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CS 782: Cognitive Semantics

CS 782: Cognitive Semantics

Course Contents:

Cognitive Semantics seeks to relate linguistic expressions to conceptual structures in the context of a speech act. The objective of this course is to explore the cognition-language mappings. The course will focus on topics such as:

 - Conceptual and linguistic structures   - Cognition and grammar - Rules and connections   - Lexical structure and compositionality   - Object, event and relational structures   - Spatial and temporal semantics   - Speech acts, rhetorical relations, intentionality and implicature   - Semantic transference, metonymy and metaphor   - Grounding, embodiment, perceptual processes and acquisition   - Lexicalization patterns and diachronic processes   - Cognitive and linguistic processing in artificial agents and other

nonhuman systems

 - Bilingual and Sign language users

References:

Gardenfors, P., Conceptual Spaces, MIT Press, 2000.

Jackendoff, R., Semantic Structures, MIT Press, 1990.

Lakoff, G. and M Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought, Basic Books, New York, 1999.

Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, Chicago University Press, 1980.

Langacker, R. W. , Concept, Image, and Symbol. Mouton de Gruyter. Berlin/New York, 1990.

Levinson, S.C., Presumptive Meanings, MIT Press, 2000.

Nirenburg, S. and V. Raskin, Ontological Semantics, MIT Press, 2004.

Pinker, S., Words and Rules, Basic, 1999.

Pustejovsky, J., Generative Lexicon, MIT Press, 1995.

Rogers, T. and J. McClelland, Semantic Cognition: A Parallel Distributed Processing Approach, MIT Press, 2004.

Talmy, L. Cognitive Semantics - vol. 1 and vol.2, MIT Press, 2000.

van Lambalgen, Michiel, and Fritz Hamm, The proper treatment of Events, Blackwell 2004

Wierzbicka, A., Semantics, culture, and cognition: Universal human concepts in culture-specific configurations, OUP, 1992.

PAPERS:A selection of articles and current papers from journals including the following:

Departments: Computer Science and Engineering

Course Proposed By: Achla M Raina (HSS) and Amitabha Mukerjee (CSE)

Units: 3-0-0-4

Prerequisite: Desirable - background in AI or linguistics.

Other Interested Faculty: Harish Karnick (CSE)