Spring 2027

Semantics

Semantics course covering meaning in natural languages, the relationship between syntax and semantics, and compositional semantics.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Rebecca Shields4.3/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.84 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.79 GPA, 84.2% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply and interpret appropriate linguistic tests to distinguish between different types of linguistic meaning (literal meaning, presupposition, implicature).

  • Read, write, and translate common formal semantic notation systems, including propositional and predicate logic, set theory notation, direct interpretive rules, and semantic type notation.

  • Derive the semantic interpretation of a complex sentence from its component parts, using appropriate formal tools and various types of interpretation methods.

  • Discuss the relevance of key empirical facts about human language for aspects of theoretical semantic models.

  • Apply semantic terms and concepts to read, summarize, and discuss linguistic research in compositional semantics.

  • Identify and evaluate empirical and theoretical limitations, problems and issues with existing theories of semantics.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

LINGUIS 330

LINGUIS 340

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Rebecca Shields

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.43/5 from 72 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.84 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.79 GPA, 84.2% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

REBECCA SHIELDS is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.84 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.79 GPA, 84.2% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Meaning in natural languages
  • Relationship between syntax and semantics
  • Compositional semantics
  • Formal semantic notation systems

Skills

  • Distinguish between literal meaning, presupposition, and implicature using linguistic tests.
  • Read, write, and translate formal semantic notation systems including logic, set theory, and type notation.
  • Derive semantic interpretations of complex sentences from component parts using formal tools.
  • Evaluate empirical and theoretical limitations of existing semantic theories.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
LINGUIS 340 · Spring 2027

Semantics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:550:011292",
    "course_id": "LINGUIS 340",
    "course_uid": "course_f1bf4587edd64ad55758de6b",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "011292",
    "source_subject_id": "550",
    "title": "Semantics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "379231913f7338a4f558fe580b9c2c3a67de58b844c276c3c22eeb90ad0e99db",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}