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
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:
Cognition [ScienceDirect]
Cognitive Science [ScienceDirect]
Journal of Semantics, OUP
Lingua [ScienceDirect]
Journal of Memory and Language [ScienceDirect]
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)