Please join us in welcoming Peter Alrenga (http://www.peteralrenga.com/) to our department! Peter will be working with us this year as a Visiting Professor in Semantics.

Peter earned his PhD from UC Santa Cruz, with a dissertation advancing our understanding of scalar structure, the syntax/semantics of degree constructions, and the ways in which they relate to more general statements of similarity and difference.

Peter’s current research touches on a number of central areas in the field of formal semantics, particularly those related to gradability, scale structure, and degree constructions. He has done important work with Chris Kennedy and Jason Merchant on the nature of comparative clauses (a.k.a. “than-phrases”), the interpretation of quantifiers within them, and more broadly the nature of so-called “split scope” phenomena. More recently, he has been working on the semantics of the scalar operators “at most” and “at least”, their focus semantics, and their possible deep connections with disjunction.

In addition to teaching our undergraduate semantics course, Peter will be teaching the graduate proseminar in semantics this fall. Of course, students (especially semantics students) are strongly encouraged to go ahead and arrange meetings with Peter!