Schedule (subject to change):
NB: Written assignments are listed on the Thursday on which they are assigned; they are due the following Thursday, unless stated otherwise.
[Week 1, Tu] Introduction and course overview 2006-09-05
What is semantics? Why study semantics?
Semantic competence, semantic intuitions, and ambiguity.

Reading: Meaning of Language (pp. 1-6), Meaning.
[Week 1, Th] Truth-conditional semantics 2006-09-07
Sentence meanings. Truth-conditions. Entailment.
More practice with ambiguous sentences.

Homework: Assignment 1.
[Week 2, Tu] Types of inferences 2006-09-12
Entailment vs. Implicature. Scalar implicatures.

Reading: Levinson, Chapter 3: Skip Sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3, but be sure to read Section 3.2.4 up to page 134.
[Week 2, Th] More on implicature 2006-09-14
More on scalar implicatures. Downward entailing contexts.
Inclusive vs. exclusive 'or'.
Homework: Assignment 2.
[Week 3, Tu] Implicature Review 2006-09-19
Review: Entailment vs. implicature. Lecture notes.
Solution to Assignment 1.
[Week 3, Th] Presupposition I 2006-09-21
Implicature wrap-up. Start on Presupposition.
No homework assigned today; Assignment 3 will be posted next Tuesday.
[Week 4, Tu] Presupposition II. 2006-09-26
Pressupposition vs. assertion. Projection tests. Context and common ground.
Homework: Assignment 3.
[Week 4, Th] No class 2006-09-28
No class today!
[Week 5, Tu] Review for the exam 2006-10-03
Presupposition wrap-up.
Review for the exam: identifying inferences as entailment vs. implicature, pressupposition vs. assertion.
[Week 5, Th] Exam 1 2006-10-05
Exam 1.
Reading: PtMW, Chapter 1.
Homework: Assignment 4: Exercises 1, 2, 6-8 from the reading.
[Week 6, Tu] Set theory 2006-10-10
Truth-conditions and compositionality. Basics of set theory.
Set theory exercises. Solution.
[Week 6, Th] More practice with set theory 2006-10-12
Practice with set theory.
Reading:PtMW, Chapter 2, Sections 2.1 and 2.2.
Homework: Assignment 5: Exercises 1a,b.
[Week 7, Tu] A mini-grammar of English 2006-10-17
Deriving truth-conditions: Some semantic rules of composition.
Predication and conjunction. Lecture notes.
[Week 7, Th] More of English 2006-10-19
More rules of composition: Negation, APs, and transitive verbs.
Lecture notes.
Homework: Assignment 6.
[Week 8, Tu] Relational V's and P's. 2006-10-24
Relational V's and P's. Practice with derivations.
[Week 8, Th] Implicit arguments 2006-10-26
Relational A's. The interpretation of implicit arguments.
Homework: Assignment 7.
[Week 9, Tu] Review. 2006-10-31
Review of implicit arguments.
Lecture notes, including the upgraded Assignment 7.
[Week 9, Th] Quantifiers 2006-11-02
Quantifiers as relations between sets.
Lecture notes, including example derivations.

Homework: Assignment 8.
[Week 10, Tu] More on quantifiers 2006-11-07
Generalized quantifiers. Conjoining DPs.
Class grammar, as of the end of today's class.
[Week 10, Th] Exam 2 2006-11-09
More on generalized quantifier theory and conjunction.
Start on modifiers. Exam 2: Take-home, due on the 14th.
[Week 11, Tu] Types of Predicates 2006-11-14
Subclasses of predicates. Current class grammar.
[Week 11, Th] Modifiers 2006-11-16
Summary and review of subclasses of predicates.
Modifiers: APs, PPs, and relative clauses. Complements vs. modifiers.
Homework: Assignment 9.
[Week 12, Tu] Complements vs. modifiers. 2006-11-21
Review of complements vs. modifiers.
Solution to Exam 2.
[Week 12, Th] Variables 2006-11-23
Relative clauses and variables. Pronouns.
Lecture notes.
Homework: Assignment10!
Make-up assignment (optional).
[Week 13, Tu] Variables 2006-11-28
Variables review. Class grammar and example derivations.
[Week 13, Th] Last class! 2006-11-30
Wrap-up and review. Exam 3 (take-home).
Solution to Assignment 10. Solution to the make-up assignment.