COMPOSITIONALITY AND SEMANTIC FLEXIBILITY (I)
COMPOSITIONALITY AND SEMANTIC FLEXIBILITY (I)

Summary/Abstract: The principle of compositionality models the way in which an agent determines the meaning of a complex expression depending on the meanings of its parts. It is often considered that the agents’ flexibility in interpreting the linguistic expressions and the pragmatic intrusions in determining their meanings justify leaving the compositionality out. In this article I show that even if pragmatic factors intervene in the process by means of which the meaning of an expression is determined, it is possible to formulate more complex versions of the principle of compositionality which are compatible with the data offered by the pragmatic theories of meaning. This is the first part of a two-part article.

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