LIN3310 - Semantics: the Study of Meaning in Human Languages

Leader: Dr Keith Allan

Offered

Clayton First semester 2007 (Day)
Clayton First semester 2007 (Flexible)

Synopsis

The nature of human language, its meaningful categories and constructions, and their properties, interrelations, and motivations. Formal tools for the representation of meaning, including propositional calculus, predicate logic, and lambda calculus. Theories considered include natural semantic metalanguage, role and reference grammar, and conceptual semantics. This unit provides the basic tools and preparatory skills to progress to original research in semantics.

Objectives

Upon completion of this subject students should be able to evaluate formal and informal methods in semantic analysis; gain a sufficient mastery of set theory, propositional and predicate calculus, and model theory to enable their use in semantic analysis and also prepare the student for an advanced course in formal semantics; be familiar with lexical, realist, conceptual, and cognitive semantics; understand how language expressions correlate with things and ideas, things that exist and things that don't; make semantic analyses of texts and formally represent the semantic relations between language expressions in them.

Assessment

Three assignments: 90%
Class test: 10%

Contact hours

2 hour seminar per week

Prerequisites

12 points in Linguistics or Philosophy at second-year level.