Here is today’s class handout on thematic proto-roles and argument selection:
Handout on Thematic Roles
Here is today’s class handout summarizing some commonly-encountered generalized argument roles (aka, thematic roles):
Information regarding In-Class Exam #2 & Office Hours
Exam Date/Time/Location: Tuesday, April 2 / 12:30-2pm / CAS 324 (our usual classroom)
General Format & Guidelines: The exam will cover all of the material that we’ve touched upon since our first exam (see below for a list of topics). The individual questions will very much resemble what you have encountered in your recent homework assignments, though the questions will be structured in order to ensure that you can attempt the entire exam in the allotted time. (If you haven’t yet looked at the answer keys to the homework assignments, it would be a good idea to do so while studying for the exam. I will post the answer key to your sixth homework assignment by the end of this Friday (March 29) evening.)
Our entailment tests, presupposition tests, Grice’s maxims, and the truth tables for our logical connectives will not be provided to you, so you should have all of this information committed to memory.
Office Hours: I will hold my regularly-scheduled office hours on this Friday, March 29, from 11:30-1pm. I will also hold additional office hours on Monday, April 1, from 4-5:30pm.
Topics that we’ve covered since our first exam (use this list as a guide when studying):
Logic and Pragmatic Inference: accounting for divergences between English sentences and their logical translations with Grice’s maxims
Presupposition: distinguishing (ordinary) entailments from presuppositions with the S-family test; presupposition triggers; the different effects of presuppositions vs. ordinary entailments on the common ground (given vs. new information)
Predicate Logic: predicates, arguments, and meaning “below the sentence level”; translating between English and PredL; models and the semantics of PredL
More on Predicates and Arguments: semantic relations between predicates; thematic roles and argument structure
HW6 (due Thurs. 3/28 @ beg. of class)
Your sixth homework assignment is now available for download–just click on the link below for a PDF version. It will be due on Thursday, March 28, at the beginning of class.
HW6 (due Th 3/28 @ beg. of class)
Reading for Tu 3/26: Kearns §10.1-10.3 (pgs. 206-220)
For next Tuesday 3/26, please read sections 10.1-10.3 (pgs. 206-220) of the Kearns textbook.
More Predicate Logic handouts
Here are the Predicate Logic handouts from our Tuesday 3/19 class meeting:
The Language of Predicate Logic (from Tu 3/19 class meeting)
HW5 Answer Key now available
The HW5 answer key is now available for download from the “Readings” section of this website.
Reading for Tu 3/19-Th 3/21: Lobner Chap. 5
For the week of Tuesday 3/19, please read the following book chapter, which can be downloaded (PDF) from the “Readings” section of this website:
Löbner, Sebastian. 2002. Understanding Semantics, Chap. 5 (‘Meaning Relations’). London: Arnold Publishers.
Predicate Logic Handouts
Here are complete versions (PDF) of the handouts on Predicate Logic that were distributed in yesterday’s class:
HW4 Answer Key now available
The HW4 answer key is now available for download from the “Readings” section of this website.