ENGL 511 - Page 1

ENGL 511 = LING 531: Semantics

Description:

An introduction to and survey of current semantic theories and methods with an emphasis on English. Basic concepts of linguistic semantics and its relation to other semantics. Compositional (transformational), model-theoretical (truth-conditional), pragmatic, and contextual semantics.

Sample Syllabus (generic)

Text: Raskin (1983) as an introduction to the course; Raskin (1987) as basic information; Lyons 1977 as a reference book for the entire course. Otherwise, see references under the specific subjects.

Assignments: A presentation on a chapter of Raskin (1983) and a research paper by the end of the semester, worth 10% and 90% of the grade, respectively

I. Introduction to Semantics*

1. Basic Concepts a. Semantic entities b. Semantic relations c. Semantic terminology d. Semantic concerns 2. Brief Survey of the History of Semantics a. Prehistory of semantics b. Traditional semantics c. Classical semantics d. Structural semantics 3. Linguistic and the "Other" Semantics a. Logical semantics b. Philosophy of Language c. General semantics d. Pop semantics and lexicography

References: Raskin 1983

II. Compositional Semantics

1. Transformational and Related Semantics a. Interpretive semantics b. Generative semantics c. Case grammars 2. Other trends a. Neointerpretive semantics b. Neogenerative semantics c. Prototype semantics d. Fuzziness

References: Katz and Fodor 1963, Lakoff 1971a, Fillmore 1968, Gruber 1967, Postal 1971; Katz 1980, Jackendoff 1981, Lakoff 1982.

III. Truth-Conditional Semantics = Formal Semantics

1. Logic in Linguistic Semantics a. Predicate calculus b. Categorial approach c. Montague grammars d. Belief contexts ENGL 511 - Page 2

2. Natural logic a. Natural vs. formal logic b. Linguistic relativity c. Metaphors

References: Chierchia and McConnell-Ginet 1990, Greenberg 1949, Heim and Kratzer 1998, Lewis 1972, Thomason 1974, Dowty et al. 1981, Partee 1973, Kempson 1977; Lakoff 1972, Whorf 1953, Lakoff and Johnson 1980

IV. Pragmatical Semantics

1. Presupposition a. Circumstantial sentences b. Logical, pragmatical, and other presuppositions c. Semantic recursion d. Inference and entailment e. New and given and the functional perspective of the sentence 2. Speech Acts a. Direct speech acts b. Indirect speech acts c. Applications and misapplications of speech-act theory 3. Implicature a. Bona-fide communication b. Co-operative principle c. Maxims of bona-fide communication d. Non-bona-fide communication (humor, lying) 4. Conversational structure and discourse analysis a. Connectives b. Discourse structure and its discovery c. Shifts of subject

References: Keenan 1971, Lakoff 1971b, Raskin 1978, Prince 1981, Frantisek 1974; Austin 1962, Searle 1969, 1975, 1979; Grice 1975, Raskin 1984; van Dijk 1980, Reichman 1985, Tannen 1984; Levinson 1983.

V. Postcompositional Contextual Semantics

1. Language and World a. Language and thought b. Dictionary and encyclopedia c. Linguistic vs. encyclopedic knowledge 2. Script-Based Semantics a. Lexicon b. Combinatorial rules c. Non-compositional elements d. Frame semantics and the semantics of understanding

References: Bar-Hillel 1960, Raskin 1985a,b; Raskin 1984, 1985c and 1986a,b

VI. Ontological Semantics 1. Ontology 2. Lexicon 3. Text meaning representation 4. Analysis 5. Acquisition

References: Nirenburg and Raskin 2004

ENGL 511 - Page 3

Bibliography: (Raskin 1983, 1987 and Nirenburg and Raskin 2004 are available online as CHLS; the rest is in the Library--not on reserve, so be considerate!)

