LG211-5-SP-CO:
Semantics and Pragmatics: Meaning and Discourse
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2025/26
Language and Linguistics
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 5
Inactive
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
15
15 April 2025
Requisites for this module
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What is 'meaning' as it relates to words and sentences? How is the meaning of a sentence affected by the context it is produced in? These are the fundamental issues to be addressed in Semantics and Pragmatics. We examine the relationship between what is said and what is meant. The first part of the course will examine basic issues in Semantics. The second part of the course will examine the distinction between a speaker's words and what a speaker means by those words – the domain of pragmatics. It will consider the foundational concerns of pragmatics: deixis, implicature and speech act theory.
The main aims of the module are:
• to introduce students to the fundamental concepts and theoretical foundations of the study of word, sentence and utterance meaning,
• to familiarise students with the basic analytic resources to study word meaning, sentence meaning, and utterance interpretation,
• to provide students with practical experience of applying the tools and techniques in the analysis of linguistic phenomena
• to familiarise students with a range of issues and debates in contemporary semantic and pragmatic theory and enable them to apply their knowledge in the investigation of other areas of linguistic study.
By the end of this module, students will:
1. Have an understanding of the theoretical foundations of Semantics and Pragmatics.
2. Be familiar with the study of meaning (Semantics and Pragmatics) through investigating aspects of sentence and utterance interpretation.
3. Be able to bring to bear a range of conceptual and analytical tools on Semantic and Pragmatic data.
4. Be able to sustain reasoned argumentation through exemplification of Semantic and Pragmatic concepts.
No additional information available.
Two-hour lecture/seminar per week
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Rebecca Clift, email: rclift@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Rebecca Clift and Professor Hannah Gibson
Hannah Gibson, h.gibson@essex.ac.uk, Room: 4.317; Rebecca Clift, rclift@essex.ac.uk, room: 4.332
Yes
No
No
Dr Roxanne Taylor
University of Huddersfield
Lecturer in English
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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