This lively textbook introduces students and scholars to practical and precise methods for articulating the meanings of words and sentences, and for revealing connections between language and culture. Topics range over emotions, speech acts, words for animals and artifacts, motion, activity verbs, causatives, discourse particles, and nonverbal communication. Alongside English, it features a wide range of other languages, including Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and Australian Aboriginal languages. Undergraduates, graduate students and professional linguists alike will benefit from Goddard's wide-ranging summaries, clear explanations and analytical depth. Meaning is fundamental to language and linguistics. This book shows that the study of meaning can be rigorous, insightful and exciting.

Cliff Goddard is Professor of Linguistics at Griffith University, Australia. He was previously Professor of Linguistics, University of New England. His books include The Languages of East and Southeast Asia (OUP 2005). He is co-editor with Anna Wierzbicka of Meaning and Universal Grammar (Benjamins 2002) with whom he is currently working on a book concerned with words and meanings.