koostalitlusliku

Koostalitlusliku is an Estonian adjective meaning compositional, used in linguistics, logic, and philosophy of language to describe theories, analyses, or principles that rely on the idea that a complex expression’s meaning is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way those parts are combined.

In grammatical and scholarly usage, koos talitusliku (the form koos talitusliku in genitive) functions as the genitive singular of the adjective. For example, the phrase koostatiltsliku semantika põhimõte translates roughly to “the principle of compositional semantics.” The root of the word is linked to composition or assembly, with the suffix -lik forming an adjective that, when inflected, yields forms such as koos talitusliku, koos talituslikku, and others depending on case and number.

The term is commonly encountered in discussions of compositionality, a central concept in formal semantics and philosophical semantics. A compositional (koostalitlusliku) account holds that the meaning of a complex expression is a function of the meanings of its constituent parts and their syntactic combination, rather than arising solely from context or convention. Researchers may describe a theory as koostat lisaliku to emphasize its commitment to this principle, or discuss koostalitlusliku analyses of phrases, sentences, or logical expressions.

Critiques of compositional approaches often address phenomena such as idioms, context-sensitivity, and pragmatic inference, which can reveal limits to a strictly compositional view. The term remains a standard descriptor in Estonian linguistic and philosophical writing for discussions of how language structure relates to meaning. See also compositionality and semantic theory.