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Barbara H. Partee

Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Philosophy
Department of Linguistics , University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9274 USA

Email: partee@linguist.umass.edu

Office: South College 222
Phone: (413) 545-0889, Fax: (413) 545-2792

Remembering Bill Hagamen (November 4, 1924 – March 26, 2007) with links to our works about his work, and our unfinished joint work.

Recent (for older work, see Research page)

For those who speak Russian, I gave a non-technical talk in Russian at 7pm Moscow time on April 19, 2012 which was carried by live video translation and archived, on the birth of formal semantics from linguistics and philosophy. It's for non-specialists, in the polit.ru public lectures series. There was about an hour of questions and answers after the talk.
"Формальная семантика как порождение лингвистики и философии"
Information, video, and photos here: http://polit.ru/article/2012/03/28/anons_partee/
Video plus transcript, with different photos: http://polit.ru/article/2012/05/18/Partee/

Partee, Barbara H., and Borschev, Vladimir. In press. Dva stakana moloka: Substances and containers in Genitive of Measure constructions in Russian. Russkij jazyk v naučnom osveščenii. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H., and Borschev, Vladimir. 2012. Sortal, relational, and functional interpretations of nouns and Russian container constructions. Journal of Semantics. [PDF]

Borschev, Vladimir, and Partee, Barbara H. 2011. Genitiv mery v russkom jazyke, tipy i sorta [The genitive of measure in Russian, Types and sorts]. In Slovo i jazyk. Sbornik statej k 80-letiju akademika Ju.D.Apresjana [Word and Language. A Collection of Articles for the 80th Birthday of Academician Ju.D. Apresjan], eds. I.M. Boguslavsky, L.L. Iomdin and L.P. Krysin, 95-137. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskix kultur'. Prepub version with some misprints: [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H., Borschev, Vladimir, Paducheva, Elena V., Testelets, Yakov, and Yanovich, Igor. 2012. The Role of verb semantics in genitive alternations: Genitive of Negation and Genitive of Intensionality. In The Russian Verb. Oslo Studies in Language 4(1). eds. A. Grønn and A. Pazel'skaya. [PDF] (This version is a somewhat expanded version of Borschev et al (2011).

Partee, Barbara H., Borschev, Vladimir, Paducheva, Elena V., Testelets, Yakov, and Yanovich, Igor. 2011. Russian Genitive of Negation alternations: The role of verb semantics. Scando-Slavica 57.2:135-159. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2011. Formal semantics: Origins, issues, early impact. In Formal Semantics and Pragmatics. Discourse, Context, and Models. The Baltic Yearbook of Cogntion, Logic, and Communication. Vol. 6 (2010), eds. B.H. Partee, M. Glanzberg and J. Skilters, 1-52. Lawrence, KS: New Prairie Press. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2011. The History of Formal Semantics, with special attention to quantification. Presentation in Angelika Kratzer's Linguistics 720 proseminar, September 6, 2011. (unpublished talk). [Power point slide show] [4-up PDF handout]

Partee, Barbara H. 2011. The Semantics Adventure. Ms., MIT 150th Symposium Panel May 3: The Golden Age – a look at the original roots of AI, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Linguistics. Cambridge, MA. (unpublished talk) [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2011. Teaching formal semantics. In Teaching Linguistics: Reflections on Practice, ed. Koenraad Kuiper, 40-50. London: Equinox Publishing. [PDF]

Borschev, V., Paducheva, E.V., Partee, B.H., Testelets, Y.G., and Yanovich, I.S. 2010. On semantic bleaching and compositionality: Subtraction or addition? (On the bleaching of "lexical verbs" in Russian negated existential sentences). In Proceedings of Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics 26, Bar Ilan University (IATL 26), ed. Yehuda N. Falk. Jerusalem. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2010. Specificational copular sentences in Russian and English. In Russian in Contrast, Oslo Studies in Language 2(1), eds. Atle Grønn and Irena Marijanovic, 25-49. Oslo: University of Oslo (Open source publication). [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2010. Formal semantics. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences, ed. Patrick Colm Hogan, 314-317. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2010. Privative adjectives: subsective plus coercion. In Presuppositions and Discourse: Essays offered to Hans Kamp, eds. Rainer Bäuerle, Uwe Reyle and Thomas Ede Zimmermann, 273-285. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2009. Reminiscences on Philosophy-Linguistics Interactions in the Beginnings of Formal Semantics. Ms., Presented at RichFest - a workshop on the occasion of Rich Thomason's 70th birthday. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. [PDF version of PowerPoint slides]

Partee, Barbara H. 2009. Perspectives on Semantics: How philosophy and syntax have shaped the development of formal semantics, and vice versa. In Conference "Russian in Contrast", Special guest lecture. University of Oslo, Oslo. [Video and Poster] ; [PDF version of Power Point slides].

