If you are a student or researcher:
| Source | What You Get | Access Method | |--------|--------------|----------------| | Cambridge Core | Complete PDFs of both Semantics (1977) and Linguistic Semantics (1995) | Institutional login (university credentials) | | JSTOR | Select chapters and reviews | Personal account + limited free reads | | Google Scholar | Links to institutional repositories | Must be on campus or via VPN | | Internet Archive (archive.org) | Borrowable scanned versions (older printings) | Free account, 1-hour borrow periods | linguistic semantics john lyons pdf work
This is the magnum opus—a two-volume tour de force that runs nearly 900 pages. It is not for beginners. Volume 1 covers foundational issues (meaning, the lexicon, sense relations) while Volume 2 dives into logic, truth-conditions, and deixis. If you are a student or researcher: |
Yes – but with caveats. For students of theoretical linguistics, reading Lyons (especially the 1995 Linguistic Semantics PDF) provides a foundational understanding of sense relations, deixis, and the semantics-pragmatics boundary that is still tested in graduate seminars. However, for current computational semantics or formal semantics (Montague, Heim & Kratzer), Lyons is supplementary, not central. Lyons uses logical symbols sparingly
If you seek a PDF of his work, prioritize the 1995 Linguistic Semantics for readability and legal availability through your library. The 1977 Semantics remains a monumental reference but is more often consulted as a physical set or chapter-by-chapter scan.
Lyons uses logical symbols sparingly. To truly learn, translate his natural language definitions into predicate logic or feature bundles.