Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics is a comprehensive new reference work aiming to systematically describe all aspects of the study of meaning in language. It synthesizes in one volume the latest scholarly positions on the construction, interpretation, clarification, obscurity, illustration, amplification, simplification, negotiation, contradiction, contraction and paraphrasing of meaning, and the various concepts, analyses, methodologies and technologies that underpin their study. It examines not only semantics but the impact of semantic study on related fields such as morphology, syntax, and typologically oriented studies such as 'grammatical semantics', where semantics has made a considerable contribution to our understanding of verbal categories like tense or aspect, nominal categories like case or possession, clausal categories like causatives, comparatives, or conditionals, and discourse phenomena like reference and anaphora. COSE also examines lexical semantics and its relation to syntax, pragmatics, and cognitive linguistics; and the study of how 'logical semantics' develops and thrives, often in interaction with computational linguistics.

As a derivative volume from Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition, it comprises contributions from 150 of the foremost scholars of semantics in their various specializations and draws on 20+ years of development in the parent work in a compact and affordable format. Principally intended for tertiary level inquiry and research, this will be invaluable as a reference work for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as academics inquiring into the study of meaning and meaning relations within languages. As semantics is a centrally important and inherently cross-cutting area within linguistics it will therefore be relevant not just for semantics specialists, but for most linguistic audiences.

* The only encyclopedia ever published in this fascinating and diverse field, synthesizing the latest scholarly positions in one volume, reducing research times to a fraction.

* Combines the talents of 150 of the world's leading semantics specialists with exemplary quality, review and structure.

* Inherently central, cross-disciplinary and cross-cutting content with the latest trends in the field authoritatively unpacked, reviewed and interpreted in context of other important disciplines and in up-to-date interpretation.

* Drawn from the richest, most authoritative, comprehensive and internationally acclaimed reference resource in the linguistics area

* Compact and affordable single volume reference format, offering readers access to low-cost but authoritative content in an accessible format