Borschev, V.B., Paducheva, E.V., Partee, B.H., Testelets, Y.G., and Yanovich, I.S. 2009. Sintaksicheskoe, semanticheskoe i pragmaticheskoe otricanie v russkom jazyke [Syntactic, semantic and pragmatic negation in Russian]. In Logicheskij Analiz Jazyka: Assercija and Negacija [The Logical Analysis of Language: Assertion and Negation], ed. N.D. Arutjunova, 129-143. Moscow: Indrik. [PDF]

Partee, Barbara H. 2009. The dynamics of adjective meaning. In Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies: Papers from the Annual International Conference "Dialogue 2009" (Bekasovo, May 27-31, 2009), ed. A. E. Kibrik et al, 593-597. Moscow: Russian State Humanities University. [PDF of proceedings paper] [PDF of handout that goes beyond published version].

Partee, Barbara H. 2008. Symmetry and symmetrical predicates. In Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies: Papers from the International Conference “DIALOGUE" (2008), ed. A. E. Kibrik et al, 606-611. Moscow: Institut Problem Informatiki. [PDF version of a 2009 handout that goes beyond what is in the published version.]

Borschev, Vladimir, Elena V. Paducheva, Barbara H. Partee, Yakov G. Testelets, and Igor Yanovich. 2008. Russian genitives, non-referentiality, and the property-type hypothesis. In Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Stony Brook Meeting 2007 (FASL 16), eds. Andrei Antonenko et al. Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publishers. Longer article in preparation: comments welcome. [PDF version]

Partee, Barbara H. 2008. Negation, intensionality, and aspect: Interaction with NP semantics. In Theoretical and Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect, ed. Susan Rothstein, 291-317. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [PDF] manuscript revised (final) 2007

Partee, Barbara H., and Vladimir Borschev. 2007. Existential sentences, BE, and the Genitive of Negation in Russian. In Existence: Semantics and Syntax, eds. I. Comorovski and K. von Heusinger, 147-190. Dordrecht: Springer. [PDF version]

Partee, Barbara H., and Borschev, Vladimir. 2006. Information structure, perspectival structure, diathesis alternation, and the Russian genitive of Negation. In Proceedings of Ninth Symposium on Logic and Language (LoLa 9), Besenyőtelek, Hungary, August 24–26, 2006, eds. Beáta Gyuris, László Kálmán, Chris Piñón and Károly Varasdi, 120-129. Budapest: Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Theoretical Linguistics Programme, Eötvös Loránd University. [PDF version] Revised handout which supersedes what's in the proceedings where they differ: [PDF version] ***And wonderful photos by Kata Balogh, Barbara and Volodja, and other participants, of the conference and of associated bird-watching and other excursions (thanks to Beáta Gyuris!) -- HERE ***

Partee, Barbara H. 2006. Do we need two basic types? In 40-60 puzzles for Manfred Krifka, eds. Hans-Martin Gaertner, Regine Eckardt, Renate Musan and Barbara Stiebels. Berlin: online: http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/40-60-puzzles-for-krifka/ . [PDF version]

Zou, Chongli. In press. From logic to language -- Visiting Professor Barbara Hall Partee. A 2005-06 interview by Zou Chongli with answers written by BHP, edited by Zou Chongli. Contemporary Linguistics (China). [PDF version]

A number of my older papers have now been turned into PDF form and put onto the Semantics Archive. For specific links, see Research page.

Partee, Barbara H. 2005. Reflections of a formal semanticist as of Feb 2005. Ms. (longer version of introductory essay in 2004 book) [PDF version]

Partee, Barbara H. 2004. Compositionality in Formal Semantics: Selected Papers of Barbara Partee. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Retirement party Sept 18 2004

Barbara Partee Doctoral Guidance Genealogy by Chris Potts [as of 2004; needs to be updated]

Second youngest grandchild: (Links to more pictures on Personal Page)

Interests

My research and teaching interests center on formal semantics and its connections with syntax, pragmatics, and logic, and on related issues in the philosophy of language and in cognitive science.
Sgall, Partee, and Hajicova at work in Amherst, fall 1993. Photo taken by Christine Bartels. One lifelong interest is quantification. An NSF-supported project with Emmon Bach and Angelika Kratzer dealt with cross-linguistic quantification and semantic typology. Another project in collaboration with Eva Hajicova and Petr Sgall of Charles University, Prague, concerned topic-focus structure and quantification, integrating the contemporary Prague school approach with work in formal semantics.
Photo: Sgall, Partee, and Hajicova at work in Amherst, with coffee, fall 1993. Photo taken by Christine Bartels.

Other areas of recent and current research include the semantics of adjectives and prototype theory (with Hans Kamp), the interaction of noun phrase semantics with verbal aspect, the semantics of specificational pseudocleft sentences and the question of inversion around “be” in English , and joint work with Vladimir Borschev on the semantics of the “genitive of negation” in Russian existential sentences.
The main focus of my recent and current research, joint with Borschev, is the integration of lexical semantics (especially including Moscow School Partee, Borschev, Rakhilina, Paducheva, and Testelets at work, VINITI, Moscow, Summer 2002. Photo taken by Ji-yung Kim.

