SEMANTICS ANEW OUTLINE F, R. PALMER Professor of Linguistic Science University of Reading CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON - NEW YORK - MELBOURNEPublished by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge cB2 IRP Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London nwi 2DB 32 Hast 57th Street, New York, Ny 10022, USA 296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park, Melbourne 3206, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1976 Library of Congress catalogue card number: 75-9089 hard covers ISBN: 0 521 20927 7 paperback ISBN: 0 521 09999 4 First published 1976 Composition by Linocomp Ltd., Marcham, Oxfordshire Printed in Great Britain at the University Printing House, Cambridge (Euan Phillips, University Printer)LI 1.2 13 1.4 15 2.1 2.2 23 2.4 2.5 3.1 3.2 33 3-4 4. 4.2 43 44 CONTENTS Preface page vii Typographical conventions INTRODUCTION The terms semantics and meaning Semantics and linguistics The spoken language Historical semantics Semantics in other disciplines THE SCOPE OF SEMANTICS Naming Concepts Sense and reference Kinds of meaning The word as a semantic unit THE NON-LINGUISTIC CONTEXT The exclusion of context Context of situation Behaviourism Linguistic relativity LEXICAL STRUCTURE Synonymy Polysemy and homonymy Incompatibility Hyponymy viii 19 25 30 34 37 43 46 51 55 59 65 71 76