Brief Course Overview
This course is the third of the three parts of our graduate introduction to semantics. The others are 24.970 (Introduction to Semantics) and 24.973 (Advanced Semantics).
The semester will be divided into five somewhat independent units, devoted respectively to conversational implicature, indexicality, presupposition, speech acts, and focus (in this order). The main issues and central readings for each unit are listed in the calendar and readings sections. In each unit, we will devote some time to current ongoing work, to illustrate how the basic concepts of pragmatics are involved in cutting edge work.
The course is required for students in the 5 year semantics program. It is also appropriate for other students interested in work in syntax/semantics and for students interested in the philosophy of language.
Prerequisites
24.970 (Introduction to Semantics) and 24.973 (Advanced Semantics), or approximately equivalent background. We will presuppose technical material more or less on the level of Heim and Kratzer (1998), as well as familiarity with the possible worlds semantics of modal and attitude constructions.
The Structure of the Course
In each of the five units, we start out by developing an understanding of the basic concepts and technical tools. We then discuss some issues that are under current investigation. By the end of each unit, students will be ready to start engaging in ongoing research.
A decision to take this course entails the following commitments:
- Class Attendance: To achieve a good understanding of work in this area, you will need to attend class. Think of this as a regularly scheduled appointment with a group of friendly people with similar interests to yours. If you cannot make it to a meeting, courtesy requires that you give prior notification (email or phone would be fine).
- Class Participation: But more than just providing a body in a seat, you will want to participate actively in the class. Listen closely to lectures, questions from other students, and ensuing discussion. Take notes. Contribute your own thoughts, questions, answers, to the class discussion. You can also raise issues via email after class.
- Reading Assignments: There are quite a few readings for this class. These range from textbook chapters or handbook articles to very recent research manuscripts. Some of these are truly required reading and will be declared as such. Others are supplementary reading, of which you will want to read as much as possible. It would also be beneficial if you browse through the related literature and find things to write squibs about, and you should begin with that right away. Enrolled students are expected to keep me informed about what they are reading.
- Lecture Notes: Following a class or a set of classes, I will often distribute some sort of lecture notes summarizing the discussion we had in class. You will want to read over these lecture notes, compare them to your own notes, and react if needed either via email or in class.
- Technical Exercises: Where warranted, I will make available sets of technical exercises that will help you get deeper familiarity with technical tools.
- A Squib: As the final project for this class, you will write a squib. In the unmarked case, a squib consists of a critical discussion of some article (or group of related articles) which is relevant to the topics covered in this class. The squib should contain a clear and self-contained presentation of the main claims and arguments in the article, explain why and how they bear on issues discussed in class, and point out problems, possible amendments, extensions and applications. A short squib proposal is due on or before lecture 19. The squib itself is due three days after lecture 24.
- Policy on Collaboration between Students: You are encouraged to discuss the technical exercises (and anything else about the class) with each other. You must however write up your assignments and your squib individually and you must be able to individually justify what you turn in. You should always indicate on your assignments whether and with whom you collaborated.