Austin, John 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon. Bar-Hillel, Yehoshua 1960. "A demonstration of the non-feasibility of fully automatic high quality translation." In: F. L. Alt (ed.), Advances in Computers, Vol. 1. The Present Status of Automatic Translation of languages, Appendix III. New York: Academic Press, pp. 158-63. Reprinted in his Language and Information. Reading, Mass. - Jerusalem: Addison-Wesley - Jerusalem Academic Press, 1964, pp. 174-9. Cherchia, G., ans S, McConnell-Ginet 1990. Meaning and Grammar: An Introduction to Semantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Dowty, David R., Robert E. Wall, and Stanley Peters 1981. Introduction to Montague Grammars. Dordrecht - Boston - London: Reidel. Fillmore, Charles J. 1968. "The case for case." In: E. Bach and R. T. Harms (eds.), Universals in Linguistic Theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Frantisek, Danes (ed.) 1974. Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective. Hague - Paris: Mouton. Fodor, Janet Dean 1977. Semantics: Theories of Meaning in Generative Grammar. Hassox, Sussex: Harvester. Greenberg, Joseph 1949. "The logical analysis of kinship." Philosophy of Science 16:1. Grice, H. Paul 1975. "Logic and conversation." In: Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3. Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, pp. 41-58. Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1977. "Look and see." Language 43, pp. 937-47. Heim, I., and A. Kratzer 1998. Semantics in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell. Jackendoff, Ray 1981. "On Katz's autonomous semantics." Language 57:2, pp. 425-35. Katz, Jerrold J. 1980. "Chomsky on meaning." Language 56:1, pp. 11-41. Katz, Jerrold J. and Jerry A. Fodor 1963. "The structure of a semantic theory." Language 39:1, pp. 170-210. Reprinted in: Jerry A. Fodor and Jerrold J. Katz (eds.), The Structure of Language: Readings in the Philosophy of Language. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, pp. 479-518. Kempson, Ruth M. 1977. Semantic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lakoff, George 1971a. "On generative semantics." In: Danny D. Steinberg and Leon A. Jakobovits (eds.), Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Philosophy, Linguistics, and Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 232-96. Lakoff, George 1971b. "Presupposition and relative well-formedness." In: ibid, pp. 329-40. Lakoff, George 1972. "Linguistics and natural logic." In: Donald Davidson and Gilbert Harman (eds.), Semantics of Natural Language. Dordrecht - Boston: Reidel, pp. 545-665. Lakoff, George 1982. "Categories: An essay in cognitive linguistics." In: The Linguistic Society of Korea (ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm. Seoul: Hanshin, pp. 140-93. Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago - London: University of Chicago Press. Levinson, Stephen D. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nirenburg, Sergei, and Victor Raskin 2004. Ontological Semantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (forthcoming). Pre-publication draft at: http://crl.nmsu.edu/Staff.pages/Technical/Sergei/book/index-book.html. Partee, Barbara Hall 1973. "The semantics of belief sentences." In: K. Jaakko J. Hintikka et al. (eds.), Approaches to Natural Language. Dordrecht - Boston: Reidel. Postal, Paul M. 1970. "On the surface verb 'remind.'" Linguistic Inquiry 1, pp. 37-120. Reprinted in: Charles J. Fillmore and D. Terence Langendoen (eds.), Studies in Linguistic Semantics. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Prince, Ellen F. 1981. "Toward a taxonomy of given-new information." In: Peter Cole (ed.), Radical Pragmatics. New York: Academic Press, pp. 223-55. Raskin, Victor 1978. "Presuppositional analysis of Russian, I: Six essays on aspects of presupposition." In: Victor Raskin and Dmitry Segal (eds.), Slavica Hierosolymitana, Vol. 2. Jerusalem: Magnes, pp. 51-92. Raskin, Victor 1983. A Concise History of Linguistic Semantics. W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University (mimeo), 3rd ed. Raskin, Victor 1984. Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Dordrecht - Boston - Lancaster: Reidel. Raskin, Victor 1985a. "Linguistic and encyclopedic knowledge in text processing." Quaderni di Semantica VI:1, pp. 92-102. Raskin, Victor 1985b. "Once again on linguistic and encyclopedic knowledge." Quaderni di Semantica VI:2, pp. 377-83. Raskin, Victor (ed.) 1985c. Round Table Discussion on Frame/Script Semantics, Round One. Quaderni di Semantica VI:2, pp. 221-353. Raskin, Victor 1986a. Round Table Discussion on Frame/Script Semantics, Round Two. Quaderni di Semantica VII:1, pp. 49-118. Raskin, Victor 1986b. "Script-based semantics." In: Donald G. Ellis and William A. Donohue (eds.), Contemporary Issues in Language and Discourse Processes. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum. Raskin, Victor 1987. A Concise Introduction to Linguistics. W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University. Reprinted as Chapters 4-9 in: V. Raskin and I. Weiser, Language and Writing, Norwood, N.J.: Ablex. Reichman, Rachel 1985. Getting the Computer to Talk Like You and Me. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press. Searle, John R. 1969. Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Searle, John R. 1975. "Indirect speech acts." In: Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3. Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, pp. 59-82. ENGL 511 - Page 4

Searle, John R. 1979. "Metaphor." In his: Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-116. Tannen, Deborah 1984. Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk Among Friends. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex. van Dijk, Teun A. 1980. Macrostructures. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum. Whorf, Benjamen L. 1953. Language, Thought, and Reality. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.