Fundamentals of Meaning (370-0-20)

Instructors

Michael Joseph Tabatowski

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 301: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Theoretical approaches to the study of linguistic meaning. Topics include word meaning, argument and event structure, sentence meaning, truth conditions, and inference types (e.g., entailment, implicature, presupposition).

Registration Requirements

Prerequisite: any 200 level course in linguistics, graduate standing or consent of instructor.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1) understand and explain core issues in semantics and pragmatics; 2) use the tools of formal semantics to model natural language meaning; and 3) read contemporary papers in semantics on a variety of phenomena.

Teaching Method

Lecture and student presentations.

Evaluation Method

Class participation, weekly or biweekly homework, a midterm, and a final paper or exam.

Class Materials (Required)

All assigned reading will be available to students on Canvas

Class Attributes

Formal Studies Distro Area