Computational Semantics and Pragmatics

6 EC

Semester 1, period 2

5314COSP6Y

Owner Master Logic
Coordinator dr. Raquel Fernandez Rovira
Part of Master Logic, year 1Master Artificial Intelligence, year 2

Course manual 2017/2018

Course content

Semantics and pragmatics are concerned with the study of natural language meaning and its context of use in written texts and in conversation. The computational counterparts of these disciplines address these issues from an explicitly empirical and computational point of view, combining insights from linguistic theory, computational linguistics, and artificial intelligence. During the course, you will be exposed to current research in contemporary computational semantics and pragmatics, and will also get acquainted with current methodologies and techniques, such as working with annotated and unannotated corpora.

The focus of the course may change slightly each year. The exact topics to be covered will be decided at the beginning of the course. Check the course website for the latest updates: http://www.illc.uva.nl/~raquel/teaching/cosp/

Study materials

Other

  • Research papers and selected book chapters, as well as online tools and freely available corpora. All materials will be available on the website of the course.

Objectives

The overall objective of the course is to introduce some of the major topics and methodologies in the study of natural language semantics and pragmatics, from an empirical and computational point of view. By the end of the course, you should demonstrate an understanding of the most important concepts in the topics treated during the course by being able to:

  • Apply empirical or computational techniques to issues in semantics and pragmatics.
  • Formulate your own research questions and select appropriate techniques and methods to address them.
  • Analyse and critique the research questions and the methodology used to address them in existing relevant literature.
  • Explain the work of others and your own work in proper scientific writing.
  • Present the work of others and your own work to an audience in a clear and engaging way.

Teaching methods

  • Lecture
  • Presentation/symposium
  • Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
  • Supervision/feedback meeting

The course will consist of lectures and discussions of research papers. Students are expected to play an active role in class and are encouraged to contribute in the shaping of the contents of the course.

Learning activities

Activity

Number of hours

Zelfstudie

168

Attendance

The programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).


Additional requirements for this course:

Additional requirements for this course:

Student are expected to attend the lectures and any other sessions involving discussions or presentations by fellow students.

Assessment

Item and weight Details

Final grade

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.uva.nl/plagiarism

Course structure

Weeknummer Onderwerpen Studiestof
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

Recommended prior knowledge: There are no formal prerequisites as such, but I will assume some background on natural language semantics or pragmatics. Basic programming skills in Python are needed for homework assignments. If you don't have any programming kwnoledge, you are welcome to stay in the course provided you are willing to learn by working with a fellow student who has more experience.

Contact information

Coordinator

  • dr. Raquel Fernandez Rovira