Linguistics/Psychology 315/515
Prof. Suzanne Kemmer
Fall 2007

Completed problem assignments are to be submitted to Owlspace via uploading to the Assignments module. They must be in the form of Word files, not .pdf.

Reading Responses are also to be submitted to Owlnet via uploading. After the first week, these will be generally due the day we discuss a reading, before class.

DAY	DATE	TOPIC	READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
M	Aug 27	Introduction. Organizational issues. What does the study of Semantics include (and not include)? Example sentences as source of data. Exploring the meaning of a word (assassinate) via semantic intuitions.	No reading.
W	Aug 29	What is meaning?	Begin Bolinger excerpt.
F	Aug 31	Language vs. other symbol systems.	Bolinger excerpt cont.
M	Sept 3	Labor Day. No class.
W	Sept 5	Aspects of lexical acquisition. Generalizing meanings from context.	Bolinger excerpt, end. Bolinger Reading Response due before class. Semantics Problem 1 posted.
F	Sept 7	Finding structure in semantic fields. Taxonomies and Paradigms. American structuralist semantic theory.	Excerpt from Tyler.
M	Sept 10	Lexical network structures. Basic semantic notions: Inclusion and contrast.	Tyler, cont.
W	Sept 12	European structuralist tradition: Lexical field theory. More basic notions: compatibility, incompatibility (semantic anomaly). Practicing semantic analysis of synonyms.	Lehrer reading.
F	Sept 14	Lyons' view of meaning as logical relations among items in a domain. What should be included in meaning? A widespread view: "Denotation is meaning; mere connotation is not". Cognitive and social dimensions of meaning (often dismissed as "mere connotation; not meaning") A long-standing argument: Is meaning "inside your head" or "outside your head"? (Cognitive linguists say: "inside". No sharp dividing line between "connotation" and "denotation"; it is all part of human categorization.	Lehrer, cont.
M	Sept 17	More on binary lexical relations. Antonyms and other kinds of opposites. Gradability and scales.	Lehrer, cont.
W	Sept 19	Polysemy: systematically linked senses. Image schemas. Relational concepts like in, on, over, through as relations of trajectors with respect to landmarks.	Lakoff reading.
F	Sept 21	More on image schemas: A tool for semantic analysis. Topological properties of image schemas: distortion/mutability but topological properties the same. Trajector and landmark (Tr and Lm). The Path image schema: Direction, continuity, single-dimension, Source and Goal.	Lakoff cont.
M	Sept 24	Image schemas. Embodiment. Conventionality and variation.	Lakoff cont.
W	Sept 26	Last issues with image schemas. Profile vs. base: Another tool for semantic analysis.	Lakoff, end. No additional reading.
F	Sept 28	Discussion of Assignment 1. Methodological and theoretical issues. Variation; degrees of semantic anomaly. Prototypes; Scenes and frames. Relation to other theoretical concepts: ICMs; profile vs. base .	Fillmore 1975. Semantics Problem 2 posted
M	Oct 1	Frames cont. The concept of a semantic domain. How it relates to types of lexical structures like the taxonomy. Eclectic vs. restricted theories. Folk vs. specialized classifications.	Fillmore 1975, Fillmore 1978.
W	Oct 3	More domains and lexical relational structures.	Fillmore 1978 cont.
F	Oct 5		Fillmore 1978 cont.
M	Oct 8		Fillmore 1978 cont.
W	Oct 10	Relating profile/base to domains and frames. The days of the week: temporal concepts (i.e. concepts in the domain of time) which are parts of a temporal/cultural frame of the type: "ordered temporal sequence".	Langacker (in progress) Section 3.3: "Prominence".
F	Oct 12	More socially-defined frames. Kinship; ranks in a military hierarchy.	Langacker cont.
M	Oct 15	Midterm recess. No class.
W	Oct 17	Looking at data from a linguistic corpus. A new methodology in linguistic semantics.Methodological issues. Relation of corpus data and introspective data. Relation of the linguistic system to usage.	No reading.
F	Oct 19	Corpus investigations continued.	No reading.
M	Oct 22	Viewpoint	Radden and Dirven
W	Oct 24		Radden and Dirven
F	Oct 26	Shape, numeral classifiers.	Clark and Clark
M	Oct 29
W	Oct 31
F	Nov 2
M	Nov 5	Embodiment. Synaesthesia. Evidence from gesture; acquisition.	Clark and Clark.
W	Nov 7	Neo-Whorfianism. Whorfian effects: cultural/linguistic effects on non-linguistic cognition.	Clark and Clark, cont.
F	Nov 9	Universals (i.e. patterns of constraints found cross-linguistically) due to cognitive effects on language.	Clark and Clark, cont.
M	Nov 12	Cognitive biases in semantic systems. Other markedness categories: grammatical number, tense, etc.	Clark and Clark, cont.
W	Nov 14	Neurological findings supporting embodied cognition: Convergence zones (D'Amasio), neuronal group selection (Edelman), mirror neurons (many researchers). Agency, causality, force in image schemas. What is an agent? Duality (mind vs. body) embedded in human language.	Turner excerpt 1.
F	Nov 16	Discussion of semantics of dimensional terms. Metaphor reconceptualized as conceptual blending.	Turner excerpt 2.
M	Nov 19	Blending cont.	Turner excerpt 2 cont.
W	Nov 21	No class. Parrill lecture on gesture and language on Oct. 18 served as 'make-up'.
F	Nov 23	Thanksgiving break. No class.
M	Nov 26	Mental Spaces. Transition. Back to motion and location.	Turner excerpt 3.
W	Nov 28	Space II. The semantics of location and motion events.	Talmy reading, part I.
F	Nov 30	Lexicalization and conflation. Verb framing languages.	Talmy, part I cont.
M	Dec 3	Conflation cont. Patterns in English verbs: Instrument conflation, figure conflation, ground conflation.	Talmy Part I; Part II.
W	Dec 5	Satellites in English and other langauges	Talmy, Part II.
F	Dec 7	Summary: Semantics, State of the Art
	TBA	Provisional topics to be selected from.	Readings to be selected from.
		Human cognitive capacities. Kemmer's summary of Cognitive Capacities.
		Semantic compositionality and context.
		The semantics of everyday concepts (artefacts, animals)	Wierzbicka. [omitted]
		Dictionaries and encyclopedias. Can we draw a line between them? Between semantics and pragmatics? Incorporating prototypes and frames in semantic analyses.	Wierzbicka cont. [omitted] Recommended reading: Bierwisch 1970.
		Lexical semantic change.	Traugott reading. [omitted]
		From lexical to grammatical: Grammaticalization.	Traugott, cont. [omitted]

© 2001-2007 Suzanne Kemmer
Last modified 14 Nov 2007