Logic and Conversation: Fall 2020

Term papers

The course has ended and has led to some very interesting term papers:

• Marleen Gaasbeek: Predicting Choice of Utterance
• Terence Hui: Inquisitive Semantics and Fictions
• Mateo Jaramillo: A Dynamic Model of Zero-Knowledge
• Flavia Nährlich: Updating Discourse Contexts within a Compositional Framework
• Lorenzo Pinton: An Inquisitive Semantics approach to Negative Polarity Items in Questions

Prerequisites

Good working knowledge of first-order logic is required, and some background in formal semantics is convenient, though not really necessary. For students of the Master of Logic, it is typically best to take this course in the second year of the programme (although there may be exceptions of course, depending on your specific background).

Textbook

The first part of the course uses a textbook. The book is open access, so everyone can download a pdf for free. If you prefer a hardcopy, you can order one for about $17 at amazon or other online bookstores.

Grading

The grade will be based on two homework assignments (each counting for 20%) and a final paper (60%).

Assignments

• A latex template for drawing inquisitive semantics diagrams can be downloaded here.
• Assignment 1 was posted on 26/10 and was due on Monday 9/11 before class.
• Assignment 2 was posted on 9/11 and is due on Friday 20/11 before class.

Instructions for final paper

The final paper must written individually. Please discuss possible topics with us early on in the course. Topics should be determined by November 27 at the very latest and should be communicated to us by that date. A preliminary version of the paper is to be presented during the last lecture, December 11, and the final version is due after the exam week, on December 18, 6pm. See Appendix B of the textbook for pointers to some relevant literature, which may help in finding an interesting topic. We strongly encourage students to discuss their projects with each other and give each other feedback.

Grading criteria for final paper

The grading criteria for the final paper are the same as for a master thesis, though of course here we do not expect as much as in the case of a thesis.

1. Correctness All claims should be correct, precisely formulated and carefully argued for.
2. Writing The paper should be well-structured; the writing should be clear and concise. Typically, papers are around 10 pages. There is no official upper or lower bound, but quality is preferred over quantity: a single idea or result that is clearly explained in 7 pages is better than a collection of multiple half-baked ideas discussed in 15 pages.
3. Difficulty Both conceptual and technical difficulty are taken into account.
4. Originality The paper should contain some new results. This can take many forms: establishing previously unknown properties of one of the logical systems discussed in class, or closely related ones; further enriching the theories discussed; testing the predictions of the theories; developing new applications; developing a theory of your own that solves some of the remaining challenges for the theories discussed.

Late policy

Deadlines are strict. Late submissions will be accepted until three days after the deadline, but 0.5 points will be subtracted from the grade per day.