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LING 270-0 : Meaning

Description

The ability to use language to communicate meaning is one of the most fundamental aspects of being human. But what is 'meaning' ? We approach this difficult question by investigating what speakers know about how meaning is conveyed in language, including the distinction between what expressions literally mean, and the different shades of meaning that expressions can take on in different contexts of use. In carrying out this study, we plumb the linguist's toolkit (which includes tools borrowed from mathematics, logic, language acquisition, and experimental psychology) to discover how language scientists determine what a given word or sentence means, and whether that word or sentence means the same thing across occasions of use. This inquiry will lead the student to an understanding of the scientific study of language, by examining how it plays out in the domain of linguistic meaning. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deeper appreciation for one of the most important, yet still most elusive, aspects of the human capacity for language.