CONTENTS Preface Preface to the third edition 1. Studying meaning Overview 1.1 Sentences and utterances 1.2 Types of meaning 1.2.1 Denotation, sense, reference and deixis 1.3 Semantics vs. pragmatics 1.3.1 A first outline of semantics 1.3.2 A first outline of pragmatics Summary Exercises 2. Sense relations Overview 2.1 Propositions and entailment 2.2 Compositionality 2.3 Synonymy 2.4 Complementarity, antonymy, converseness and incompatibility 2.5 Hyponymy 2.5.1 Hierarchies of hyponyms Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading Notes 3. Nouns Overview 3.1 The has-relation 3.1.1 Inferring existence from the has-relation 3.1.2 Hyponymy, prototypes, and the has-relation 3.1.3 Parts can have parts 3.1.4 Spatial parts 3.1.5 Ends and beginnings 3.1.6 Body part terms, metaphor and has-relations 3.2 Count nouns and mass nouns Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 4. Adjectives Overview 4.1 Gradability 4.1.1 Non-gradable adjectives 4.2 Combining adjective meanings with noun meanings 4.2.1 Non-intersective adjectives with broader denotations 4.2.2 Privative adjectives 4.2.3 Relative adjective meanings Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 5. Verbs Overview 5.1 Verb types and arguments 5.1.1 Other kinds of arguments 5.2 Causative verbs 5.2.1 Identifying embedded situations 5.3 Thematic relations Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading Notes 6. Tense and aspect Overview 6.1 Talking about events in time 6.2 Tense 6.2.1 Preliminaries 6.2.2 Present, Past and Future 6.2.3 Tense and adverbials 6.3 Aspect 6.3.1 Habituality and simple aspect 6.3.2 Progressive aspect 6.3.3 Perfect aspect 6.3.4 Perfect aspect or tense? Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 7. Modality, scope and quantification Overview 7.1 Modality 7.1.1 Modal verbs and tense 7.1.2 Epistemic and deontic modality 7.2 Semantic scope 7.3 Quantification 7.3.1 Some basics about sets 7.3.2 Simple quantifiers in terms of sets 7.3.3 Proportional quantifiers 7.3.4 Distributivity and collectivity 7.3.5 Quantifier scope Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 8. Pragmatic inference Overview 8.1 Some ways of conveying additional meanings 8.2 The Gricean maxims 8.2.1 Quantity implicatures 8.2.2 Scalar implicatures 8.2.3 Relevance implicatures 8.2.4 Manner implicatures 8.3 Relevance Theory 8.4 Presuppositions Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 9. Figurative language Overview 9.1 Literal and figurative usage 9.2 Metaphor 9.3 Metonymy 9.4 Simile 9.5 Irony 9.6 Hyperbole Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 10. Utterances in context Overview 10.1 Tailoring utterances to the audience 10.2 Definiteness 10.3 Given and new material 10.3.1 Pseudo-clefts 10.3.2 It-clefts 10.3.3 Passives 10.3.4 Lexical and syntactic converses 10.3.5 Focal stress 10.4 The Question Under Discussion Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading 11. Doing things with words Overview 11.1 Speech acts 11.2 Indicators of speech acts 11.2.1 Syntactic cues and indirect speech acts 11.2.2 Lexical cues 11.2.3 Cues based on conversation structure 11.2.4 Integrating the information Summary Exercises Recommendations for reading Suggested answers to the exercises Bibliography Index