24.903/24.933 Language & Structure III
Spring 2010
Instructor: Martin Hackl
TA: Guillaume Thomas
Lecture: TR11-12.30 (56-167)
Course Description:
24.903 is an introduction to “Natural Language Semantics and Pragmatics,” one of the core disciplines of Linguistics. Its main objectives are to understand how competent speakers of a language come to understand the meaning of simple expressions (words, morphemes) or complex expressions (compounds, phrases, sentences, utterances) of their language and how these expressions can be used to exchange information.
The course offers an overview of the core properties of this ability as well as tailor-made introductions to the descriptive tools (set theory, propositional and predicate logic, parts of the λ-calculus, type theory) that are necessary to understand the questions we will discuss and the answers that are given in the literature.
Specific topics that will be covered at various levels of detail are inferential relations between sentences (entailment, presupposition, implicature), soundness and validity of arguments, the semantics of sentence connectives, predication, proper names, definite descriptions, quantificational noun phrases, verb meanings, modification, anaphora, pronouns, tense, and modality.
Announcements
Review Session tomorrow 5:30
The review session for the second mid term (this coming Tuesday) will be tomorrow at 5:30. The session will take place in 32-D461 (assuming that it is not occupied. If it, I will send out an announcement.)Announced on 09 May 2010 8:55 p.m. by Martin Hackl
P-Set 4
Dear 24.903/933 students,P-Set 4 has been posted. It is due Thursday, April 27.
Announced on 14 April 2010 10:53 a.m. by Martin Hackl
errata on midterm
On the midterm, please read:
Question A1: "Consider the set of sentences in (1) and (2) ... "
Question B1 : "1. Given the sets defined below, answer the questions in (3) ..."
Question B2: "Under which conditions if any is the statement in (4) true?"
Guillaume
Announced on 18 March 2010 11:04 a.m. by Guillaume Thomas
pset3 solutions
The solutions to pset3 have been posted on Stellar. Very sorry for the delay.
Guillaume
Announced on 18 March 2010 9:13 a.m. by Guillaume Thomas
solutions to pset2
Solutions to pset2 have been posted on Stellar. This pset will be graded and returned to you tomorrow (Tuesday 16).
Best,
Guillaume
Announced on 15 March 2010 10:26 a.m. by Guillaume Thomas
