Semantic Theory
| Lecturers: | Noortje Venhuizen and Harm Brouwer |
| Place: | Geb. C72, Seminarraum (1.12) |
| Time: | Tue 10-12, Thu 10-12 |
| Starts: | 11.04.2019 |
Overview
This course provides knowledge about phenomena, formalisms and methods in natural-language semantics, which form the basis for deep semantic processing and provide valuable background information for semantic processing in general.
Topics of this course include:
- Sentence semantics: First-order logic and Type-theory; Lambda Calculus (Montague Semantics)
- Lexical semantics: Generalized Quantifiers; Event semantics and tense; semantic roles and frames
- Discourse semantics: Definite and indefinite noun phrases, anaphora, Discourse Representation Theory (DRT)
- Current Topics in Semantic Theory: Presuppositions and at-issueness; Distributional Formal Semantics
Exercises and Exam
There will be several take-home exercises, which you have to complete to be admitted to the final exam. More details can be found here.
Prerequisites
Familiarity with first-order predicate logic
Background literature
- Gamut, Logic, Language, and Meaning, Vol. 2, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991
- Kamp/Reyle, From Discourse to Logic, Kluwer, 1993
- Winter, Elements of Formal Semantics, Edinburgh University Press, 2016
Role in the degree programmes
M.Sc. Program: Core course
Area: L (Linguistics)
Standard time slot 2nd semester.
Diplomstudiengang Computerlinguistik: Pflicht; Wahlpflichtveranstaltung für MA-NF
Leistungspunkte
6 CP