Course title: Linguistic seminar: Semantics
ECTS credits: 5
Course coordinator: Professor Milena Žic Fuchs
Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Mateusz-Milan Stanojević; Dr. Janja Čulig Suknaić, postdoc
Language: English
Semester: 2nd
Form of Instruction: 2 seminars per week
Objectives: The aim of this course is to introduce students to the analysis of meaning. Upon its completion, students will be able to produce their own semantic descriptions within a set theoretical framework, and will be able to critically evaluate certain methods used in semantic analysis.
Course contents: This course is designed to provide students with opportunities for the practical application of their semantic analysis skills acquired in earlier courses. Various types of meaning analyses will be practiced, set both within structuralist and cognitive-functional frameworks. This will include meaning relations such as synonymy and polysemy, approaches to semantic analysis such as componential analysis and the theory of semantic fields, and problems of dictionary definitions. In addition to the lexical level, the level of “semantics of syntactic constructions” will also be dealt with.
Form of Instruction: Student participation is required. In the course of the semester, three main topics will be dealt with. Students will be required to write a research paper on a topic selected in consultation with the instructor.
Examination: Attendance, participation and the research paper
Required reading (selected excerpts from):
Selected chapters from:
Cruse, D.A. 1986. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Additional reading:
Cruse, D.A. and W. Croft. (2004), Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dirven, R. and M. H. Verspoor. (2004), Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics (Cognitive Linguistics in Practice) 2nd edition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Lehrer, A. (1974), Semantic Fields and Lexical Structure. Amsterdam/London: North-Holland Publishing Company.
Lyons, J. (1977), Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nida, E. A. (1975), Componential Analysis of Meaning. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
