Ling 419: Degree Semantics

UMD advanced undergraduate seminar (Spring 2013): Language contains a number of devices for talking about the relative quantities of things. In this course, we investigate the nature of speaker knowledge of the semantics of degree constructions like the positive Al is tall, comparative Bill is taller than Al, equative Al is as tall as Carl, excessive Bill is too tall, superlative Bill is the tallest, and others. A prominent approach to such devices makes reference to abstract entities called degrees, where "degree morphemes" are interpreted as expressing different sorts of relations between those entities. In this course, we study the relevant descriptive generalizations, as well as theoretical techniques for modeling speaker knowledge of such talk. In addition to developing basic competency in a number of important semantic distinctions such as gradable/non-gradable (adjectives), mass/count (nouns), atelic/telic (verbs), we will become familiar with the mathematical tools used to encode interactions between these categories and degree operators. We will also read and critically analyze contemporary theoretical research in this domain.