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LING20080

Academic Year 2025/2026

Meaning in Language (LING20080)

Subject:
Linguistics
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Languages, Cultures & Linguis
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Mr Feargal Murphy
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module explores meaning inside and outside of language. The ability to 'mean' is explored as a human faculty that only interacts with language, rather than underlying it. A distinction is drawn between Lexical and Compositional semantics, and various theories of lexical semantics are examined. The features of language that need to be explained by any theory of semantics are identified. The question of how children come to master both lexical and compositional/propositional semantics will be explored. The module also explores the role of context in understanding language as it is used, focusing on the distinction between utterances and abstract entities such as sentences. This module forms part of the BA programme for Linguistics.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

Discriminate between the various levels of meaning in language
Analyse the role of context in meaning
Evaluate the various theories concerning the mental lexicon
Distinguish between Lexical and Compositional Semantics
Distinguish Implicatures, Entailments and Presuppositions in language use
Describe the various theories dealing with ordinary language usage

Indicative Module Content:

• Meaning and Literal meaning, Semiotics
• Pragmatics and Semantics, Principles and Rules, Contexts, Speaker Intention
• Theories of Pragmatics - From Ordinary Language Philosophy to Relevance
• Lexical Semantics
• Relationship Between Linguistic Expressions, Sense
• Relationship Between Linguistic Expressions and the World, Reference
• Relationship Between Linguistic Expressions and Language Users
• Lexical Storage and theories of Lexical Semantics

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

30
Autonomous Student Learning

40
Lectures

24
Tutorial

6
Total

100

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Learning will be facilitated by lectures and tutorials. Students must attend all the lectures and their assigned tutorials.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay of at least 1,500 words - plagiarism/use of AI will result in a fail grade Week 6 Graded No
20
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay of at least 1,700 words - plagiarism/use of AI will result in a fail grade Week 10 Graded No
25
 No
Exam (In-person): Final exam, 2 essay topics out of 4 to be completed. End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Graded No
55
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Details on assessment performance distributed to students electronically

This reading list comprises possible readings, you do not have to read all of them!
There is no set textbook for the module.

Aitchison, J. (1994) Words in the Mind. 401.9/AIT
Asher, R. E. (ed) (1994) The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 410.3
Blakemore, D. (2002) Relevance and Linguistic Meaning. 401.41/BLA
Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. R400/CAM
Fromkin, V., R. Rodman & N. Hyams (2003) An Introduction to Language. 410/FRO
Geeaerts, D. (2010) Theories of Lexical Semantics.
Grundy, P. (2000) Doing Pragmatics. 306.44/GRU
Harley, T. (2001) The Psychology of Language. 401.9/HAR (SLC)
Huang, Y. (2007) Pragmatics. 401.41/HUA
Jackendoff, R. (1993) Patterns in the Mind. 401.9/JAC
Löbner, S. (2002) Understanding Semantics. 401.3/LOB
Mey, J. (1993) Pragmatics: An Introduction. 401.41/MEY
Saeed, J. (1997) Semantics. 401.43/SAE
Strazny, P. (ed) (1998) The Encyclopedia of Linguistics. R410.3/STR
Wilson, R. & F. Keil (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. R153.03/MIT
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