Modern semantics 2500-EN-COG-F1
Seminarium (SEM) Semestr zimowy 2019/20

The course very roughly follows the not-so-new but still very relevant

textbook “Semantics in Generative Grammar” by Irene Heim and Angelika

Kratzer. While the textbook was first published (by Blackwell) in 1998, it is

still treated as lingua franca in formal semantics – familiarity with it is

often assumed in current semantic publications. The course usually covers

the first 6–7 chapters of the textbook, but it also includes material outside

of the textbook; moreover, unlike in the textbook, in the course we will to

a large extent rely on meaning representations in the language of

predicate logic.

As a result of the course, students will get to know:

– the lambda calculus and its role in semantic compositionality (K_W02)

– the basics of the generative approach to the syntax–semantics interface

(K_W02, K_U01)

– the mechanisms of semantic compositionality as understood in

contemporary linguistics (K_W01, K_W02, K_U01, K_K01)

Students will also learn in practice how to:

– represent meanings of natural language sentence in the language of

logic (K_U01, K_U05, K_K02)

– derive such meaning representations from meanings of particular words

(K_U05, K_U08, K_K02)

Because of the interactive nature of the course, students will also enhance

their ability to:

– concisely articulate arguments concerning abstract and formal issues

(K_U07)

– listen to – and evaluate – arguments of others (K_U07)

Formal assessment will be made on the basis of homeworks and

classtests. There will be 3 or 4 classtests, in the case of each at leat 50%

of points should be obtained. The average of these percentages will be

the basis of grading:

< 55% – fail

< 64% – 3

< 72% – 3+

< 79% – 4

< 88% – 4+

< 95% – 5

>= 95% – 5!

However, additional points may be given for class activity. On the other

hand, the final mark will be lowered in the case of failed or not returned

homeworks (1/4 of grade for each lacking homework). Homeworks will in

general be rather simple and will serve as practice before classtests. Most

of them will use the “Lambda Calculator” tool which provides immediate

feedback to students.

There is no formal requirement to attend the classes but there is a very

strong practical requirement to do so: homeworks and classtests will

verify the knowledge of mechanisms and conventions introduced during

classes, and these will differ in various respects from those of any existing

textbook, including Heim and Kratzer 1998.

The course will be maximally interactive – students will learn via problem

solving, with “lecture mode” kept to the minimum. The understanding of

the solutions reached in class will be verified via relatively simple

homeworks and classtests.