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date: 04 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

The compositionality idea is the idea that semantic interpretation proceeds in two steps. Simple expressions are interpreted by means of lexical rules, which assign meanings to them directly. Complex expressions are interpreted by means of compositional rules, which assign meanings to them indirectly, as a function of the meanings of their parts. The syntax of natural language is such that the number of complex expressions is not finite. The meaning of a complex expression only depends upon two things: the meanings of its immediate constituents, and the way they are put together. A language exhibits semantic flexibility if a condition is satisfied: in that language, the meaning of a word may vary from occurrence to occurrence, and it may vary, in particular, as a function of the other words it combines with.

Keywords: compositionality, semantic interpretation, simple expressions, lexical rules, compositional rules

François Recanati

François Récanati is the Director of Institut Jean-Nicod (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris). He is also a research fellow at CNRS and a professorial fellow at EHESS and the University of St Andrews. He has taught in several major universities around the world. His recent publications include Literal Meaning (CUP, 2004), Perspectival Thought (OUP, 2007), and Truth-Conditional Pragmatics (OUP, 2010). He is General Editor of the OUP series, Context and Content.

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