– Covers speech acts (locutions, illocutions), conversational implicature, and figurative language like metaphor and metonymy. Key Educational Features

by James R. Hurford, Brendan Heasley, and Michael B. Smith is a widely used introductory textbook for linguistics students. It is highly regarded for its practical, step-by-step approach that combines short explanatory sections with immediate practice exercises. Core Content and Structure

– Focuses on how language refers to the world, exploring referring expressions, predicates, deixis, and definiteness.

The book is organized into six major parts, covering the evolution of meaning from basic reference to complex interpersonal communication:

– Shifts focus to abstract meaning, discussing sense properties, stereotypes, and sense relations like synonymy and hyponymy.

– Examines lexical semantics, including how dictionaries represent meaning, meaning postulates, and participant roles (thematic roles).

– Introduces logical notation and connectives to help students understand how complex meanings are structured.