Linguistic Meaning and Conceptual Structure

Graduate / Professional

The meaning of a word or sentence is something in the human mind that has specific properties: it can be expressed (written/signed/spoken forms); it can be combined with other meanings; its expression is not language dependent; it connects with the world; it serves as a vehicle for inference; and it is hidden from awareness. The course explores these properties in some detail and, in the process, provides students with technical vocabulary and analytical tools to further investigate them. The course is thus intended for students interested in undertaking a research project on the structure of meaning: the nature of lexico-conceptual structure, that is, the structure of concepts, which we refer to as “word meanings,” and how they may be combined through linguistic and nonlinguistic means. The course’s ultimate objective is to bridge models of conceptual structure and models of linguistic semantic composition, identify their respective strengths and weaknesses, and explore some of the fundamental questions that any theory of linguistic meaning composition must answer. Evidence discussed will emerge from naturalistic, introspectional, and experimental methodologies. MW 2:35pm-3:50pm