WiSe19/20: DD@EL

Digital Data in English Linguistics: Language in Politics

Course description

The language used in political texts is directed towards a clearer audience than what we find in literary texts and the general attitudes and the current intentions of the author are usually also relatively clear. This makes this text type particularly apt for formal semantic and pragmatic study.

In this course, students will explore central concepts of pragmatics, such as implicatures, presuppositions, and politeness on the basis of real-live texts of political content, including speeches, tweets, blog contributions and others. We will address topics such as gender-inclusive language use, stereotypes, "dog-whistles" and others. The participants will define a research question and pursue it in the form of a small corpus-based project.

This course runs in parallel to a course on "Language and politics" at the University Mainz (lecturer: Ulrike Schneider). The participants of the two courses will present their work in a joint Mainz-Frankfurt Student workshop "Research in English Linguistics" which will take place February 15, 2020. Participation in this workshop is a mandatory course requirement.

Registration: By e-mail to the lecturer: sailer@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Olat course: to be announced

Free corpus tools

We will be working with the free corpus tools available from http://www.laurenceanthony.net/. In particular:

• AntFileConverter (to convert pdf files to txt files)
• AntConc (to get concordanced example sentence, word frequencies, etc.)

BYU corpora

BYU corpora: https://corpus.byu.edu

Page to visit for registration: https://corpus.byu.edu/academic_license_password.asp Enter the following information:

Organization: IEAS

Password: (same as the olat password for this course)

COCA tutorials

• Mark Davies' youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9ZzUKjxhcaitp4o98PbbA
• Introduction. Searching basics, display basics (20min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCLgRTlxG0Y
• COCA Bites channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy84tTzeJ0s8JLjf_wEiWUQ
• Series of videos by Kylie Moore: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR6W-iIBZmmi1ZObAYQZjZQ/featured
• Series of videos on TheGrammarLab: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL39Kisoscb82UsJPhWS0Yw
• Stevie Daniels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ggTftZFjC8
• BYU tutorial on Bill's English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmRaS7d-SP8
• Spanish screencast on phrasal verbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m49Fzmsl5S8

BNC

BNCWeb: http://bncweb.lancs.ac.uk
Freely usable after registration!

Help with the query language: http://bncweb.lancs.ac.uk/bncwebXML/Simple_query_language.pdf

BNCWeb tutorials

• Search tips for BNCWeb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwQJvwQG5kc&list=PLCAyWhRTMOO4rZgbQ6C3veSHRs5GlI0Mv&index=10
• More general searches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaNkgm1zo-A&list=PLCAyWhRTMOO4rZgbQ6C3veSHRs5GlI0Mv&index=9

Meeting 2

The examples in the text are based on Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The full text of the play is available on Projekt Gutenberg.

We will use J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels for the final exam this term.

Task 1: Ambiguity

Consider the following ambiguous sentences. For each of them, provide an unambiguous paraphrase for the possible readings.

(1) a. Duncan trusted Macbeth because he was a thane.

Check your answer

Reading 1: he refers to Macbeth. Paraphrase: Duncan trusted Macbeth because Macbeth was a thane.
Reading 2: he refers to Duncan. Paraphrase: Duncan trusted Macbeth because Duncan was a thane.

b. Every king trusts a thane.

Check your answer

Reading 1: every takes scope over a. Paraphrase: For every king there is at least one thane such that the king trusts that thane.
Reading 2: a takes scope over every. Paraphrase: There is one particular thane such that each king trusts this thane.

b. Macbeth and Macduff are married.

Check your answer

Reading 1: collective reading. Paraphrase: Macbeth and Macduff are married to each other
Reading 2: distributive reading. Paraphrase: Macbeth and Macduff are both married, but not to each other.

b. Macbeth killed a king with a dagger.

Check your answer

Reading 1: the PP with a dagger is a modifier of the verb kill Paraphrase: Macbeth used a dagger to kill a king.
Reading 2: the PP with a dagger is a modifier of the noun king. Paraphrase: Macbeth killed a king who had a dagger.

Task 2: Model and Interpretation

1. Define a universe that consists of Macbeth and Banquo.

Check your answer

U = { Macbeth, Banquo }

2. Define the interpretation of the names macbeth and banquo in an intuitively plausible way.

Check your answer

I(macbeth) = Macbeth,
I(banquo) = Banquo

3. Define the interpretation of the properties thane₁, king₁, and witch₁ is such a way that Macbeth is a king, both are thanes and neither is a witch.

