Ling 324-Q Semantics

Summer 2010

Syllabus

Instructor: Nancy Hedberg

Office: RCB 9211

Telephone: 778-782-3479

Office hours: Tues. 11:30-12:20, Thurs. 1:30-2:20, and by appointment

Lectures: Tues. 2:30-4:20, Thurs. 2:30-3:20, AQ 3159

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.

Readings:

Lectures notes, which can be downloaded from the instructor’s website, are required reading.

Recommended course text: Meaning and Grammar, 2^nd edition, 2000. Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet

Required material covered from the recommended course text will also be available on reserve at Bennett Library, Burnaby Campus:

Appendix: Set Theoretic Notation and Concepts: pp. 529-540.

Chapter 1: The Empirical Domain of Semantics: pp. 1-52.

Chapter 2: Denotation, Truth and Meaning: pp. 53-98.

Chapter 3: Quantification and Logical Form: pp. 113-173.

Required readings on pragmatics from Paul Portner’s What is Meaning: Fundamentals of Formal Semantics is also available on reserve at Bennett Library, Burnaby Campus.

Section 1.3.3: Semantic meaning versus speaker’s meaning: pp. 24-25:

Chapter 10: The pragmatics of what is given.

Chapter 11: The pragmatics of inference

Tentative Course schedule:

Introduction: 5/13

Mathematical Preliminaries: 5/13-5/20 (read “Appendix: Set Theoretic Notation and Concepts”)

Assignment 1: Due 5/25

Methodological Preliminaries: 5/25-5/27 (read “The Empirical Domain of Semantics”)

(Presentations Assignment 1: 6/3

Introduction to Propositional Logic: 6/1-6/3 (begin reading “Denotation, Truth and Meaning”)

Assignment 2: Due 6/10

Truth Conditional Meaning of Sentences: 6/8-6/15 (finish reading“Denotation, Truth and Meaning”)

Assignment 3: Due 6/22 NOTE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS NOW DUE ON 6/22!

(Presentations Assignment 2: 6/17)

Reference and Sense: 6/22

Preview of Midterm Exam: 6/22

(Presentations Assignment 3: 6/24)

MIDTERM EXAM: Tuesday, 6/29

CANADA DAY HOLIDAY: Thursday, 7/1

Cummings poem handout (about the difference between proper names and quantifiers)

Introduction to Predicate Logic (begin reading “Quantification and Logical Form”): 7/6-

Assignment 4 due July 20: NEW DUE DATE!

Here is a picture of Frege and a list of his contributions to our course.

Quantifier Scope Ambiguities in the Syntax (continue reading “Quantification and Logical Form”): 7/15

Truth Conditions of Quantified Sentences in English (finish reading “Quantification and Logical Form”): 7/15-7/22

Russell handout (about definite descriptions): 7/22

(Presentations Assignment 4: 7/27)

Assignment 5 due: 7/29

Pragmatics (read Portner selections): 7/27-8/10

I do highly recommend watching David Kaplan’s lecture on the Meaning of Ouch and Oops, although note that it takes about 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Grice handout: conversational implicatures: 8/3

Morgan’s updated slides for pragmatics (updated through Aug. 3, 2010)

Here is an on-line pdf of Grice’s “Logic and Conversation”: Highly recommended.

As a study aid, you might want to look at my notes for the pragmatics section; we would have focused on the meaning, use and pronunciation of questions: Read this for speaker’s meaning (non-natural meaning) and speech acts. Read this for conversational implicature.

(Presentations Assignment 5: 8/5)

Preview of Final Exam: 8/10

FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, 8/18, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Course Requirements:

Regular Homework Assignments: 15%

Presentation of homework: 5%

Midterm exam: 35%

Final exam: 45%

Grading:

Assignments will be graded on a Ö- (68%), Ö(84%) Ö+ (100%) basis. No late assignments will be accepted. Groups of up to 4 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. This is departmental policy, but this semester there may be a modification of the policy due to the H1N1 flu situation.

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 (778-782-3112 or email to csdo@sfu.ca).