This course is an introduction to the formal semantics of natural language. We introduce central concepts and issues in semantics, and develop a basic formal compositional model of meaning, extending it as we go to accommodate a wider range of empirical phenomena.  An emphasis will be on students developing skills in semantic analysis and argumentation.

Topics

• Introduction and basic concepts (nature of meaning; meaning and truth; semantics vs. pragmatic; meaning relations)
• The formal representation of meaning (predicates and arguments; functions and sets; logical connectives; semantic types)
• Meaning composition (compositional rules; lambda abstraction; lambda conversion, modification)
• Quantification (logical quantifiers; quantifier scope; generalized quantifiers and their properties)
• Event semantics

Optional readings

• Kearns, Kate (2011). Semantics (2nd edition). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Coppock, Elizabeth & Lucas Champollion (2022). Invitation to Formal Semantics. https://eecoppock.info/bootcamp/semantics-boot-camp.pdf