Reference Resources for Semantics
Semantics is the systematic study of meaning in language. As a discipline, it is directed toward the determination of how humans reason with language, and more specifically, discovering the patterns of inference we employ through linguistic expressions. (Pustejovsky, J. (2011). The structure of meaning. In P. C. Hogan (Ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences).
Below are some key (online) reference works for semantics.
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Semantics by Call Number: onlinePublication Date: 2020Provides a thorough investigation of issues and phenomena central to the development of modern semantics and its interfaces.
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences by Call Number: onlinePublication Date: 2015Linguistics B section has chapters on Semantics, Semantic Similarity, Lexical Semantics, Lexical Processes, Pragmatics and more, with lists for further reading. An excellent starting point.
The Routledge Handbook of Semantics by Call Number: onlinePublication Date: 2015The Routledge Handbook of Semantics provides a broad and state-of-the-art survey of this field, covering semantic research at both word and sentence level. It presents a synoptic view of the most important areas of semantic investigation, including contemporary methodologies and debates, and indicating possible future directions in the field.
The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory by Call Number: onlinePublication Date: 2015The second edition of The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory presents a comprehensive introduction to cutting-edge research in contemporary theoretical and computational semantics.
Handbook of Logic and Language by Call Number: onlinePublication Date: 2010The logical study of language is becoming more interdisciplinary, playing a role in fields such as computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and game theory. This new edition, written by the leading experts in the field, presents an overview of the latest developments at the interface of logic and linguistics as well as a historical perspective.
New Books on Semantics at UBC Library
Library Subject Headings
UBC Library, like most academic libraries, uses Library of Congress Subject Headings. Books on Semantics can be found in the UBC Library catalogue under these Subject Headings:
For books on a specific language, use this format (replace 'French' with whichever language you are interested in):
Semantics: Key Journals
Journal of Semantics
Journal of Semantics covers all areas in the study of meaning, with a focus on formal and experimental methods. The Journal welcomes submissions on semantics, pragmatics, the syntax/semantics interface, cross-linguistic semantics, experimental studies of meaning (processing, acquisition, neurolinguistics), and semantically informed philosophy of language.
Natural Language Semantics
Natural Language Semantics journal is devoted to semantics and its interfaces in grammar, especially syntax. It publishes studies focused on linguistic phenomena, including quantification, negation, modality, genericity, tense, aspect, aktionsarten, focus, presuppositions, anaphora, definiteness, plurals, mass nouns, adjectives, adverbial modification, nominalization, ellipsis and interrogatives.
Linguistics and Philosophy
Linguistics and Philosophy focuses on issues related to structure and meaning in natural language, as addressed in the semantics, philosophy of language, pragmatics and related disciplines.
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
The Journal of Logic, Language and Information explores the foundations of natural, formal and programming languages, as well as the different forms of human and mechanized inference. It covers the logical, linguistic and information-theoretic parts of the cognitive sciences.
Websites
- Semantics ArchiveResource for exchanging papers of interest to natural language semanticists and philosophers of language.
- Semantics, etcWebsite of MIT Professor Kai von Fintel.
- FrameNetOnline lexical resource for English, based on Frame Semantics and supported by corpus evidence.
- WordNetA large lexical database of English, with a network of meaningfully related words and concepts, made available by Princeton University.
- CogPrints - Semantic PapersAn electronic repository for self-archive papers in any area of Psychology, Neuroscience, Linguistics and many other disciplines.