Linguistics 410/510 Semantics        Fall 2003

Scott DeLancey                                         227 Straub
delancey@darkwing.uoregon.edu                          346-3901  

Texts:  Allwood, Andersson and Dahl, Logic in Linguistics
        Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By
        readings packet

Lecture topics

S30-O2    Introduction to semantics:  What is "meaning"?

Logic and Language

Oct 7-9   Logical form and Propositional Logic

Oct 14-16 Predicate logic

Oct 21    Truth-conditional semantics
Oct 23    Reference & definiteness in language

Lexical Semantics

Oct 21         Basic problems of lexical semantics
               Types of definition, kinds of meaning

Oct 23         Models of lexical meaning: "Dictionary" vs. 
               "Encyclopedia"; Network representations

"Cognitive" semantics

Oct 28-30 Prototype representations, Frame semantics, and
          Cognitive models

Nov 4-6   Metaphor
Nov 11-13 Localism:  Spatial metaphor in cognition & grammar

Semantics and Grammar

Nov 18    Lexical & syntactic categories
Nov 20    Verbs & events

Nov 25    Tense and Aspect

Dec 2-4   Agents and causation
          Verbs & arguments


Course requirements:  3-4 short (2-4 page) writing assignments
plus for undergraduates, a take-home essay-style final exam, and
for graduate students, a term paper.
Readings:

FOR

week 2:   AA&D chapters 2-3

week 3:   AA&D chapter 4

week 4:   for Monday: AA&D chapter 5
          for Friday: Brown

week 5:   Haiman

week 6:   Wierzbicka

week 7:   Fillmore

week 8:   Reddy

week 9:   Reichenbach, Vendler