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Lexical Meaning
The ideal introduction for students of semantics, Lexical Meaning fills
thegapleftbymoregeneralsemanticstextbooks,providingtheteacher
and the student with insights into word meaning beyond the traditional
overviewsoflexicalrelations.Thebookexplorestherelationshipbetween
word meanings and syntax and semantics more generally. It provides a
balanced overview of major theoretical approaches, along with a lucid
explanationoftheirrelativestrengthsandweaknesses.Aftercoveringthe
main topics in lexical meaning, such as polysemy and sense relations,
thetextbooksurveysthetypesofmeaningsrepresentedbydifferentword
classes.Itexplainsabstractconceptsinclearlanguage,usingawiderange
ofexamples,andincludeslinguisticpuzzlesineachchaptertoencourage
thestudenttopracticeusingtheconcepts.“Adopt-a-word”exercisesgive
studentsthechancetoresearchaparticularword,buildingaportfolioof
specialistworkonasingleword.
m. lynne murphy isSeniorLecturerinLinguisticsintheSchoolof
EnglishattheUniversityofSussex.
CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS
Generaleditors:p. austin,j. bresnan,b. comrie,s. crain,
w. dressler,c. ewen,r. lass,d. lightfoot,k. rice,
i. roberts,s. romaine,n. v. smith.
Lexical Meaning
Inthisseries:
a. radfordTransformationalSyntax
l. bauerEnglishWord-Formation
s. c. levinsonPragmatics
g. brownandg. yuleDiscourseAnalysis
r. huddlestonIntroductiontotheGrammarofEnglish
r. lassPhonology
b. comrieTense
w. kleinSecondLanguageAcquisition
a. j. woods,p. fletcheranda. hughesStatisticsinLanguageStudies
d. a. cruseLexicalSemantics
a. radfordTransformationalGrammar
m. garmanPsycholinguistics
g. g. corbettGender
h. j. giegerichEnglishPhonology
r. cannFormalSemantics
j. laverPrinciplesofPhonetics
f. r. palmerGrammaticalRolesandRelations
m. a. jonesFoundationsofFrenchSyntax
a. radfordSyntacticTheoryandtheStructureofEnglish:AMinimalistApproach
r. d. van valin, jr,andr. j. lapollaSyntax:Structure,MeaningandFunction
a. durantiLinguisticAnthropology
a. cruttendenIntonationSecondedition
j. k. chambersandp. trudgillDialectologySecondedition
c. lyonsDefiniteness
r. kagerOptimalityTheory
j. a. holmAnIntroductiontoPidginsandCreoles
g. g. corbettNumber
c. j. ewenandh. van der hulstThePhonologicalStructureofWords
f. r. palmerMoodandModalitySecondedition
b. j. blakeCaseSecondedition
e. gussmanPhonology:AnalysisandTheory
m. yipTone
w. croftTypologyandUniversalsSecondedition
f. coulmasWritingSystems:AnIntroductiontotheirLinguisticAnalysis
p. j. hopperande. c. traugottGrammaticalizationSecondedition
l. whiteSecondLanguageAcquisitionandUniversalGrammar
i. plagWord-FormationinEnglish
w. croftanda. cruseCognitiveLinguistics
a. siewierskaPerson
a. radfordMinimalistSyntax:ExploringtheStructureofEnglish
d. bu¨ringBindingTheory
m. buttTheoriesofCase
n. hornstein,j. nun˜esandk. grohmannUnderstandingMinimalism
b. c. lustChildLanguage:AcquisitionandGrowth
g. g. corbettAgreement
j. c. l. ingramNeurolinguistics:AnIntroductiontoSpokenLanguageProcessingand
itsDisorders
j. clacksonIndo-EuropeanLinguistics:AnIntroduction
m. arielPragmaticsandGrammar
r. cann,r. kempsonande. gregoromichelakiSemantics:AnIntroductionto
MeaninginLanguage
y. matrasLanguageContact
d. biberands. conradRegister,GenreandStyle
l. jeffriesandd. mcintyreStylistics
r. hudsonAnIntroductiontoWordGrammar
m. l. murphyLexicalMeaning
Lexical Meaning
M. LYNNE MURPHY
UniversityofSussex
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,
Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521677646
(cid:1)C M.LynneMurphy2010
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2010
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Murphy,M.Lynne.
Lexicalmeaning/M.LynneMurphy.
p. cm.–(Cambridgetextbooksinlinguistics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-521-86031-4(hardback)–ISBN978-0-521-67764-6(paperback)
1.Semantics. 2.Lexicology. I.Title. II.Series.
P325.M824 2010
401(cid:2).43–dc22 2010024388
ISBN978-0-521-86031-4Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-67764-6Paperback
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