This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
LANG A330
Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics
As soon as you utter a sentence or write a word, you are conveying meaning. Day-to-day interaction is all about generating and understanding the meanings in what is communicated.
LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics deals with something that is readily observable in your everyday life. Whether or not you are an eloquent speaker, or your job involves a lot of interaction with people, you are just as competent a language user as the person next to you, whether he or she is a colleague, another student, a professor in linguistics, or a complete stranger. What you are now about to embark on learning is something that is part of everyone's life.
LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics is a higher level ten-credit course which examines the semantic and pragmatic dimensions of meaning in language. We see how we use lexical, grammatical, metaphorical, and interactional devices to express meanings, and how the meanings of words and structure change depending on context and circumstances. We also examine how semantic and pragmatic factors influence our choice of language in social interaction, and what kinds of effect our choices have on other language users.
This course consists of ten study units. The details of each unit are in the section, 'Working through this course'. You will find that there are many activities throughout the units to help you to understand the subject and to check your progress. All the activities are immediately followed by sample answers and/or explanations. You will also find that at the end of all sections are sets of revision exercises, with suggested answers provided at the end of each study unit.
Course aims
LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics aims to:
Course learning outcomes
On completion of LANG A330, you should be able to:
This section tells you what materials you need and how the assignments are arranged. A table that gives the components of the course is given at the end.
Materials
In addition to this Course Guide, are the following important components. Please ensure that you have all of these materials:
Study units
There are ten units in LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Following the introductory unit, Units 2-4 examine the semantic aspects of the language. Units 5 and 6 are about metaphor. Units 7-9 discuss pragmatics. The final unit, Unit 10, looks at the relationship between semantics and pragmatics. The details of each unit are as follows.
Unit 1 Introduction to semantics and pragmatics
In this unit, we learn some of the basic concepts of semantics and pragmatics. We look at the ways in which meanings are expressed, and see how utterances might be interpreted and understood in language interaction.
Unit 2 Word and word meaning
This unit analyses the basic elements of meaning and their association with particular words. We investigate the following areas that concern word meaning: markedness, opposites, negation, deixis, collocation, and orientation.
Unit 3 Tense, aspect, reference
We distinguish different kinds of modal verb and examine the relationship between tense, aspect, reference time, and event time. We also look at some temporal and locative prepositions and examine in what way they may cause difficulties for language learners. We see how the notions of reference and predication can be used to explain the relation between meaning and things described.
Unit 4 Phrase, sentence, paragraph
Unit 4 analyses the way in which phrases, sentences and paragraphs are formed. We see how concepts such as semantic centre, entailment, etc. help determine the meanings of phrases and sentences. We also see how discourse information such as background knowledge will help explain the way in which meaning is organized within paragraphs and in larger units such as reports.
Unit 5 Metaphorical expression
This is the first of two units on metaphor. We study different types of metaphor, and see in what way our conceptual system is said to be fundamentally metaphorical. We also use concepts such as prototype and extension to understand the way in which metaphors allow us to understand one domain of experience in relation to another.
Unit 6 Understanding metaphor
Following the observations made on the metaphorical phenomena in language in Unit 5, we examine specifically the way in which metaphor gives meaning to form. We also examine the complex metaphorical system of event structure metaphor with reference to some examples from Chinese, and see what implications it may have for the study of metaphorical universals.
Unit 7 Meaning in context
This is the first of the three units on pragmatics. We shall be studying the pragmatic properties of utterances and examining how the utterance gives rise to pragmatic force(s) in a given context. We shall also see how hearers generally manage to understand reasonably accurately the utterance meaning in the way the speaker intends.
Unit 8 Meaning in interaction
In Unit 8, we study the way in which meaning is generated, and see how shared knowledge of the world provides grounds for our understanding of implicit meaning. We also discuss the problems associated with the conventional analysis of presupposition.
Unit 9 Indirectness and politeness
We distinguish various sets of politeness phenomenon and study the way in which politeness is used as a universal pragmatic strategy. We also examine different types of politeness strategy from our observation of day-to-day language interaction, and identify the cross-linguistic similarities.
