Principle of compositionality

In semantics, mathematical logic and related disciplines, the principle of compositionality is the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the rules used to combine them. The principle is also called Frege's principle, because Gottlob Frege is widely credited for the first modern formulation of it. However, the principle has never been explicitly stated by Frege,[1] and arguably it was already assumed by George Boole[2] decades before Frege's work.

The principle of compositionality (also known as semantic compositionalism) is highly debated in linguistics. Among its most challenging problems there are the issues of contextuality, the non-compositionality of idiomatic expressions, and the non-compositionality of quotations.[3]

  1. ^ Pelletier, Francis Jeffry (2001). "Did Frege Believe Frege's Principle?". Journal of Logic, Language and Information. 10 (1): 87–114. doi:10.1023/A:1026594023292.
  2. ^ Boole, G. (1854). An investigation of the laws of thought: on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities. Walton and Maberly.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pelletier2016sec12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Developed by StudentB