ABSTRACT
Modem linguists and linguistic philosophers have dealt from various points of view with the meaning of discourse - sentences, propositions or other statements of a verbal order. For social anthropologists semantic problems are presented in two orders of analysis - verbal and non-verbal contextualization - which have been as yet but loosely linked. Social anthropologists are concerned not so much with the psychological or mental effects - though their existence must be presumed - as with those effects which can be studied by reference to overt behaviour in words and in non-verbal acts. In social usage it may be difficult to distinguish the notion of meaning from that of value. Individuals in society solve many of their problems in a straightforward, material, economic sense, balancing comparative advantage in realistic terms. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
