Visible Meaning

LECTURER: JEREMY KUHN

Decades of work in formal semantics has shown that logical tools can be applied with great success to the analysis of meaning in natural languages. But human communication involves more than words and sentences; we also express meaning visibly, with depictions and gestures, showing instead of telling. In this course, we will show that the analytical tools of formal semantics can be applied productively to visible meaning as well. In week one, we will establish some basic concepts, and explore the interaction of logical meaning and iconic (visible) meaning in sign languages and gestures. In week two, we will focus on several case studies, with a particular emphasis on form-meaning mismatches in sign languages: negative concord and distributive concord.