The Oxford Handbook of CompositionalityMarkus Werning, Wolfram Hinzen, Edouard Machery In this book leading scholars from every relevant field report on all aspects of compositionality, the notion that the meaning of an expression can be derived from its parts. Understanding how compositionality works is a central element of syntactic and semantic analysis and a challenge for models of cognition. It is a key concept in linguistics and philosophy and in the cognitive sciences more generally, and is without question one of the most exciting fields in the study of language and mind. The authors of this book report critically on lines of research in different disciplines, revealing the connections between them and highlighting current problems and opportunities. The force and justification of compositionality have long been contentious. First proposed by Frege as the notion that the meaning of an expression is generally determined by the meaning and syntax of its components, it has since been deployed as a constraint on the relation between theories of syntax and semantics, as a means of analysis, and more recently as underlying the structures of representational systems, such as computer programs and neural architectures. The Oxford Handbook of Compositionality explores these and many other dimensions of this challenging field. It will appeal to researchers and advanced students in linguistics and philosophy and to everyone concerned with the study of language and cognition including those working in neuroscience, computational science, and bio-informatics. |
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The Oxford Handbook of Compositionality Markus Werning,Wolfram Hinzen,Edouard Machery Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
analysis apple approach argued argument assigned assume atomic cognitive cognitive science complex concept complex expression components compositional language compositional semantics computational concept combination confirmation holism conjunction connectionism connectionist constituents constraints construction context corresponding decomposition defined definition denote discourse discussion eigenmode emergent features event example extensional fact formal Frege fregean function given grammar holism inflected inflected forms input instance interpretation irregular inflected John lexical items lexicon linguistic logical mapping Mary meaning model-theoretic modifier module monadic Montague Montague Grammar natural language neurons notion noun object operation oscillators pet fish phrase predicate principle of compositionality problem proposition protolanguage prototype theory prototypical properties quantifier recursive reference relation relevant representations represented requires result role rules Section semantic composition semantic holism semantic values sense sentence specific structure symbols syntactic syntactic categories syntax terminal symbols typical variable verb words