A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

5.7 Compositional and Noncompositional Meanings

The cartoon accompanying each of the following expressions depicts its

compositional meaning--that is, the meaning determined by putting together the

meanings of its parts. However, each expression also has a noncompositional

(idiomatic) meaning. Consider the expressions and the compositional meanings

depicted by the cartoons; you will be asked to supply their noncompositional

meanings.

1. He's sitting on the fence.