Linguistics 510, Introduction to semantics.
“How Humans Construct Meanings”

Lectures / Discussion: MWF 10.10 to 11.00, Herter 111
Angelika Kratzer ( email / website )
Office Hours: daily but Wed 11:30-1:00 SC227

Lab Sessions: T 4:00 to 4:50, Herter 102
Jan Anderssen ( email / website / aim: ling201jan )
Office Hours: Mon 1:00 - 2:00 SC 503

Course Website: http://courses.umass.edu/ling510/

Textbook: Paul Portner: What is Meaning? Fundamentals of Formal Semantics. Available at Amherst Books, 8 Main St

Prerequisite: LING 401 or permission of instructor

Attendance: Required. You may not qualify for a grade if you miss more than five classes.

Homeworks: There will be 4 take-home exams related to lab and class work, including semantic fieldwork.

Individual project: You will work on a small individual project throughout the course in several stages. We will work out a suitable project with each of you individually at the beginning of the semester. Projects may involve fieldwork on a language other than English, may be psycholinguistics projects related to semantics, or may explore a semantic phenomenon of English from a more theoretical point of view. At fixed dates, you will present an outline, a draft for a poster, a poster presentation, and a final paper (at least 5 pages, double spaced).

Grades: You have to do all four take-home exams and all project work to qualify for a grade. I do not accept late or electronic submissions of written work.

If you qualify for a grade, it will be computed as follows: Take-home exams: 60% (15% each). Project: Planning 10%. Poster and poster presentation: 10%. Final paper: 20%.