Course title:

Semantics

Course code: PSL141
Course status: Obligatory
Course leader: Milena Žic Fuchs
Course instructor:
Language of instruction: English
Total hours: 6L+6S
Form of instruction: Lecture
ECTS credits: 6

Course content by topics:

This course will encompass topics ranging from the earliest philosophical considerations of the phenomenon of meaning to traditional European structuralism and finally the latest insights provided by cognitive semantics. The content is divided into three main parts: semantics of individual lexemes, the relations between lexemes at the paradigmatic level and the relation between semantics and syntax. Within these chapters fundamental traditional concepts shall be examined, such as homonymy, synonymy, polysemy and antonymy, both in their traditional sense and in as presented in some very contemporary approaches. Traditional and contemporary approaches will also be used to shed light on the paradigmatic relations between lexemes, with special focus on meaning overlaps between lexemes and their complex semantic relations. When it comes to the syntagmatic level, the goal is to get students acquainted with the so-called grammatical meaning, i.e. the meaning interactions between individual sentence elements. Students will also be introduced to the latest approaches to metaphor and metonymy, which refer to semantic phenomena related to individual lexemes but also play an important role in the so-called grammatical meaning. All the listed topics will be approached from the point of view of theoretical claims since the objective of the course is to acquaint students with various modes of interpreting meaning phenomena.

Learning outcomes at course level:

1. to describe and compare traditional and contemporary approaches to examining meaning in language; 2. to name and explain various meaning phenomena in language, at all traditional levels of linguistic description; 3. to compare and discuss meaning phenomena that are subject to research in semantics; 4. to critically evaluate various theoretical approaches to meaning; 5. to employ various methodological approaches to meaning phenomena; 6. to compare and contrast traditional and contemporary approaches to metaphors and metonymy

Learning outcomes at programme level:

Reading list:

Obligatory reading: Lyons, J. (1977) Semantics, Vol I/II. Cambridge University Press.; Ullman, S. (1962) Semantics: an Introduction to the Science of Meaning. Basil Blackwell & Matt Ltd.; Žic Fuchs, M. (1991) Znanje o jeziku i znanje o svijetu. Semantička analiza glagola kretanja u engleskom jeziku. Zagreb: SOL.; Žic Fuchs, M. (2009) Kognitivna lingvistika i jezične strukture: engleski present perfect, Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Globus; Students will be given an additional reading list to choose from, in various international languages, comprising over 60 titles. Lyons’ book Semantics (1977) is translated into four European languages; additional reading: Baldinger, K. (1980) Semantic Theory – Towards a Modern Semantics Oxford: Basic Blackwell.;

Cruse, D.A. (1986) Lexical Semantics. Cambridge University Press.; Frawely, W. (1992) Linguistic Semantics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.; Handke, J. (1995) The Structure of the Lexicon, Human versus Machine. Mouton de Gruyter.; Lehrer, A. (1974) Semantic Fields and Lexical Structure. London: North Holland.; Nida, E. A. (1975) Componential Analysis of Meaning

– An Introduction to Semantic Structures. The Hague: Mouton.; Pustejovsky, J. (1993) Semantics and the Lexicon. Kluwer Academic Publishers.; Wierzbicka, A. (1985) Lexicography and Conceptual Analysis. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers.

Assessment of student achievement: oral exam Quality assurance mechanism: student survey