Veneeta Dayal
Courses
Term: Fall 2020
LING 263 Semantics I
Introduction to truth-conditional compositional semantics. Set theory, first- and higher-order logic, and the lambda calculus as they relate to the study of natural language meaning. Some attention to analyzing the meanings of tense/aspect markers, adverbs, and modals.
This course can be applied towards the following Yale College distributional requirements:
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Social Sciences
LING 396 Semantic Investigations in an Unfamiliar Language
This course introduces students to semantic fieldwork. It chooses a language that is likely not known to any student in the class and has no substantive semantic literature. Students are introduced to a phenomenon in the language on which there is some syntactic literature, either in that language or in one or more related language. This provides a starting point for students to articulate questions to investigate that are primarily semantic nature. Working with a native speaker consultant, students elicit data that answer these initial questions but very likely lead to further questions to investigate. To keep the elicitation focused, these investigations are restricted to topics related to the primary phenomenon discussed, while allowing some margin for individual interests. In addition to the syntactic and semantic literature on the chosen topic or topics, students also read material on fieldwork methodologies for linguistics generally as well as those specifically for semantics. Students work in small groups to fulfill part of the requirements.
Prerequisites: LING 253, LING 263 or permission of the instructor
This course can be applied towards the Social Sciences Yale College distributional requirement.
Term: Spring 2021
Ling 264 Semantics II
The model-theoretic approach to semantics and its treatment of core linguistic phenomena. Topics include quantification; tense, aspect, and modality; context and interpretation; and the semantics-pragmatics interface.
Prerequisite: LING 263 or permission of instructor.
This course can be applied towards the Social Sciences Yale College distributional requirement.
LING 326 Language Change Practicum
Advanced work in language change focusing on practical application of methods in historical linguistics. The class gives students practice in research methods related to studying language change. Exact topics vary from year to year but could include phylogenetic analysis, methods in language and ecology, and historical reconstruction and language reclamation. An emphasis is placed on collaborative work which may result in academic publications.
Prerequisite: LING 212 or equivalent or permission of instructor.
LING 349 Topics in Phonology: The Phonetics-Phonology Interface
The relationship between phonology, as the mental representation of speech, and phonetics, as the physical substance of speech. Universal and language-particular phonetics; phonetic knowledge as grammatical knowledge; phonetic detail in phonological representation and computation; unified vs. modular conceptions of the phonetics-phonology divide; the shaping of phonological systems by phonetic pressures; the shaping of phonetic patterning by phonological structure.
Prerequisites: LING 220 and LING 235, or with permission of instructors.
This course can be applied towards the Social Sciences Yale College distributional requirement.