Andrew Goatly is a professor in the Department of English at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

'Humour is not always easy to understand, semantics is hard to grasp. Adroitly enunciating, Andrew Goatly mixes and matches, with a careful touch, and both teaches and captivates his readers.' Richard J. Alexander, Vienna University of Economics and Business

• 1. Introduction; 2. Meaning in the language system: aspects of form and meaning; 3. Semantics and conceptual meaning of grammar; 4. Semantics and the conceptual meaning of lexis; 5. Personal, social and affective meanings; 6. Textual meaning and genre; 7. Metaphor and figures of speech; 8. Pragmatics, reference and speech-acts; 9. Pragmatics: co-operation and politeness; 10. Relevance theory, schemas and deductive inference; 11. Lexical priming: information, collocation, predictability and humour.

Andrew Goatly is a professor in the Department of English at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

'Humour is not always easy to understand, semantics is hard to grasp. Adroitly enunciating, Andrew Goatly mixes and matches, with a careful touch, and both teaches and captivates his readers.' Richard J. Alexander, Vienna University of Economics and Business

• 1. Introduction; 2. Meaning in the language system: aspects of form and meaning; 3. Semantics and conceptual meaning of grammar; 4. Semantics and the conceptual meaning of lexis; 5. Personal, social and affective meanings; 6. Textual meaning and genre; 7. Metaphor and figures of speech; 8. Pragmatics, reference and speech-acts; 9. Pragmatics: co-operation and politeness; 10. Relevance theory, schemas and deductive inference; 11. Lexical priming: information, collocation, predictability and humour.

Andrew Goatly is a professor in the Department of English at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

'Humour is not always easy to understand, semantics is hard to grasp. Adroitly enunciating, Andrew Goatly mixes and matches, with a careful touch, and both teaches and captivates his readers.' Richard J. Alexander, Vienna University of Economics and Business

• 1. Introduction; 2. Meaning in the language system: aspects of form and meaning; 3. Semantics and conceptual meaning of grammar; 4. Semantics and the conceptual meaning of lexis; 5. Personal, social and affective meanings; 6. Textual meaning and genre; 7. Metaphor and figures of speech; 8. Pragmatics, reference and speech-acts; 9. Pragmatics: co-operation and politeness; 10. Relevance theory, schemas and deductive inference; 11. Lexical priming: information, collocation, predictability and humour.