Ling 324-Q Semantics

Fall 2008

Syllabus

 

 

Instructor:        Nancy Hedberg

Office:             RCB 9211

Telephone:       778-782-3479

Office hours:   Tues. 12:30-1:20, Thurs. 9:30-10:20, and by appointment

Lectures:          Tues. 10:30-12:20, AQ 5039; Thurs. 10:30-11:20, AQ 5037

Prerequisites:   Ling 222

Email:              hedberg@sfu.ca

Web page:       www.sfu.ca/~hedberg

 

Course Description:

People use sentences to mean things: to convey information about themselves and about states of affairs in the world. This class provides an introduction to the study of how meaning is encoded and expressed in natural language. We will examine basic concepts in the study of formal aspects of meaning: e.g., compositional semantics, truth-functional connectives, and quantification in natural language.  Basic formal tools and techniques in doing semantic analysis will be studied, supplemented by rigorous problem solving exercises. We will also discuss how formal aspects of meaning are distinguished from the pragmatic aspects of meaning: e.g., contextual dependence of meaning, speech acts and conversational implicature.

 

Textbook:

Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet, Meaning and Grammar. 2000. Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

 

Tentative Course schedule:

Introduction:  9/2

Mathematical Preliminaries:  9/2-9/9 (read pp. 529-540)

Methodological Preliminaries: 9/9-9/16 (read pp. 1-52)

Introduction to Propositional Logic: 9/16-9/23

Truth Conditional Meaning of Sentences: 9/23-9/30 (read pp. 69-87)

Semantic Types and Function Application: 10/2-10/7 (read pp. 87-98)  THIS SECTION WILL NOT BE ON THE MIDTERM OR FINAL

Review:  10/9

Midterm Exam: 10/14

Introduction to Predicate Logic: 10/16-10/28 (read pp. 113-141)

Reference and Sense: 10/30 (read pp. 62-68)

Scope Ambiguities in Syntax and Semantics: 10/30 (read pp. 142-157) IF YOU WANT THE LONG VERSION (WHICH WILL NOT BE TESTED), SEE HERE.

Truth Conditions of Quantified Sentences in English: 11/4-11/13 (read pp. 158-168)

REMEMBRANCE DAY HOLIDAY:  11/11

Pragmatic Aspects of Meaning: 11/18-11/25 (read pp. 220-255)

Review: 11/27

 

Assignments:

Assignment 1:  Due Sept. 11.

Assignment 2:  Due Sept. 25

Assignment 3:  Due: Oct. 2

MIDTERM EXAM:  Oct. 14 in class

Assignment 4:  Due Nov. 4

Assignment 5:  Due Nov. 18  (Assignment here has been slightly altered since being passed in class to make rule for the compatible with those for every and a.)

FINAL EXAM: Thursday. Dec. 4, 3:30-6:30 p.m.

 

Course Requirements:

Regular Homework Assignments: 15%

Presentation of homework: 5%

Midterm exam: 35%

Final exam: 45%

 

Grading:

Assignments will be graded on a …- (68%), …(84%) …+ (100%) basis.  No late assignments will be accepted. Groups of up to 3 students may turn in an assignment as a group, with each member of the group receiving the same grade.  Each student will be responsible for presenting the answer to part of an assignment once during the semester. The correct answers for the assignments will be conveyed through these presentations. Percentage scores on exams will be based on objective criteria guided by qualitative judgment, according to the following scale. Final letter course grades will be computed from total percentage scores on the basis of the same scale. Some of the exam questions will be essay questions; evaluation of these will depend on clear, concise, logical argumentation in proper academic English.

 

97-100  A+   Extraordinary performance

93-96    A     Excellent performance

89-92    A-

85-88    B+

80-84    B     Good performance

76-79    B-

72-75   C+

68-71   C     Satisfactory performance

64-67   C-

50-63   D    Marginal performance

< 50     F     Unsatisfactory performance (fail)

 

General Expectations Concerning Student Behavior:

1.   Students are expected to attend class every day.

2.   Students are expected to have read the assigned readings before class. Because the readings and notes are sometimes complex, students are expected to read them multiple times.

3.   Students are expected to bring the assigned notes to class.

4.   Late assignments will not be accepted without prior approval from the instructor.

5.   There will be no makeup exams.

6.   Students are responsible for all materials in the assigned readings and lectures.

7.   Academic dishonesty is forbidden. It will result in disciplinary action. Academic dishonesty includes cheating and plagiarism. For information on academic dishonesty visit the following website, http://www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/index.htm

 

Students requiring accommodations as a result of a disability, must contact the Centre for Students with Disabilities (778-782m-3112 or email to csdo@sfu.ca).