Single Idea 17999

[catalogued under 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 4. Compositionality]

Full Idea

In the strong form of the principle of compositionality any meaningful expressions combined in a syntactically well-formed manner compose a meaningful expression.

Gist of Idea

Strong compositionality says meaningful expressions syntactically well-formed are meaningful

Source

Ofra Magidor (Category Mistakes [2013], 1.1)

Book Reference

Magidor,Ofra: 'Category Mistakes' [OUP 2013], p.5


A Reaction

[She cites Montague as holding this view] I find this plausible, at least. If you look at whole sentences they can seem meaningless, but if you track the process of composition a collective meaning emerges, despite the oddities.

Related Idea

Idea 18000 Weaker compositionality says meaningful well-formed sentences get the meaning from the parts [Magidor]