Unit 10 Meaning and imagination
We turn our attention to the relationship between the two major disciplines in the study of meaning. We see how the social and mental realities of meaning are encoded in the language and how we need to take into account social, psychological and cognitive factors of both speaker and hearer in their interaction in order to arrive at an adequate pragmatic description of language phenomena.
Set textbooks
There are four compulsory textbooks required for this course.
Grundy, P (2008) Doing Pragmatics, 3rd edn, London: Hodder Education.
Hofmann, Th R (1993) Realms of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics, London and New York: Longman.
Lakoff, G and Johnson, M (2003) Metaphors We Live By, Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Thomas, J (1995) Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics, Harlow, Essex: Longman.
We use Hofmann's Realms of Meaning for Units 1-4 and 10. Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By are used for Units 5, 6 and 10. Grundy's Doing Pragmatics are for Units 1, 7-10. Thomas's Meaning in Interaction are used for Units 7-10.
Assignment File
This document contains questions for the units of the course. You are required to complete your assignments according to the timetable in the Presentation Schedule.
Presentation Schedule
The Presentation Schedule is available on the Online Learning Environment (OLE). It gives the dates for completing the Assignments and attending tutorials and day school.
Please make sure that you complete all your assignments according to the timetable and submit them to your tutor by the dates shown. Please remember that the final assignment will not be marked under any circumstance if it is submitted after the deadline specified.
Assessment
The course assessment comprises two parts:
These are explained below.
Assignments
There are four assignments, of which the best two out of the first three assignments count towards the final assessment. The fourth assignment is required. These assignments constitute 50% of the total course marks.
Final examination and grading
At the end of the course is a three-hour written examination which covers the entire range of the subjects covered in LANG A330. This includes the contents of the set textbooks, study units, exercises and activities, and assignments.
The final examination comprises the other 50% of the course marks.
Course marking scheme
The table below gives the breakdown of marks.
| Assessment type | Marks |
| Assignments 1-3 | 2 out of 3 @ 15% each = 30% of course marks |
| Assignment 4 (required) | 20% |
| Final examination | 50% of overall course marks |
| Total | 100% |
Course overview
The following table gives a general overview of the course structure.
| Unit | Title | Weeks |
| 1 | Introduction to semantics and pragmatics | 3 |
| 2 | Word and word meaning | 3 |
| 3 | Tense, aspect, reference | 3 |
| 4 | Phrase, sentence, paragraph | 4 |
| 5 | Metaphorical expression | 3 |
| 6 | Understanding metaphor | 4 |
| 7 | Meaning in context | 3 |
| 8 | Meaning in interaction | 4 |
| 9 | Indirectness and politeness | 4 |
| 10 | Meaning and imagination | 3 |
| Revision | 2 | |
| TOTAL | 36 |
There are a number of things that can help you to complete the course successfully. They are:
Please remember that it is crucial that you attend all the tutorials scheduled, as they provide a platform for discussion and exchange of ideas. Details about your tutors and tutorials are presented below.
Tutors and tutorials
Your tutors are qualified teachers who will be conducting eleven sessions of two-hour tutorials for you. Tutorial topics are issues taken from unit contents and objectives. The tutors will be reviewing the key concepts introduced in each unit and conducting group and individual tutorial discussions. You are therefore strongly advised to attend and take an active role in these tutorials.
Tutors are always available to answer your questions either in person or via telephone. Tutors will also offer their assistance in completing your assignments when necessary, and they are responsible for marking your assignments in accordance with the marking criteria provided by HKMU. They will further provide comprehensive and timely feedback on your assignments.
This guide has given you an overview of the course LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics, the aims and objectives, information on what materials are needed, and how the assignments are assessed.
We hope you will gain useful insights into the familiar and yet complex subject of meaning, and have a fresh understanding of our linguistic behaviour in communication.
Have fun and good luck with LANG A330!
The course developer, Dr Han Yang is an Associate Professor at HKMU, she has a BA (Honours) and a D Phil in Linguistics from the Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, UK. She has taught linguistics and languages as a faculty member and a visiting scholar during sabbatical at a number of universities in Britain, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. She is also a recipient of a Teaching Excellence Award from the National University of Singapore for her course on linguistics.
Dr Han's publications include four authored and co-authored books as well as numerous journal articles and conference papers.
