Semantics

BASIC CONCEPTS I 39
semantics since it is very difficult to shake context out of language. He
further argues that the structure of sentences minutely reveals that they
are designed by their speakers to be uttered in specific contexts.
In relation to the problem of reference, Saeed explains how names and
noun phrases, also called nominals, are the prototypical case of linguistic
elements used to refer. His explanation of the difference between sense and
reference is very clear. The author develops a whole theory of mental models
based on sense. He explores the idea that there must be more to meaning
than simply reference or denotation. He calls this extra-dimension sense,
which places a new level between words and the world, a level of mental
representation.
SAUSSURE, F. de. 1945. Curso de Lingüística General. Buenos Aires: Losada.
In his foreword to the book, Dámaso Alonso claims that, for the first
time, the problem of meaning is studied in the concrete field of language
and not in the abstract one of logic. Some of the most important parts of
this book are Saussure’s conception of meaning and his study of
paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.
GENERAL REFERENCES
BENNETT, P. 2002. Semantics. An Introduction to Non-Lexical Aspects of Meaning.
München: Lincom-Europa.
CRUSE, A. 2000. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
FREGE, G. 1970 [1892]. On sense and reference. In Geach, P. and Black, M. (eds.).
Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege. Oxford: Blackwell.
HURFORD, J. R. and HEASLEY, B. 1983. Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
LYONS, J. 1995. Linguistic Semantics. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
ODGEN, C. K. and RICHARDS, I.A. 1923. The Meaning of Meaning. A Study of the
Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism. London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. 10 th ed.
SAEED, J. 2001, 2009 Semantics. Cambridge: Blackwell.
SAUSSURE, F. de. 1945. Curso de Lingüística General. Buenos Aires: Losada.
(An outline of the Course in General Linguistics is available from
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dkain/crit/saustext.html).
WILKS, Y. A., B. M. SLATOR and L. M. GUTHRIE. 1996. Electric Words. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press.