Polysemy and gestaltist computation. some notes on gestaltist compositionality

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the concept of Gestaltist Compositionality. It is divided into two parts. The first part will introduce a minimal definition of «Gestaltist Compositionality». Moreover, it will prove that the computations implemented by this model of compositionality are sufficiently flexible to ensure the presence of several orders of semantic determination. The second part will be devoted to an investigation of the consequences of this result with particular reference to the identification of some versions of compositionality which relax the condition of semantic atomism without weakening the links of determination between understanding of the compounds and understanding of the components. These versions give priority to a particular interpretation of the “whole-parts” dependencies, on which are based the assertions of compositionality. In the conclusions, we we will suggest a possible theoretical extension of this last perspective with particular reference to language operations of interlocution.