It is perhaps worthwhile saying that semantics [...] is a sober and modest discipline which has no pretensions of being a universal patent-medicine for all the ills and diseases of mankind, whether imaginary or real. You will not find in semantics any remedy for decayed teeth or illusions of grandeur or class conflicts. Nor is semantics a device for establishing that everyone except the speaker and his friends is speaking nonsense. - Alfred Tarski (1944)

Varol Akman

In general, graduate students
[If you are an undergrad, please inform me before you register for this course]

Wed 10:40, 11:40; Fri 13:40

EA502

anytime

Readings in the Philosophy of Language, edited by Peter Ludlow, MIT Press (1997)
[This excellent collection of papers is available in the bookstore; please purchase it asap]

• Language and meaning
• Logical form and grammatical form
• Definite and indefinite descriptions
• Names
• Demonstratives
• Attitude reports

GRADING

• 10% attendance (I'll take attendance only 10 times, at random)
• 20% paper presentation
• 30% book review [due Wed May 22 (12:00 noon); to be submitted in hardcopy]
• Submit the title, author, publisher, and publication date of your book by Wednesday March 13, 2002, 10:40, in hardcopy
• It's definitely a good idea to show your book to me before you start reading it
• Only books published within the last five years qualify. (The more recent, the better!)
• 40% term paper [due Mon May 27 (12:00 noon); to be submitted in hardcopy]
• Submit the (tentative) title and a one-paragraph description of your paper by Wednesday March 20, 2002, 10:40, in hardcopy

The length of the book review is approx. 5-6 pp. single-spaced. (Multiply these numbers by 1.5 for double-spaced documents.)

The length of the term paper is approx. 10-12 pp. single-spaced. (Multiply these numbers by 1.5 for double-spaced documents.)

All written material should be prepared using a decent document processing system. Carefully check your sentences for grammar and avoid spelling mistakes. If you're referring to other people's work do not forget to cite them appropriately. (Never cite a paper that you haven't read!)

In order to force you to work on your book reviews and term papers, there'll be a class discussion on Wed May 1 when you'll be asked to provide a very brief status report. (Thank you all contributors! You've received a bonus of 2% overall for your being present and  for your willingness to discuss your work.)

AUXILIARY COURSE MATERIAL

It is recommended that the student is familiar with the classical ideas of logic. I'll try to close any gaps though. The Bilkent Library has a good collection of logic and semantics books. The following is a representative but highly incomplete and unordered list:

• Logic, Language, and Meaning (Vol. 1: Introduction to Logic; Vol. 2: Intensional Logic and Logical Grammar), by L. T. F. Gamut, University of Chicago Press (1991)
• Introduction to Natural Language Semantics, by Henriette de Swart, CSLI Publications (1998)
• Meaning and Grammar: An Introduction to Semantics, by Gennaro Chierchia & Sally McConnell-Ginet, 2/e, MIT Press (2000) [The Library has the 1/e]
• Meaning and Argument: An Introduction to Logic Through Language, by Ernest Lepore, Blackwell (2000)
• The Languages of Logic: An Introduction to Formal Logic, by Samuel D. Guttenplan, Blackwell (1997)
• Introduction to Montague Semantics, by David R. Dowty & Robert E. Wall, D. Reidel (1981)
• The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory, edited by Shalom Lappin, Blackwell (1996)
• Doing Worlds with Words: Formal Semantics without Formal Metaphysics, by Jaroslav Peregrin, Kluwer Academic Publishers (1995)
• Truth and Meaning: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language, by Kenneth Taylor, Blackwell (1998)
• Handbook of Logic and Language, edited by Johan van Benthem & Alice ter Meulen, Elsevier (1997)
• A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, edited by Bob Hale and Crispin Wright, Blackwell (1998)