Check your answer

I(thane₁) = {<Macbeth>, <Banquo>},
I(king₁) = {<Macbeth>},
I(witch₁) = {}

4. Define the interpretation of the 2-place relations mistrust₂ and kill₂ in such a way that Macbeth and Banquo mistrust each other and Macbeth kills Banquo.

Check your answer

I(mistrust₂) = {<Macbeth, Banquo>, <Banquo, Mactbeth>},
I(kill₂) = {<Macbeth,Banquo>}

Task 3: Formulae

Write down logical formulae that express the meaning of the following sentences.

1. Banquo is a thane.

Check your answer

thane₁(banquo)

2. Macbeth is king and Macbeth mistrusts Banquo.

Check your answer

king₁(macbeth) ∧ mistrust₂(macbeth,banquo)

3. If Banquo is king then Macbeth does not kill Banquo.

Check your answer

king₁(banquo) ⊃ ¬ kill₂(macbeth,banquo)

Task 4: Interpreting formulae

Compute the interpretation of the following formulæ step by step.

1. mistrust₂(macbeth,macbeth)

Check your answer

[[mistrust₂(macbeth,macbeth)]] = 1
iff < [[macbeth]], [[macbeth]] > is in [[mistrust₂]]
iff < I(macbeth), I(macbeth) > in I(mistrust₂)
iff < Macbeth, Macbeth > in { <x,y> | x mistrusts y } = { <Macbeth, Banquo>, <Banquo, Macbeth> }

Since this is not the case, [[mistrust₂(macbeth,macbeth)]] = 0.

2. ¬king(banquo)

Check your answer

[[¬ king₁(banquo)]] = 1
iff [[king(banquo)]] = 0
iff < [[banquo]]> is not in [[king₁]]
iff < I(banquo> is not in I(king₁)
iff < Banquo > is not in { <x> | x is king } = { <Macbeth>}

Since this is the case, [[¬ king₁(banquo)]] = 1

3. witch₁(banquo) ⊃ king₁(macbeth)

Check your answer

[[witch₁(banquo) ⊃ king₁(macbeth))]] = 1
iff [[witch₁(banquo)]] = 0 or [[king₁(macbeth) = 1
iff < [[banquo]] > is not in [[witch₁]] or < [[macbeth]] > is in [[king₁]]
iff < I(banquo) > is not in I(witch₁) or < I(macbeth) > is in I(king₁)
iff < Banquo > is not in { <x> | x is a witch} = { } or < Macbeth > is in { <x> | x is king} = { <Macbeth>}.

Since both are the case, [[witch₁(banquo) ⊃ king₁(macbeth))]] = 1.

Task 5: Variables

Provide a g-function that maps the variables x, y, and z to individuals from the universe and compute the interpretation of the following formula with respect to the model and your g.

(i) kill₂(z,x)

Check your answer

Example solution (other values for g are equally possible).

g(x) = Macbeth,
g(y) = Banquo,
g(z) = Banquo.

With this variable assignment we can compute the truth value of the formula:

[[kill₂(z,x)]]^g = 1
iff < [[z]]^g, [[x]]^g > is in [[kill₂]]^g
iff < g(z), g(x) > is in I(kill₂)
iff < Banquo, Macbeth > is in { <x,y> | x killed y} = { <Macbeth, Banquo> }.

Since this is not the case, [[kill₂(z,x)]]^g = 0.

Task 6: Quantifiers

Provide logical formulae that expresse the meaning of the following sentences. Are the formulae true in your model (not in the entire play)? Give a short reason (you don’t need to compute the truth value).

1. Banquo was killed by a king.

Check your answer

∃x (king(x) : kill(x, banquo))

The formula is true in my model, because there is only one king, Macbeth, and Macbeth killed Banquo.
(Note: The English sentence is in passive, but this has no effect on the logical form.)

2. Macbeth mistrusts every witch.

Check your answer

∀x (witch(x) : mistrust(macbeth, x))

The formula is true in my model, because there are no witches in my model. Therefore, the formula with the universal quantifier is trivially true.

Semantics boot camp

• Read the following sections from Chapter 2 of Levine et al (ms): 17-33, 59-73.
• For help and illustration, work through the online material for Chapter 2.
• For practice, work through the online exercises for Chapter 2.