This course develops the framework of event semantics from its foundations to selected advanced topics, focusing on what the framework reveals about the compositional semantic properties of natural language expressions. We begin with Davidson’s (1967) argument that the logical form of action sentences requires hidden quantification over events, then trace revisions of this idea through Parsons’ (1990) neo-Davidsonian separation of thematic roles and Pietroski’s (2005) bi-eventive analysis of transitive clauses. With this architecture in place, we examine the typology of eventualities — states, activities, accomplishments, achievements — drawing on Vendler (1957), Mourelatos (1978), and others, applying event semantic methods to reveal how their distinctive ontological flavors are compositionally derived. Next, we turn to measurement and comparison of eventualities, using canonical (run more, jump more) and non-canonical (be patient more) verbal comparatives as a probe into how transitions in ontological commitment track syntactic derivation. Then, we examine how events figure into the analysis of attitude (believe that, want that) and communication reports (say, hear, tell), building on Higginbotham’s (1983) analysis of perceptual reports and incorporating Kratzer’s (2006) and Elliott’s (2017) work on how the complement type influences the type of report. Along the way, we will discuss perspectival framing and the analysis of negative events, emphasizing Schein’s work. We presuppose familiarity with basic predicate logic.
All readings optional.

Logic supplement by A. Wellwood: Refresher on the Syntax, Semantics, and Derivation Rules of Propositional and Predicate Logic. pdf

Day 1 – The event argument
• Davidson (1967). The logical form of action sentences. pdf

Day 2 – Reference & structure of events
• Wellwood (to appear). Events and argument structure. [through 2.1.2] pdf
• Pietroski (1998). Actions, adjuncts, and agency. pdf

Day 3 – Extending the analysis
• Wellwood (to appear). Events and argument structure. [through 2.3.3] pdf
• Wellwood (2015). On the semantics of comparison across categories. pdf

Day 4 – The separated architecture
• Wellwood (to appear). Events and argument structure. [through 3.1.4] pdf
• Schein (2019). Nip and tuck for definite descriptions. pdf
• Schwarzschild (2025). Pure event semantics. pdf

Day 5 – Attitudes and communication
• Kratzer (2006). Decomposing attitude verbs. pdf
• Elliott (2017/2020). Elements of clausal embedding. pdf
• Cariani, Santorio, & Wellwood (2024). Confidence reports. pdf