Compositionality: Its Historic Context

Janssen, Tanja

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541072.013.0001

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Although it appears obvious that cognition deploys neural computing, virtually all aspects of human intelligence have been formally and precisely described since antiquity (Kiparsky and Staal, 1969) in terms of a very different type of computing: compositionalstructure processing (Janssen, 2012). In this type of computing (Fig.…”

Section: The Central Paradox Of Cognition and The Principles Defining...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurocompositional computing: From the Central Paradox of Cognition to a new generation of AI systems

Smolensky¹,

McCoy²,

Fernandez³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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What explains the dramatic progress from 20th-century to 21st-century AI, and how can the remaining limitations of current AI be overcome? The widely accepted narrative attributes this progress to massive increases in the quantity of computational and data resources available to support statistical learning in deep artificial neural networks. We show that an additional crucial factor is the development of a new type of computation. Neurocompositional computing (Smolensky et al., 2022) adopts two principles that must be simultaneously respected to enable human-level cognition: the principles of Compositionality and Continuity. These have seemed irreconcilable until the recent mathematical discovery that compositionality can be realized not only through discrete methods of symbolic computing, but also through novel forms of continuous neural computing. The revolutionary recent progress in AI has resulted from the use of limited forms of neurocompositional computing. New, deeper forms of neurocompositional computing create AI systems that are more robust, accurate, and comprehensible.

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Section: The Central Paradox Of Cognition and The Principles Defining...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurocompositional computing: From the Central Paradox of Cognition to a new generation of AI systems

Smolensky¹,

McCoy²,

Fernandez³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…The first, which relates to the exocentric subtype, is semantic and is based on the notion of compositionality, the general principle for the interpretation of linguistic constructs, which states that the meaning of a complex expression is a compositional function of the meanings of its constituents and how they are combined (cf. Booij 2012b, 209-211;Gendler Szabó 2012;Jenssen 2012;Anderson 1992). That is, whilst the corresponding phrases tend to be compositional, the exocentric V-N compounds are non-compositional, so that the meaning of the whole cannot 22 Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah be deduced completely from the combination of the meanings of the parts.…”

Section: Distinguishing Between V-n Compounds and Verb Phrasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytical issues in the study of verb–noun compounds: How does Akan fit in?

Appah

2019

Acta Linguistica Academica

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This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa, Ghana) help answer the relevant questions for the language. The issues, which mainly concern the exocentric subtype, are: one, the syntactic category of the left-hand constituent and that of the whole compound; two, whether the formation of verb-noun compounds is a matter of syntax or morphology; and three, how to distinguish between verb-noun compounds and verb phrases, given their structural similarity. Although these issues have come up somehow in the literature on Akan verb-noun compounds, they have not been deliberately targeted for discussion. This paper fills the gap. It is shown that the left-hand constituent is definitely a verb. This raises the question of how to account for the syntactic category of the exocentric subclass of the compound, given that the compound is not a hyponym of the right-hand nominal constituent whose syntactic category may be assumed to percolate to the whole. It is also argued that, per the criteria in the literature, the formation of Akan verb-noun compounds has to be a matter of morphology and not syntax. Finally, it is shown that there are formal and semantic basis for distinguishing verb-noun compounds from verb phrases in Akan.

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“…Early in his career, he placed particular emphasis on contextuality, noting that “it is enough if the sentence as whole has meaning; thereby also its parts obtain their meanings” (Frege, 1884/1953, section 60) 3 . Later, he settled “at the end of his career, close to compositionality” (Janssen, 2012, p. 45).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also possible to see the approach as a natural continuation of the referential approach to meaning. The approach can be seen as having its roots in the work of Frege and Carnap: “Frege hypothesizes the assumption that the reference of a sentence is its truth value” (Janssen, 2012, p. 28). Likewise Carnap “regards a sentence as a complex name (for a truth value)” (Janssen, 2012, p. 35).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensional Superposition and Its Relation to Compositionality in Language and Thought

Thornton

2021

Cognitive Science

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Semantic composition in language must be closely related to semantic composition in thought. But the way the two processes are explained differs considerably. Focusing primarily on propositional content, language theorists generally take semantic composition to be a truth‐conditional process. Focusing more on extensional content, cognitive theorists take it to be a form of concept combination. But though deep, this disconnect is not irreconcilable. Both areas of theory assume that extensional (i.e., denotational) meanings must play a role. As this article demonstrates, they also have the potential to fulfill a mediative function. What is shown is that extensional meanings are themselves inherently compositional. On this basis, it becomes possible to model semantic composition without assuming the existence of any specifically linguistic/conceptual apparatus. Examples are presented to demonstrate this direct style of modeling. Abstract connections between composition in thought and language can then be made, raising the prospect of a more unified, theoretical account of semantic composition.

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Compositionality: Its Historic Context

Cited by 24 publications

References 53 publications

Neurocompositional computing: From the Central Paradox of Cognition to a new generation of AI systems

Neurocompositional computing: From the Central Paradox of Cognition to a new generation of AI systems

Analytical issues in the study of verb–noun compounds: How does Akan fit in?

Extensional Superposition and Its Relation to Compositionality in Language and Thought

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