Semantics (Palgrave Modern Linguistics)

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It is useful for students and teachers It is useful for students and teachers It is useful for students and teachers

good

I'm new to semantics & this book was assigned for a class. The book seems thorough in that it includes the basic concepts of semantics; the book mentions & illustrates the main points. However the book does not flow, so concepts are introduced and abandoned literally paragraph by paragraph. A textbook (in my opinion) should build knowledge from introducing the core concepts and tools and then leading the reader step-by-step into the use of the concepts and tools toward competence in the subject. This book does not do this. Frustrated, I kept flipping back to prior pages and chapters trying to grasp a continuity which simply wasn't there. Instead of definitions and technical examples this book offers chatty paraphrasing which contributed very little to my understanding of semantics. I ended up making lists of the terms/concepts in the book and then looking up their definitions elsewhere. Surely there are better textbooks teaching semantics; if not then someone is missing a golden opportunity to write an accessible technical textbook!

This book is NOT intended as a first introduction to the subject. The author's own caution at the [bottom of p. xi](https://books.google.com/books?id=kK0cBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR11&lpg=PR11&dq=%22the+text+is+intended+to+be+used%22&source=bl&ots=5wUY4Q5DGc&sig=1jb1Ug-TJyN-IZDL9E-d-bZZS6U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB7IzkmMXRAhUr7YMKHQ9LA8YQ6AEIJDAC#v=onepage&q=%22the%20text%20is%20intended%20to%20be%20used%22&f=false) states: > The text is intended to be used as a coursebook, accompanied by lectures on the topics covered and by discussion of the exercises. This book is not a 'teach yourself' text for private, unassisted study. The exercises included are of varying difficulty — some are for basic review and are suitable for private revi- sion, but the more demanding of exercises may best be used as the basis of class discussion sessions. As always, students are urged to also read other introductions to semantics which take a different approach.