Partee, Borschev, Rakhilina, Paducheva, and Testelets at work, VINITI, Moscow, Summer 2002. Photo taken by Ji-yung Kim.

lexical semantics) with formal semantics, including issues of type-shifting and of sortal structures and sort-shifting. Our first NSF grant (1999-2003) with Borschev and other Russian colleagues and with UMass graduate students concerned the semantics of genitive (possessive) constructions with relational and non-relational nouns in English and Russian, focusing on problems of the interaction of lexical semantics, compositional semantics, and context. Our most recent NSF grant (2004-08) focused on the semantics and distribution of the Russian genitive of negation and its relation to a range of issues including "perspectival structure", existential sentences, scope of negation, unaccusativity, and diathesis shift, semantic bleaching and other effects of the interaction of lexical and compositional semantics.
Photo: Partee, Borschev, Rakhilina, Paducheva, and Testelets at work, with tea, VINITI, Moscow, Summer 2002. Photo taken by Ji-yung Kim.

A long-term interest relating to philosophy and cognitive science is the bridging of the apparent divide between ‘logical’ and ‘cognitive’ approaches to the foundations of semantics.

Teaching

Spring semester 2006: Visiting Erskine Fellow, Dept. of Linguistics, Canterbury Univ., Christchurch, NZ. LING 310: The Structure of Meaning.

Fall semester 2006: UMass. Ling 726: Mathematical Linguistics with Vladimir Borschev.

Spring semester 2007: MGU, Moscow. Current Topics in Formal Semantics.

Spring semester 2008: RGGU, Moscow: Formal Semantics and Anaphora.

Spring semester 2009: MGU, Moscow. Formal Semantics and Formal Pragmatics.

Fall semester 2009: UMass: Ling 720 - Semantics Proseminar: Implicit Arguments (and other implicit material)

For other courses, and some photos of classes, see [Teaching].

Useful Links

WHISC: What's Happening in South College. (News from the UMass Linguistics Department)
Computational Semantics: Compiled by Kyle Rawlins.
Resources for Research on Genitives/Possessives and Beyond: Compiled by Ji-yung Kim for Barbara H. Partee.
: An archive "for exchanging papers of interest to natural language semanticists".
Semantics Web Resources: Compiled by Kai von Fintel.
Linguist List
Language Log

Background Information

Education
B.A. 1961 in Mathematics with High Honors, Swarthmore College. Minors in Russian and Philosophy.
Ph.D. 1965, MIT, linguistics, minor in mathematics. Dissertation: Subject and Object in Modern English. Dissertation advisor: Noam Chomsky.

Professional
Taught at UCLA 1965-1972, first Linguistics, then Linguistics and Philosophy.
Joined UMass Amherst faculty in 1972. Professor since 1973, department head 1987-93. Emerita as of January 2004.
Taught at 1966, 1974, 1987, 1989, and 1991 LSA Summer Institutes.
Visiting Professorships at El Colegio de Mexico, Charles University, Prague, Moscow State University, Russian State Humanities University, University of Leipzig, University of Canterbury
Board of Managers, Swarthmore College, 1990-2002.

Honors and Awards
Woodrow Wilson Fellow (Hon. '61), NSF Fellow (1961-65)
NSF grants, Co-P.I. or P.I., 1973-75, 1979-81, 1988-92, 1989-90, 1999-2003, 2004-08.
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1976-77
Chancellor's Medal, University of Massachusetts, 1977
Faculty Fellowship, University of Massachusetts, 1981-82
NEH Fellowship 1982-83, IREX Fellowships 1989, 1995, Fulbright Senior Lectureship 2000, 2005
President of Linguistic Society of America, 1986
Member (= Fellow), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1984), National Academy of Sciences (elected 1989)
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected 1996), Linguistic Society of America (2005), Massachusetts Academy of Sciences (2008), Cognitive Science Society (2012)
Max Planck Research Award jointly with Hans Kamp 1992-95
Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2002
Honorary doctorates: Swarthmore College (1989), Charles University (1992), Russian State Humanities University (2001), Copenhagen Business School (2005)
Past member of editorial boards for Language, Linguistic Inquiry, Semantikos, Linguistics & Philosophy (inception to 1982), The Linguistic Review, Theoretical Linguistics, Grammars, Revista di Linguistica, Natural Language Semantics (1992-2006)
Current member of editorial boards for: Linguistics and Philosophy (1998 -), Language and Linguistics Compass (2010 -), Academic Press Syntax and Semantics series (2011- ); Honorary editorial board, Natural Language Semantics (2007 -); Advisory Board, Journal of Semantics (2009 -)

Personal Page - family links and more photos

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Last revised March 1, 2009. Web page created by Barbara H. Partee, with help from John McCarthy, Paul de Lacy, Ji-Yung Kim, Florian Schwarz.