Semantics_UAM_2020-2021



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Information
Contact: dsg.up8@gmail.com
Class: Tuesday 13h15, room 154 Chemicum
Office hours: 10h00-18h00 Monday and Friday, via zoom
Downloads: www.dsglynn.univ-paris8.fr (password: student)

Introduction
How do we understand each other? How do we know what words mean? How do we shape the experienced world? Meaning, or the symbolic representation of thought, is arguably fundamental not only to language but to all human society and civilization. Semantics is the scientific study of the structure of meaning in language. Discourse is the pragmatic use of how we express that meaning. This course examines the different ways that linguists try to answer fundamental questions about meaning structure and construction. Rather than focusing on the theories, the course seeks to encourage the students to ask questions themselves about how meaning is structured and how that structure is employed. To these ends, the course largely practical and asks the students to preform their own analyses and collect their own data.

Objectives
a. Understand the principle theories of how meaning is structured and expressed.
b. Propose hypotheses that explain how meaning is structured and expressed.
c. Collect data and perform a design an experiment to test those hypotheses.
d. Interpret results of the experiment and report them in a scientific manner.

Slides

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From previous years

Instructions for tasks - to submit ASAP

Semantics Report

Stylesheet
please use this style sheet, it is based on the most widely used style sheet for linguistics in a professional context

Report Instructions
step by step guide to what is expected

Online Chi2 Calculator
if you hate R, here is another option, more work but no commands :)

R-commands for Ch2
just download and you can run the r commands step by step, super easy

Video 1 - Xtab
How to make cross tabulation

Video 2 - Chi2
How to do Ch2 and intepret results

Google Sheet Link For Analysis

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rh5Spw6iwFldvN_K75wFvCaok5l-kbi72MYx906BvJc/edit?usp=sharing

Discourse Report

Appraisal Discourse Analysis

Spread sheet for analysis and examples

Attitude_Schema from Martin and White

Attitude Coding Schema summary - Updated!

Instructions

Video Help - Part 1

Video Help - Part 2

Stylesheet
please use this style sheet, it is based on the most widely used style sheet for linguistics in a professional context

Report Instructions
step by step guide to what is expected

Slides

Semantics and Discourse Class outline 27 Jan

Semantics and Discourse Class outline 03 Feb

Semantics-and-Discourse-Class-outline-10 Feb

LiveJournal Corpus

Appraisal Discourse Analysis

Spread sheet for analysis and examples

Attitude_Schema from Martin and White

Attitude Coding Schema summary - Updated!

Instructions

Video Help - Part 1

Video Help - Part 2

Data for Semantics Live Journal Corpus

Data for Discourse: Women's Magazines

Closer_USA__August_05_2019

Closer_USA__May_27_2019

Closer_USA_-_June_25_2018

Closer_USA__April_08_2019

Vogue_USA_-_10_2019

Vogue_USA_July_2017

Vogue_USA_March_2017

Vogue_USA_-_October_2019

Cosmopolitan_USA_-_November_2019

Cosmopolitan_USA_October_2017

Cosmopolitan_South_Africa_October_2017

Cosmopolitan_South_Africa_May_2017

Reading

For grammatical semantics - Bresenan et al 2005 - Example of BPA for syntax

For lexical semantics - Glynn 2012 - Example of BPA to polysemy

For discourse - Read & Carroll 2010 - Annotating Appraisal

Discourse Analysis - submit before 28th Feb

Instructions - coming soon

Literature

Grammaticality and Grammar

super short overviews

Dąbrowska, E. 2015. What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it? Frontiers in Psychology 6:852.

Goldberg, A. 2008. Universal Grammar? Or prerequisites for natural language? Brain and Behavioral Sciences 31: 552-523.

Old but often criticised summary but a good place to start

Tomasello (2009) - The usage-based theory of language acquisition, E. Bavin & L. Naigles, (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, 89-106. Cambridge: CUP.

Intro to idea of constructions in language learning

Ellis et al. 2016. Constructions and Usage-based Approaches to Language Acquisition, Language Learning 66: 23-44.

Categorisation and Categories

Kilgariff 1997 - important early study by one of the most influiential copus linguists of late 20C

Ravin & Leacock - Polysemy Overview. - An introduction to a book on Polysemy that summerises many of the basic theories

Examples of semantic studies