Details and readings will be posted as we go along. Unless otherwise noted, readings are available on Zotero.

  • Week 14 (4/24)
    Presentations

    • Leslie
    • Zach
    • Margaret
    • Willy
  • Week 13 (4/17 & 4/19)
    Language and Thought

    • Elbourne, Chapter 8

    Presentations

    • Kyle & Clayton
    • Ayla & Elizabeth
    • Bridget
  • Week 12 (4/10 & 4/12)
    Implicatures in Acquisition and Processing

    • Noveck & Reboul
    • Sedivy 2007
    • Huang & Snedeker 2011
  • Week 11 (4/3 & 4/5)
    Implicatures

    • Gamut, Chapter 6
    • Elbourne 7: 129-139

     

  • Week 10 (3/27 & 3/29)
    Quantifiers

    • Elbourne 82-94
    • Kearns, Chap 4

     

  • Week 9 (3/20 & 3/22)
    Quantifiers cont’d; Midterm review [HW 3 due]
    Midterm
    (3/22)
  • Week 9 (3/13 & 3/15)
    Logic

    • Kearns, Chap 2
  • Week 8 (2/28 & 3/1)
    Experimental Design cont’d
    Pronouns, Demonstratives, and Indexicals

    • Portner 5.7
    • Elbourne 111-122
  • Week 7 (2/21 & 2/23)
    Presuppositions and Experimental Design

    Optional Reading on Definite Experiments: Abrusan & Szendroi

  • Week 6 (2/14 & 2/16)
    Definites & Presuppositions

    • Elbourne 5: 65-72
    • Portner 5: 78-83

    Experimental Work on Definites

  • Week 5 (2/7 & 2/9)
    Meaning Composition 2

  • Week 4 (1/31 & 2/2)
    Meaning Composition 1

    Sets & Functions: Partee, ter Meulen & Wall 1 (3-17) & 2 (27-33)

    HW  1 due on Thursday (2/2)!

  • Week 3 (1/24 & 1/26)
    Semantic Properties of Words

    Sentence Meanings

  • Week 2 (1/17 & 1/19)
    What is Meaning?Readings:

    • Portner,1-1.3
    • Elbourne 1 & 2
    • Optional: Putnam: The Meaning of Meaning (on Zotero)
  • First Class
    Course Overview (see Syllabus) & Introduction

List of Topics

• Course Overview & Introduction
• What is Meaning?
• Properties of Words
• Sentence Meanings
• Presuppositions
• Meaning Composition
• Sets & Functions
• Referring Expressions
• Experimental Work on Reference
• Introduction to Experimental Methods
• Quantifiers: Logic and Language
• Implicatures: Acquisition & Processing
• Project Presentations