Open compositionality : towards a new methodology of language / Eduardo García-Ramírez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

García Ramírez, Eduardo, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Compositionality (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

1 volume : illustration (black and white) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Lexington Books, 2019.

Summary:

Open Compositionality: Towards a New Methodology of Language argues that natural languages, like English and Spanish, are not only systems of representation useful for communication but also highly interactive cognitive capacities allowing humans to engage in complex forms of cognition. This view goes against the orthodox approach within philosophy of language, which considers natural languages to be specialized systems consisting of only linguistic elements and functioning in a closed compositional manner, allowing for fully formal, algebraic descriptions. Eduardo Garc a-Ram rez rejects the longstanding principle of compositionality, according to which the meaning of any complex expression is fully determined by its parts and the way they are combined, and he substitutes it with an alternative, open, and interactive one. This novel view of the nature of language better accounts for the empirical evidence. Garc a Ram rez develops an account of open compositionality, accompanied by the cognition-first methodology, in which natural languages are conceived as supermodular cognitive capacities that allow for interaction among multiple distinct areas of human cognition. The explanatory success of this original proposal and its accompanying methodology are tested by the author's account of three enduring philosophical problems: substitution failure, empty names, and the nature of moral discourse.

Contents:

Views of language

The closed view and strong compositionality

The failure of strong compositionality

Open compositionality and the cognition first methodology

Lexical processing architecture and substitution failure

Decoupled representations and empty names

Moral discourse, moral cognition and the language analogy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781498562720

1498562728

OCLC:

1100595603