Handouts
Today we continued our discussion of lexical semantics with synonymy, hyponymy, and antonymy (which comes in four flavors). We also discussed each of these concepts in terms of sentential entailment.
Summary for M Nov 28
Handout
Today we practiced some syntactic ambiguity tree-drawing with a sentence that has five meanings: I smashed the bee on the table with a hat. We then began our discussion of semantics, which identified the difference between lexical and compositional semantics and then briefly discussed a particular kind of lexical semantic relationship that can hold between two words in a lexicon: hyponymy. We’ll pick up with that on Wednesday.
Summary for M Nov 21
Handout
Today we talked about ambiguity, particularly structural/syntactic ambiguity (though we also talked briefly about lexical ambiguity). We examined one main kind of ambiguity, in which a modifier (an A or PP) can attach in more than one place in the tree and different meanings result.
Extra credit opportunity
As I announced via the class email list, there is an opportunity for extra credit. If you participate in one experiment run by members of the linguistics department I’ll drop your lowest homework grade. Here is the information for one of these opportunities. You may contact the experimenter directly through the email provided.
We are looking for participants in a self-paced reading study. The task involves reading approximately 100 sentences and answering a simple comprehension question after each one. The whole process isn't expected to take longer than 45 minutes. For more information or to schedule an appointment send an email to xlingumass@gmail.com.
Summary for F Nov 18
Exam 2.
Summary for W Nov 16
Handouts
We talked about what will be on the exam (which is on Friday) and spent most of class going over the new PS rules that are used in Homework #6. As promised, here is the Homework #6 Answer key. We also looked at a few more practice sentences in the handout above.
Summary for M Nov 14
Handout
Today we continued talking about syntax and syntactic phrase structure. Homework #6 will be due by the end of the day on Wednesday (leave it in my mailbox if you don’t hand it in in class). Exam 2 is this Friday.
Summary for W Nov 9
Handouts
Today we continued talking about syntax. I reviewed what we went through last class and then we started making syntactic trees with labels and discussing phrase structure rules. We also ran into recursivity and talked about this property of phrase structure rules in language.
Summary for M Nov 7
Handouts and slides
Today we talked more about syntactic phrases and constituents, which we’ll continue with on Wednesday.
I announced some schedule changes today. The main one is that second exam will be on Friday, November 18 (instead of Wed, Nov 16). I’ll post an updated schedule to the schedule tab soon.
Summary F Nov 4
Handout
Today we started syntax by taking a look at some sentences and trying to determine what kinds of patterns there are in terms of category co-occurrence. We’ll continue with this on Monday, and we will refine and formalize these generalizations.
Summary for W Nov 2
“Handout”
- DQ #17 (was not distributed as a handout)
Today we talked about different kinds phonological processes. If you weren’t in class or want to review, you can check out the reading for this unit for more information. If you haven’t handed in Homework #5 yet the last day to turn it in is Friday of this week.