models, theories, classifications and their application.

One could argue that the book is for students who already know the basics. But for them, the book is definitely too easy (for me it certainly was). Lyon's work thus fills a niche where there is none: it is too difficult and confusing for novices, but too easy and not comprehensive enough for intermediates.

Now that I have finished the book, I know the difference between a sentence and an utterance, between mood and modality, between tense and aspect, etc. But unfortunately, Lyons has missed the opportunity to teach me what is behind these concepts.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast service, product exactly as advertised., April 15, 2010

By 

Peter M. Smith (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction (Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics) (Paperback)

The book arrived sooner than I expected it would and was exactly as described. Excellent customer service.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very readable, September 14, 2007

By 

Timothy Tiller (Omaha Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction (Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics) (Paperback)

I believe Lyons would be a nice person to meet, and no doubt knows his stuff, but in my opinion, his style of explaining the material would be somewhat irritating to someone with little knowledge of semantics.

This book tries to explain things from the side too much, making it difficult to keep sight of any straight forward material. He adds too many exceptions and gives opaque references to bits and pieces of important items.

His writing style in this book is too "beat around the bush", and hardly creates a coherent, straight forward, explanation of the material -- its just too far from "spilling the beans" in style.