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Is Compositionality Compatible with Holism?
Author(s) -
PAGIN PETER
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.1997.tb00060.x
Subject(s) - principle of compositionality , prima facie , holism , individuation , epistemology , computer science , cognitive science , philosophy of science , theory of computation , meaning (existential) , linguistics , philosophy , psychology , programming language , psychoanalysis
This paper deals with three prima facie problems for the compatibility of the principle of semantic compositionality with semantic holism. The first problem concerns the order and mode of determination of the meaning of complex expressions. The second concerns the individuation of meanings, and, as a consequence, the possibility of communication. The third problem concerns the role of compositionality in explaining the understanding of new sentences, and, in conjunction with that, the possibility of language learning. It is argued that each has an acceptable solution.