A Cognitive Interpretation of Compositionality

Based on an analysis of compositionality in cognitive grammar and construction grammar, the authors propose that a linguistic expression possesses meaning-residing domain.The meanings of the expression are integrated and combined by meaning dependency (MD) into the conceptual, constructional or the framework level.Compositionality is not a kind of attribution of language.A linguistic expression is engendered by MD.The research is expected to solve the controversial problem of compositionality and provide a new perspective on the integration and combination of linguistic expressions.