Sandrine Zufferey

Studying Meaning provides a comprehensive introduction to semantics and pragmatics, covering all key concepts and new developments in an accessible manner. By introducing semantics and pragmatics together, the book compares their contributions to meaning and provides a coherent view. It also highlights where the boundaries between these disciplines lie.The fourteen chapters trace the historical development of semantics and pragmatics and incorporate recent subfields such as cognitive semantics, embodiment theories, and intercultural pragmatics. The book offers an up-to-date overview of research methodologies, drawing on examples from various languages and empirical data from corpora. Each chapter ends with a list of questions and exercises. This text provides an accessible yet comprehensive exploration of how meaning is conveyed in communication, covering linguistic, cognitive, and social aspects. Online support materials are provided to enhance and deepen understanding of the text.Assuming no prior knowledge, this is essential reading for students of semantics, pragmatics, linguistics, and related fields.

Studying Meaning provides a comprehensive introduction to semantics and pragmatics, covering all key concepts and new developments in an accessible manner. By introducing semantics and pragmatics together, the book compares their contributions to meaning and provides a coherent view. It also highlights where the boundaries between these disciplines lie.The fourteen chapters trace the historical development of semantics and pragmatics and incorporate recent subfields such as cognitive semantics, embodiment theories, and intercultural pragmatics. The book offers an up-to-date overview of research methodologies, drawing on examples from various languages and empirical data from corpora. Each chapter ends with a list of questions and exercises. This text provides an accessible yet comprehensive exploration of how meaning is conveyed in communication, covering linguistic, cognitive, and social aspects. Online support materials are provided to enhance and deepen understanding of the text.Assuming no prior knowledge, this is essential reading for students of semantics, pragmatics, linguistics, and related fields.

Illustrated with examples from a rich range of languages and genres, this book provides a state-of-the-art introduction to the meanings and functions of connectives, and the discourse relations they communicate. It begins with theoretical chapters that illustrate the many interfaces present in the study of connectives and discourse relations, using diachronic data to illustrate how connectives incorporate such a wide range of functions in synchronic language use. The second half of the book presents the rapidly growing body of studies that have used empirical data to assess theories of connectives and discourse relations, spanning fields as diverse as discourse processing, first and second language acquisition, and cross-linguistic studies. End-of-chapter discussion questions and lists of further readings are included, along with a comprehensive glossary of key terms. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available open access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

An accessible and thorough introduction to implicatures, a key topic in all frameworks of pragmatics. Starting with a definition of the various types of implicatures in Gricean, neo-Gricean and post-Gricean pragmatics, the book covers many important questions for current pragmatic theories, namely: the distinction between explicit and implicit forms of pragmatic enrichment, the criteria for drawing a line between semantic and pragmatic meaning, the relations between the structure of language (syntax) and its use (pragmatics), the social and cognitive factors underlying the use of implicatures by native speakers, and the factors influencing their acquisition for children and second language learners. Written in non-technical language, Implicatures will appeal to students and teachers in linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology and sociology, who are interested in how language is used for communication, and how children and learners develop pragmatic skills.

The use of experimental methodology in the field of linguistics has boomed in recent decades. However, implementation of such methods does require an understanding and mastery of specific theoretical and methodological principles. Introduction to Experimental Linguistics presents the key concepts of experimental linguistics in an accessible way, addressing, in turn: the application of experimentation in linguistics; the techniques most frequently used for the study of language; the methodological and practical aspects useful for the implementation of an experiment; and an introduction to the analysis of quantitative data derived from experiments. This didactic book combines the elements presented with examples drawn from the various fields of linguistics. It also includes a number of resources available for people who wish to implement an experimental study, more advanced reading suggestions, and revision questions along with their answer key.

Over the past decades, the use of quantitative methods has become almost generalized in all domains of linguistics. However, using these methods requires a thorough understanding of the principles underlying them. Introduction to quantitative methods in linguistics aims at providing students with an up-to-date and accessible guide to both corpus linguistics and experimental linguistics. The objectives are to help students developing critical thinking about the way these methods are used in the literature and helping them to devise their own research projects using quantitative data analysis.

An accessible and thorough introduction to implicatures, a key topic in all frameworks of pragmatics. Starting with a definition of the various types of implicatures in Gricean, neo-Gricean and post-Gricean pragmatics, the book covers many important questions for current pragmatic theories, namely: the distinction between explicit and implicit forms of pragmatic enrichment, the criteria for drawing a line between semantic and pragmatic meaning, the relations between the structure of language (syntax) and its use (pragmatics), the social and cognitive factors underlying the use of implicatures by native speakers, and the factors influencing their acquisition for children and second language learners. Written in non-technical language, Implicatures will appeal to students and teachers in linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology and sociology, who are interested in how language is used for communication, and how children and learners develop pragmatic skills.

Acquiring Pragmatics offers a comprehensive synthesis of state-of-the-art research on the acquisition of pragmatics. It introduces the current topics of research in theoretical pragmatics and explores the issues they raise for language acquisition research and the new experimental designs which have been developed to address them.While each chapter covers each topic in depth, it also places a strong emphasis on the underlying methodological aspects of each issue, which will help the reader to develop their own experimental designs. Key topics covered include:The interfaces between pragmatics and language acquisitionThe social aspects of pragmatic competenceThe cognitive aspects of pragmatic competenceThe acquisition of pragmatics in autistic spectrum disorders and second language acquisitionAcquiring Pragmatics is key reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying pragmatics and language acquisition.

Acquiring Pragmatics offers a comprehensive synthesis of state-of-the-art research on the acquisition of pragmatics. It introduces the current topics of research in theoretical pragmatics and explores the issues they raise for language acquisition research and the new experimental designs which have been developed to address them.While each chapter covers each topic in depth, it also places a strong emphasis on the underlying methodological aspects of each issue, which will help the reader to develop their own experimental designs. Key topics covered include:The interfaces between pragmatics and language acquisitionThe social aspects of pragmatic competenceThe cognitive aspects of pragmatic competenceThe acquisition of pragmatics in autistic spectrum disorders and second language acquisitionAcquiring Pragmatics is key reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying pragmatics and language acquisition.