James R. Hurford is Professor of General Linguistics, University of Edinburgh. Brendan Heasley is Consultant (Postgraduate Training), Sharjah Women's College, United Arab Emirates. Michael B. Smith is Associate Professor of Linguistics, Oakland University, Michigan.

• Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Basic Ideas in Semantics: Unit 1. About semantics; Unit 2. Sentences, utterances, and propositions; Unit 3. Reference and sense; Part II. From Reference …: Unit 4. Referring expressions; Unit 5. Predicates; Unit 6. Predicates, referring expressions, and universe of discourse; Unit 7. Deixis and definiteness; Unit 8. Words and things. Extensions and prototypes; Part III. … To Sense: Unit 9. Sense properties and stereotypes; Unit 10. Sense relations (1); Unit 11. Sense relations (2); Part IV. Logic: Unit 12. About logic; Unit 13. A notation for simple propositions; Unit 14. Connectives. And and or; Unit 15. More connectives; Part V. Word Meaning: Unit 16. About dictionaries; Unit 17. Meaning postulates; Unit 18. Properties of predicates; Unit 19. Derivation; Unit 20. Participant roles; Part VI. Interpersonal and Non-Literal Meaning: Unit 21. Speech acts; Unit 22. Perlocutions and illocutions; Unit 23. Felicity conditions; Unit 24. Direct and indirect illocutions; Unit 25. Propositions and illocutions; Unit 26. Conversational implicature; Unit 27. Non-literal meaning: idioms, metaphor, and metonymy; Selected references and recommendations for further study; Index.

'The best and most accessible textbook in its field.' Keith Green, Sheffield Hallam University