人们在对语言的特定细节进行剖析之前，应该对语言整体有个大致的了解。作为语言学研究方向的学生进行深入研究之前的热身阅读，《牛津语言学入门丛书》的主旨是为人们理解那些学术性强的语言学专著奠定理论基础。因为这套丛书浅显易懂，对那些感兴趣却并非专门从事语言研究的人进一步了解语言也大有裨益。

考伊所著的《语义学》是一部介绍语义学基础知识的著作，分6章对语言的定义进行描述和探讨。

 Preface

 Author's preface

 SECTION I

 Survey

1 Words and meanings

 Words, words, words

 Multiple meaning

 Meaningful relations

 Set sentences

 Components of meaning

 Summary

2 Word-formation

 Lexicalization

 Productivity

 Prefixes

 Suffixes

 Conversion

 Compounds

 Winners and losers

3 Multiple meaning

 Polysemy and homonymy

 Testing for meanings

 Specialization of meaning

 Metaphor

 Classes of metaphors

 Metonymy

 Creativity and slang

4 Meaningful relations

 Pairs and groupings: synonymy

 Pairs and groupings: ranks

 Binary contrasts: antonyms

 Binary contrasts: complementaries

 Binary contrasts: converses

 Groupings: hyponymy

 Groupings: non-branching hierarchies

5 Set phrases

 Set phrases and set sentences

 Collocations

 Idioms

 Proverbs, catchwords, and formulae

 Set phrases and creativity

6 Components of meaning

 Componential analysis

 Marked and unmarked

 Some advantages of a componential approach

 Denotation and connotation

7 Semantics and the dictionary

 Grammatical and lexical items

 Complex words

 Multiple meaning

 Meaningful relations

 Componential analysis

 Phraseology

 Conclusions

 SECTION Z

 Readings

 SECTION 3

 References

 SECTION 4

 Glossary

 Acknowledgements