24.903/24.933 Language and Its Structure III: Semantics and Pragmatics
Spring 2013
Richard Montague (left) and H. P. Grice (right), two of the progenitors of modern semantics and pragmatics.
Instructor: Maziar Toosarvandani
TA: Miriam Claire Nussbaum
Lecture:
TR 11-12:30
(E51-361)
Section: F 9-10
(56-169)
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.
Announcements
review session location
The review session for the midterm on Tuesday will take place:6-7:30 pm in E51-372
Come prepared with your own questions, because otherwise we will just be going home!
Maziar Toosarvandani
Announced on 18 March 2013 4:19 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
new classroom: E51-361
We have had a larger classroom assigned to us: E51-361. We will start meeting there tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12.Maziar Toosarvandani
Announced on 11 March 2013 5:45 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
location for makeup classes
The two make up classes for 24.903 this week will be located in the following classrooms:- Tuesday, February 12, 7-8:30: 56-169
- Wednesday, February 13, 8-9:30: 56-191
Remember that you only have to attend one of the two sessions.
The department still has not been able to locate a new room for us that has more chairs, so on Thursday we will be meeting in the same room as before (56-169).
Announced on 11 February 2013 9:11 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
makeup classes during week 2
Just to remind you, class will be cancelled this Thursday (February 7) and next Tuesday (February 12). I will make up one of these lectures next week by giving it twice at:Tuesday, February 12, 7-8:30
Wednesday, February 13, 8-9:30
The lectures will be identical, so you only need to come to *one* of these makeup classes.
The schedule for the first class has accordingly been changed. In addition, I have eliminated one of the homework assignments. There will now be 8 assignments. I will not be allowing you to drop the lowest one, as I had planned before.
All these changes are reflected in the most current version of the syllabus, available here:
https://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/24/sp13/24.903/materials/syllabus.html
The rooms for the makeup classes will be posted later, as soon as I know what they are.
Announced on 05 February 2013 4:12 p.m. by Maziar Toosarvandani
