Here’s a handout which (i) summarizes some of the key concepts we’ve introduced in class so far, and (ii) summarizes our discussion of entailments, as well as our tests for identifying them. Since these tests do not appear anywhere in your readings, I thought that this would be a useful addition to your notes. You should certainly feel free to refer to the handout when completing your homework–note in particular that the first problem asks you to use the entailment tests to justify your answers.
HW1 (due 1/31 @ beg. of class)
Your very first homework assignment is now available for download–just click on the link below for a PDF version. It will be due on Thursday, January 31, at the beginning of class.
Reading for Tu 1/29 & Th 1/31: Birner §2.1 (pgs. 40-62)
For next week, please read section 2.1 (pgs. 40-62) of the following book chapter, which can be downloaded (PDF) from the “Readings” section of this website:
Birner, Betty. 2012. Introduction to Pragmatics, Chap. 2 (‘Gricean Implicature’). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Readings for Tu 1/22 & Th 1/24: Kearns, Chap. 1; excerpt on entailment
For next week, please complete the following two readings:
- Chapter 1 of the Kearns textbook. The chapter provides an overview of the approach to linguistic meaning that we will adopt this semester.
- a short excerpt on entailment (from Chierchia & McConnell-Ginet’s textbook Meaning and Grammar) that I have posted at the “Readings” section of this website. Entailment is a fundamental notion in semantics, and it will constitute our main lecture topic for Th 1/24.
(Note: remember that the “Readings” section is password-protected. The password is listed on the first page of your printed syllabus.)
Greetings and Salutations
Welcome to the course webpage for LX 502, Semantics 1. Be sure to check this page regularly for general announcements about our course, as well as for any schedule changes and useful links. Homework assignments, supplementary readings, and other course materials will also be posted here.