Formal Approaches to Semantics - LAN00087H
- Department: Language and Linguistic Science
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
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Academic year of delivery: 2025-26
- See module specification for other years: 2024-25
Module summary
Throughout its history, the study of natural language meaning has been tightly linked to the development of formal systems that can be applied to semantic problems. This module will provide you with the basic understanding of the formal techniques and theories involved in formal semantics and will explore both the advantages and the limitations of this approach.
Related modules
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2025-26 |
Module aims
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To introduce the basic ideas of formal semantics, in particular compositionality
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To develop your fluency in formal logics and other formal systems and the applications thereof
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To foster your critical analysis and problem solving skills in a new domain.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
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Display a basic understanding of set theory and its use in model-theoretic semantics
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Correctly use first order predicate logic to represent natural language sentences
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Correctly use lambda calculus as a tool in compositional calculations of meaning
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Apply all these methodologies to select natural language semantic phenomena (e.g. quantification)
Module content
This module will introduce a formal theory of semantics, incorporating formal systems such as set theory, predicate logic and lambda calculus, and show how it can be used to provide a compositional analysis of English sentences.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Open Exam (7-day week) | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Open Exam (7-day week) | 100 |
Module feedback
Ongoing formative feedback will be given automatically via the VLE. For the formative essay you will receive individual written feedback.
For summative assessments you will receive individual written feedback within the university mandated time limit.
Indicative reading
Coppock, E. & Champollion, L. (2023). Invitation to Formal Semantics.
https://eecoppock.info/bootcamp/semantics-boot-camp.pdf