Facultat de Traducció i Interpretació Course Syllabus
Year 2014-2015
Meaning in Language (21521)
Degree: ​
Applied Languages
Year:​
third
Term: ​
second
ECTS credits: ​
4
Student workload: ​
100
Course type: ​
Compulsory
GG Teacher​
: Enric Vallduví (​
[email protected]​
, office 53.714)
Language of instruction​
: English
1. Course presentation
This course is an introduction to the study of meaning in language. The student will
become familiar with the most fundamental aspects of word and phrasal meaning and how
these combine with context to yield a full interpretation for a sentence, as well as with
some basic patterns of cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the way meaning is
encoded in language. Finally, the student will learn develop some formal techniques for the
analysis of meaning.
2. Skills to be developed
General skills (G) and specific skills (E):
● Analysis and problem solving: To be able to propose the best analysis of a semantic or
pragmatic phenomenon given some set of theoretical concepts and specific methods
(G02).
● Application of theoretical knowledge to practical cases: To be able to apply theoretical
concepts and knowledge about semantics and pragmatics to the analysis of new data
(G17).
● Motivation for quality: To be better able to recognize different degrees of precision in
the analysis of data and to develop a sense of the importance of formulating
descriptions and analyses with maximal precision (G19).
● Ability to reflect on the functioning of language: To be able to distinguish between the
respective roles of semantics and pragmatics in linguistic communication (E09).
3. Contents
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Sentences, utterances and propositions
Referential expressions and predication
Sense relations
Propositional logic
Word meaning and compositionality of meaning
Meaning and context
Interpersonal meaning and inference. Metaphoric meaning.
4. Evaluation and reassessment
Regular assessment
Activity
Weight
towards grade
Task 1 in
class
Task 2 in
class
Final (1)
20%
Regular
class work/
homework
15%
20%
40%
Can / Cannot
be made up
Reassessment
Weight
towards grade
Prerequisites
and
observations
Cannot be
made up
Cannot be
made up
Can be made
up
15%
Form of
the
make-up
__
15%
__
(2)
50%
Final (1)
Cannot be
made up
15%
__
A grade of 5/10 on
final
must
be
scored
to pass
course
Regular
submission
of
work is taken into
account (2)
(2)
(2)
Attendance
5%
Cannot be
5%
__
/
made up
participatio
n
(1) Whenever the exam score is less than 5/10, then the final mark for the course will be precisely
this exam score (even if the weighted average of all the evaluation activities is higher than 5/10).
(2) Whenever the exam is not passed at regular assessment time, the scores obtained during term
time on the other evaluation activities will be reused at reassessment and will account for 50% of
final mark (if the reassessment exam is passed). Evaluation activities not done or submitted during
term time will be assigned zero points.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. The use of any study materials during tasks and exams is
not allowed, unless explicitly permitted. Any task or exam affected by plagiarism or where
unlawful use of study materials has taken place will be awarded zero points. If plagiarism
is suspected, we will let you know.
5. Methodology
The course is organized in the following way:
●
●
●
1 large group session/week; 1 seminar/week
Reading: An average of 2 hours/week. You will be expected to do the required reading
before​
the class in which it is discussed.
Regular class work and homework: There will be weekly exercises, the role of which is
to give you the opportunity to make sure you understand the concepts and techniques
that are discussed in class, as well as to prepare you for the tasks and exam. Class
work of this type will be ordinarily done in the seminar sessions.
The large group sessions will consist in the presentation and discussion of the concepts
and methods that are necessary to understand the readings and do the assessable
activities. The seminar sessions will be mainly devoted to discussing the weekly exercises.
Active participation of the student is essential in both types of classes, but especially in the
seminars. The work to be done outside of class will mainly consist of the weekly readings
and also exercises.
6. Essential bibliography
6.1. Core references
Obligatory reading:
Hurford, James R., Brendan Heasley & Michael B. Smith. 2007. Semantics: A coursebook
(2nd Edition). Cambridge University Press. (Can be easily purchased on line.)
Other:
Birner, Betty J. 2013. Introduction to Pragmatics. Wiley-Blackwell.
Cann, Ronnie, ​
Ruth Kempson​
&​
Eleni Gregoromichelaki​
. 2009. Formal Semantics: An
Introduction to meaning in language: Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Riemer, Nick. 2010. Introducing Semantics (Cambridge Introductions to Language and
Linguistics) . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zimmermann, Thomas Ede & Wolfgang Sternefeld. 2013. Introduction to Semantics.
Mouton Textbook, de Gruyter Mouton.
6.2. Additional references
Ariel, Mira. 2010. Defining Pragmatics (Research Surveys in Linguistics). Cambridge
University Press.
Cruse, Alan. 2011. Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics.
Oxford: Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics (OUP)
Jackendoff, Ray. 1983. Semantics and cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kearns, Kate. 2011. Semantics (2nd Edition). Palgrave Macmillan
Portner, Paul. 2004. What is Meaning? Fundamentals of Formal Semantics. Blackwell.
Saeed, John I. 2003. Semantics (2nd edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Stalnaker, Robert. 2014. Context. Oxford University Press.