Does a word mean what it says? Sometimes - but not always. Everyone thinks that meaning is contained within words - like sardines in a tin, or milk in a bottle. After all, words are nice stable things that you can look up in a dictionary aren't they? But dictionaries only take us so far… If you...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Wajnryb, Ruth (Author)
Format:	Electronic eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2008
Subjects:	Englisch English language / Idioms English language / Usage Lexicology English language / Spoken English Sprachgebrauch Semantik
Online Access:	BSB01 UBG01 URL des Erstveröffentlichers
Summary:	Does a word mean what it says? Sometimes - but not always. Everyone thinks that meaning is contained within words - like sardines in a tin, or milk in a bottle. After all, words are nice stable things that you can look up in a dictionary aren't they? But dictionaries only take us so far… If you eavesdropped on a teenage conversation, rushing to a dictionary - with its definitions frozen in time - wouldn't help much. Who's using a word and to whom, in what context, for what purpose - all these influence the meaning of the language we use. The word's origins and history (its 'genetics') also help. Try teaching yourself another language from a phrasebook and you'll soon learn that you can be correct, in the formal sense, but still way behind the times in reality. In this book Wajnryb considers these and other questions to explore how and why our language works the way it does
Item Description:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Physical Description:	1 online resource (225 pages)
ISBN:	9780511487064
DOI:	10.1017/CBO9780511487064