| CODE | LIN5082 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Semantics for Language Technology | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute of Linguistics | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Learning objectives Participants will be familiarised with the basic concerns, concepts, and terminology of linguistic semantics, and exercised in the description and analysis of both lexical and propositional meaning. Content Covered This introductory study-unit is concerned with two basic questions: 1. What is meaning? 2. How can linguistic theory account for a speaker's knowledge of the meaning of natural language utterances? These questions have been tackled within a variety of disciplines in addition to linguistics, especially philosophy and psychology. Therefore, the study-unit will involve forays into both these disciplines, while maintaining a clear focus on semantic theorising within the discipline of linguistics itself. The study-unit will proceed in the following stages: 1. A historical overview of different approaches to the analysis of meaning. This will include brief incursions into philosophical approaches (from Plato to Frege), with a view to tracing their impact on contemporary theories of linguistic semantics. This initial overview will help to contextualise the subsequent focus on major trends in contemporary semantic theory. 2. An introduction to the basic concepts of semantic theory, including sense, denotation and reference. 3. An introduction to lexical semantics, with a focus on: - Lexical fields and meaning relations such as synonymy and hyponymy; - Classical approaches to word meaning such as decompositional and definitional theories. This will also include an overview of contemporary descendants of these theories, such as Anna Wierzbicka's Natural Semantic Metalanguage, Ray Jackendoff's Conceptual Semantics, and James Pustejovsky's Generative Lexicon Theory. - The relationship between words, meanings and the world. 4. An introduction to propositional and sentence meaning, including: - The notion of compositionality; - Some of the fundamentals of propositional meaning such as truth conditions and entailment. - Some aspects of the relationship between syntax and semantics, particularly the issues of predication and argument structure (thematic roles) and selectional restrictions. Data for analysis and exemplification will largely be drawn from Maltese and English. During the study-unit, students will be assigned tasks that will help them exercise the skills acquired during lectures. These tasks will involve both theoretical analysis of linguistic phenomena and the use of computational tools such as WordNet. The tasks will form part of the overall assessment. Reading list - Saeed, J. 2003. Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers- - Loebner, S. 2002. Understanding Semantics. London: Edward Arnold - Cruse, A. 2000. Meaning in Language: an introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Further reading - Wierzbicka, A. 1992. Semantics, culture and cognition: Universal human concepts in culture-specific configurations. Oxford: Oxford University Press - Jackendoff, R. 2002. Foundations of language: Brain, meaning, grammar and evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press - Pustejovsky, J. 1995. The generative lexicon. Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Stavros Assimakopoulos |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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