24.903/24.933 Language and Its Structure III: Semantics and Pragmatics
Spring 2012
Richard Montague (left) and H. P. Grice (right), two of the progenitors of modern semantics and pragmatics.
Instructor: Maziar Toosarvandani
TA: Edwin M Howard
Lecture:
MW 11-12.30
(36-372)
Recitation: F 11-12
(32-D461)
Information:
This course is an introduction to the study of meaning in human language, a discipline traditionally divided into two parts. Broadly speaking, semantics is concerned with meaning that arises from linguistic expressions themselves—sentences, along with the words and phrases out of which they are constructed—while pragmatics is concerned with meaning that arises from utterances and the circumstances surrounding them.
We will start the semester by taking up the working hypothesis underlying semantics: How is the meaning of a phrase or sentence derived from the meaning of its parts? We will explore this Principle of Compositionality in several empirical domains—including adjectives, quantifiers, existentials, and polarity items. In the second half of the semester, we will turn to different types of pragmatic meaning—including implicature, presupposition, expressive meaning, and intonational meaning—examining their interaction with the utterance context.
In the end, we will find that the boundary, both empirical and theoretical, between semantics and pragmatics is not as crystal clear as the definitions above would make it seem. But, throughout the semester, we will see how productively formal tools drawn from logic and mathematics can be used to study linguistic meaning.
Announcements
Two small points about the Final Assignment
I have two points to make about the Final Assignment:1. Observe in (4) that there is a # before the second sentence. This is a judgment mark (not a phonetic symbol), that indicates pragmatic infelicity.
2. There is a small typo on p. 2. In Task 4, you should account for why the existential sentence in *(6)* is infelicitous.
Maziar Toosarvandani
Announced on 09 May 2012 1:41 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
Small typo on Assignment 5
There is a very small typo in Assignment 5. Just so there is no confusion: The definition in (3) is for monotone *decreasing* functions. That is, (3) should read:"A function F is MONOTONE DECREASING iff..."
If there are any questions about this homework, dont hesitate to ask.
Maziar Toosarvandani
Announced on 13 March 2012 10:09 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
New due date for Homework 4
As I said at the end of class on Wednesday, Assignment 4 will now be due at the beginning of class next Wednesday, March 14. We have already covered all the material for Parts 1-2, so you can do them over the weekend. And, we will cover the remaining material on existentials (and, specifically, Keenan's account of the definiteness effect) on Monday, so that you can complete the homework before its due on Wednesday.Maziar Toosarvandani
Announced on 07 March 2012 12:44 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
