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2005 LSA Institute Linguistic Society of America
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LSA.312 | Semantics: an Introduction

Gennaro Chierchia
MW 2:55-4:35
location: 32-155
course web site: http://lsa.dlp.mit.edu/Class/312

This course is an introduction to linguistic semantics. Topics to be addressed include:

(a) Main semantic relations (entailment, presupposition, implicature, etc.) and the notion of semantic competence
(b) Logical Form, truth and reference.
(c) Clause structure: predication and modification
(d) Quantification, anaphora and the interpretation of pronouns
(e) Intensionality and context dependence
(f) Selected topics such as negative polarity, plurals and the mass/count distinction, scalar implicatures and the semantics/pragmatics interface.

Prerequisites: Some familiarity with elementary syntax

Recommended Textbooks
Title: Meaning and Grammar
Author: Gennaro Chierchia, Sally McConnell-Ginet
Publisher: MIT Press, 2000

Title: Semantics & Generative Grammar
Author: I. Heim & A. Kratzer
Publisher: Blackwell