Readings in the Philosophy of Language (Bradford Books (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: One of the best compendiums in the subject
Review: Peter Ludlow has also edited a volume on the Philosophy of Mind, and has written a book on Semantics. In this volume, he offers perhaps the best single volume compendium on the subject.

'A central theme of this collection is that the philosophy of language, at least a core portion of it, has matured to the point where it is now being spun off into linguistic theory. Each section of the book contains historical (twentieth-century) readings and, where available, recent attempts to apply the resources of contemporary linguistic theory to the problems under discussion. This approach helps to root the naturalization project in the leading questions of analytic philosophy. Although the older readings predate the current naturalization project, they help to lay its conceptual foundations. The main sections of the book, each of which is preceded by an introduction, are Language and Meaning, Logical Form and Grammatical Form, Descriptions, Names, Demonstratives, and Attitude Reports.'

Rating:
Summary: One of the best compendiums in the subject
Review: Peter Ludlow has also edited a volume on the Philosophy of Mind, and has written a book on Semantics. In this volume, he offers perhaps the best single volume compendium on this difficult subject. Note that this is for serious students and is hardly a beginner's introduction to the field. However, as a companion to a course on philosophy of language, or for more serious students, it should be quite valuable.

The analytic philosophical approach could be complemented by more material from continental schools of thought on language. If you are interested in that, I would suggest looking elsewhere for some supplementary material.