We usually understand novel sentences – e.g., this one – with little or no hesitation. How do we accomplish this? According to the received opinion, our linguistic knowledge divides into two modules - roughly, words and rules – which in turn give rise respectively to Lexical Semantics and Compositional Semantics.

The present course concerns Compositional Semantics – the study of how the meanings of compound expressions are derived from the meanings of their parts. We pursue this enterprise within the frameworks of Categorial Grammar, Type-Logical Grammar, and Revised Categorial Grammar. Topics will include: set theory, type theory, lambda-calculus, categorial syntax and semantics, type-logical syntax and semantics, and revised categorial grammar – RCG (for description of RCG, click here).