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Single Idea 18000

[from 'Category Mistakes' by Ofra Magidor, in 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 4. Compositionality ]

Full Idea

A weaker principle of compositionality states that if a syntactically well-formed sentence is meaningful, then its meaning is a function of the meaning of its parts.

Gist of Idea

Weaker compositionality says meaningful well-formed sentences get the meaning from the parts

Source

Ofra Magidor (Category Mistakes [2013], 1.1)

Book Reference

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


A Reaction

I would certainly accept this as being correct. I take the meaning of a sentence to be something which you assemble in your head as you hear the parts of it unfold. ….However, irony might exhibit meaning that only comes from the whole sentence. Hm.

Related Idea

Idea 17999 Strong compositionality says meaningful expressions syntactically well-formed are meaningful [Magidor]