SEMANTICS II

LIN 4930-1443 & LIN 6932-3334

FALL 2005

M 8-10 period (3:00-6:00), AND 21

Office hours:

M 6^th period (12:50-1:40), R 7^th and 8^th period (1:55-3:50), or by appointment

Galia Hatav, Tur 4129

Tel. 392-0639 x 228

E-mail: ghatav@lin.ufl.edu

Textbooks: (Available at Gator’s Bookstore, 3501 SW 2^nd Ave. Tel. 374-4500.)

1. Heim, Irene & Angelika Kratzer. 1998. Semantics in Generative Grammar.

Malden, Mass. & Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers. (H&K)

2. Chierchia, Gennaro & Sally McConnell-Ginet. 2000, second edition. An Introduction to Semantics. Cambridge, Mass. & London, England: The MIT Press. (C&M-G)

Goal

This course is an introduction to doing formal semantics for linguists, based on the theory of Richard Montague and theories developed within his approach. We will work on the technical "craft", as Heim & Kratzer put it, of doing formal semantics, and in some parallel fashion, on the philosophy that underlies it. The students will acquire the main ideas and techniques of Type-theory and Lambda-notation, and will be acquainted with more specific topics, as many as time permits.

The students in this course are assumed to already have had a basic introduction to classical logic, Generative Syntax and introduction to semantics vs. pragmatics.

Course Requirements and Grading:

The final grade will be determined by the student's performance on homework, class participation, and two tests. Grad students will also have to write a research paper.

Grading Breakdown for Undergrads:

Homework 10%

Homework is not graded but only given pass/fail check. In order to pass, each assignment must be completed and its lowest grade should be a D, i.e., at least 60% of the assignment should be good.

Homework will not be accepted after due date.

Tests 45% x 2 = 90%

Class Participation Although no percentage points are assigned to class participation, it will be considered when the final grade is determined. Poor attendance or participation may lower your grade, while excellence may raise it.

Grading Breakdown for Grads:

Homework 10% (see description above).

Tests 35% x 2 = 70%

Research paper 20%

The research paper will be a minimum of 2500 words on a topic to be mutually agreed upon between student and instructor. At least 5 bibliographic sources must be consulted and cited. In preparation of the paper, the following deadlines must be observed: October 24, last day to submit topic choice; November 21, last day to submit first draft (and maybe present the subject in class); December 5, due date for final version of paper.

Class Participation See description above.

Grade Scale:

A: 90-100 B: 80-84 C: 70-74 D: 60-64

B+: 85-89 C+: 75-79 D+: 65-69 E: below 60

Weekly Schedule (subject to changes according to class progress):

Week 1. Aug 22. No class- classes start on Aug 24.

Week 2. Aug 29. Read H&K ch. 1. Optional: C&M-G Appendix on p. 529 and ch.1.

- Discuss syllabus.

- Review: Truth conditional Semantics; Sets and functions; Compositionality.

Week 3. Sept. 5. Labor Day – No Classes

Week 4. Sept. 12. Read H&K §2.1. Optional: C&M-G ch. 2 and Kearns ch. 1.

- Denotation and Extension vs. Intension;

- Extension of proper names, sentences, and verbs;

- Extension and phrase structures.

Week 5. Sept. 19. Read H&K § 2.2-2.4; Optional: C&M-G § 3.2.4 pp. 87-99; Dowty et al ch. 4 § I-II; and Partee et al § 13.2.1.

- Denotation of 1-place and 2-place predicates;

- Semantic types.

- Class-work #1: H&K ex. p. 23.

Week 6. Sept 26. Do assignment #1 for Oct. 3.

Read H & K § 2.5; Optional: C&M-G ch. 7; Dowty et al ch. 4 § III; McCawley § 13.1; Gamut § 4.4; and Partee et al § 13.2.2.

- Semantic types (cont.);

- Lambda operator.

Week 7. Oct. 3. Do assignment #2 for October 10.

Lambda operator (cont.)

Week 8. Oct.10. Read H & K ch. 3.

- Semantically vacuous words;

Week 9. Oct.17. Do Ex. on p. 63 for Oct. 24.

- Nonverbal predicates;

Week 10. Oct. 24. Read H&K sections 4.1-4.3

- Predicate as restrictive modifiers.

Week 11. Oct.31.

- Some digression: PTQ;

- Review

- Take-home Test #1

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Week 12. Nov. 7. Read H&K section 4.4; Optional: Gamut p. 163, Cann § 6.4, Dowty et

al p. 183, 248.

- The definite article;

- Presuppositions vs. assertions.

Week 13. Nov. 14. Read H & K section 4.5.

- Modifiers in definite descriptions;

Week 14. Nov. 21. Do ex. on p. 95 for Nov. 28

Read H&K § 5.1 - 5.2; C & M-G section 4 of ch. 7 (p.415)

- The semantics of relative clauses;

- Variables.

Week 15. Nov. 28. Read H&K § 5.3-5.4; Class-work: ex. on p. 109.

- Multiple variables;

- Variable binding.

Week 16. Dec 5.

- DP-denotations.

- Review;

- Take-home Test #2.

Complementary Reading

Cann, Ronnie. 1993. Formal Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dowty, David R., Robert E. Wall, & Stanley Peters. 1981. Introduction to Montague

Semantics. Dordrecht, Boston, Lancaster & Tokyo: D. Reidel Publishing

Company.

Gamut, L. T. F. 1991. Logic, Language, and Meaning; Vol. II: Intensional Logic and

Logical Grammar. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.

McCawley, James D. 1993 [1981]. Everything that Linguists have Always Wanted to

Know about Logic, but were ashamed to ask. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Montague, Richard. 1970. "Universal Grammar". Theoria 36. Reprinted in Montague

1974.

______. 1973. "The proper treatment of quantification in ordinary English." Generally

referred to as PTQ. In J. Hintikka, j. Moravcsik, and P. Suppes, eds., Approaches

to Natural Language. Dordrecht: Reidel. Reprinted in Montague 1974.

_______. 1974. Formal Philosophy: Selected Papers of Richard Montague, Edited and

with an Introduction by Richmond H. Thomason. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Partee, Barbara Hall. 1979. "Semantics - mathematics or pschology?", in Semantics from

Different Points of View, R. Bäurle et al . (eds.), Berlin, Springer, 1-14.

Partee, Barbara H., Alice ter Meulen & Robert E. Wall. 1993. Mathematical Methods in

Linguistics. Dordrecht, Boston & London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.