On the Principle of Compositionality

Abstract

Philosophers and linguists who support thenaïve theory or extensionality in semantics think that Compositionality holds. Moreover, Compositionality seems to be supported by the Learnability of languages. But many philosophers have argued that Compositionality fails in some contexts by many philosophers. Now simply arguing that Compositionality holds or does not does not explain the important point about Compositionality. What do we mean by Compositionality? And what do we mean by the success or failure of Compositionality? These issues are discussed in this paper by presenting Hintikka's careful and critical examination of Compositionality. The author thinks that Compositionality in which component meanings are considered in the context of the whole expression holds in natural languages.