Semantics

This course introduces students to formal semantics, a key component of modern linguistics. We assume no prior knowledge of semantics in this course. In the first two weeks, we will spend time introducing semantics (i.e. the study of compositional meaning), and how to differentiate between semantics and pragmatics (i.e., the study of meaning within context). We will discuss what this fields try to achieve. Then, we will work on exercises in class to introduce you to some
basic introduction to the technical tools used in the analysis of natural language semantics. We will then examine a range of core topics concerning word and sentence meaning, quantifers, argument structure and modality and intensionality, with the focus on understanding what the issues are.

By the end of this course, students will be familiar with a) what semantics is, b) what pragmatics is, c) what the differences between them are;
be familiar with how semantics relates to other sub-felds of linguistics;
be familiar with what constitutes the domain of semantics;
have developed their skills with the use of technical tools for semantic analysis;
have introduced to, and reflected upon, a number of key topics in semantics;