81777 - Lexical Semantics (LM)

Academic Year 2024/2025

Learning outcomes

The course introduces core concepts and issues in the linguistic study of words and meaning. The course focuses on the following aspects: the structure of the mental lexicon and the internal organization of word classes; lexeme formation processes; the lexicon-syntax interface, including argument realization; the representation of semantic information; the relationship between lexical meaning and grammatical meaning, between lexicon and grammar. Students will become familiar with the main theoretical models within the field, as well as with traditional and applied methodologies for the investigation of semantics and the lexicon, from both an intra-linguistic and a cross-linguistic perspective.

Course contents

The lexicon is one of the most primitive and accessible components of language, both for those with an advanced linguistic competence (every day we use a huge number of words that we already know but at the same time we create and learn new ones) and for those who are still building this competence (children, learners). However, the lexicon is not simply a collection of words and its nature is perhaps less obvious than we think.

The course offers a dynamic and integrated view of the mental lexicon, focusing on its internal architecture and on the main models of representation of lexical and semantic information.

The following general questions will be tackled:

  • What is the lexicon? What is the relationship between lexicon and grammar?
  • What is in the lexicon? What is a lexical item and what types of lexical items do we find in the lexicon?
  • How is the lexicon structured? What classes and categories do we find?

After a general overview, we will address the following specific topics:

(i) the relationship between the lexicon and cross-linguistic variation through the lense of lexical typology, which aims at understanding how lexical meaning is packaged into words in different languages;

(ii) the notion of construction as a complex sign, as intended in Construction Grammar, which proposes a continuum between lexicon and syntax and, ultimately, an 'extended' conception of the lexicon (or, better, constructicon).

At the end of the course, attending students will be actively engaged in a workshop session.

During the course, research methods and digital resources for the investigation of the lexicon will be introduced.

NOTA BENE – This is an advanced course in linguistics. A basic knowledge of general linguistics is required. Students who have no prior knowledge of the field are strongly advised to study an introductory linguistics textbook before the classes start (e.g. Graffi & Scalise 2013 or Berruto & Cerruti 2011).


Readings/Bibliography

Textbooks

Articles

  • Emmanuel Keuleers & Marco Marelli. 2020. Resources for mental lexicon research: A delicate ecosystem. In Vito Pirrelli, Ingo Plag & Wolfgang U. Dressler (eds.), Word knowledge and word usage. A cross-disciplinary guide to the mental lexicon, 167–188. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm. 2008. Approaching lexical typology. In Martine Vanhove (a cura di), From polysemy to semantic change: Towards a typology of lexical semantic associations, 3-52. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • Malt, Barbara C. & Asifa Majid. 2013. How thought is mapped into words. WIREs Cognitive Science 4. 583–597.
  • Masini, Francesca. 2019. Multi-word expressions and morphology. In Mark Aronoff (a cura di), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

All materials used during the course (slides, etc.) are part of the readings for the oral exam for students who attend classes.

 

Further readings for students who do not attend classes (in addition to the textbooks and the articles)

Teaching methods

The course mainly consists in traditional lectures. All topics will be discussed with reference to data from different languages. Some IT tools for the collection and analysis of relevant linguistic data will be employed and illustrated.

Assessment methods

The final oral exam aims at assessing the theoretical notions acquired by the students during the course, as well as their ability to tackle with specific questions and to analyze concrete cases of linguistic analysis. The oral exam consists of three questions, each of which focuses on one of the program topics.

For students who attend classes, the activities done during the hands-on sessions will be taken into account too. Students who don't attend classes should study one extra book for the oral exam (see bibliography). All students are kindly requested to inform the teacher about their attending classes or not at the beginning of the course.

As for the assessment, the ability of the students to give clearly expressed, correct and complete answers will be considered. Besides, clarity and argumentative rigor will be evaluated. Those students who demonstrate to have a global and harmonious knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, to communicate ideas in a proper and clear way and to have acquired adequate analysis skills will get high grades. A partial knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, an overall fair but not perfect way of communicating, and less refined analysis skills imply average grades. A limited knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology and poor communication and analysis skills imply low grades. Those students who prove to have an inadequate and/or insufficient knowledge of the subject (in both its theoretical and applied parts) and its specific language/terminology will fail the exam.


Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations and/or printed handouts will support the lectures. Computational tools and web resources for data analysis will also be displayed through a projector.

All materials will be published on the Virtuale platform every week and are part of the readings for the oral exam for students who attend classes.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Masini

SDGs

Quality education Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.