0

This is a bit hard to explain, so let's try an example.

There is something called "rock art", which means human-made markings placed on natural stone.

Those two words when put together have a specific meaning. The name on the other hand may imply that any art made of rocks could be called rock art.

Is there any way to describe this type of name/phrase?

THE DUPLICATE YOU PICKED IS NOT THE SAME QUESTION. This isn't about an adjective. It's about a group of words that have a specific meaning that are more than the sum of their parts.

stackers
  • 129
  • 1
    Perhaps, "ambiguous" would work. –  Jan 31 '15 at 23:05
  • It might also mean," art related to rock music." – Jim Jan 31 '15 at 23:10
  • Maybe it's not the best example, but let's say it wasn't ambiguous, and was only meant to be used in that one way? – stackers Jan 31 '15 at 23:14
  • there are dozens of types of noun compounds, in terms of the relationships of the two nouns involved. They can vary a lot. My favorite example is snake bite versus pony ride. As for terminology, "non-compositional" is a term that applies to almost all noun compounds, unless you define one type as officially "compositional", which won't work for noun compounds. – John Lawler Feb 01 '15 at 16:32
  • 1
    Does this work as an example? A 'black bird' is any bird judged to be black. However, a 'blackbird' is a member of Turdus merula or closely related species/subspecies. And females and juveniles are usually not black. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 15 '23 at 15:28
  • 1
    @EdwinAshworth, yes exactly. you could say "a crow is a blackbird", but you would be wrong – stackers Jul 15 '23 at 15:50

4 Answers4

5

An "idiom" has an idiosyncratic meaning which cannot be deduced from the meanings of its parts. A complex expression whose meaning can be deduced from the meanings of its parts is "compositional". An idiom is, accordingly, non-compositional.

Greg Lee
  • 17,406
  • 1
    There are other definitions of 'idiom'; some analyses allow for 'semi-transparent' and even 'transparent' idioms. Compounds are not usually called idioms, and may not be predictable from their constituent parts. Not all blackbirds are black birds, for instance. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '15 at 23:09
  • I don't know if idiom is the right word, because to me it sounds like idiom means it could not be determined by looking at the phrase, but in my case it COULD, but the phrase just isn't specific enough to convey the full meaning. – stackers Jan 31 '15 at 23:17
  • @stackers 'Idiom' or 'idiomatic' captures that the meaning of the collection is more than the combination of the meanings of the separate words. What is opaque, or can't be deduced, is the 'more' part. It could be just a tiny bit more depending on context (the 'White House' is definitely white and definitely a house, but those two words don't indicate that it is also special for US government), or it could be -a lot- more (a 'hot dog' is probably a bit warm but hopefully has nothing to do with a canine). – Mitch Jul 18 '23 at 14:32
1

There is a property shown by some but not all two-word strings known as intersectiveness {see 'Associative adjectives in English and the lexicon–syntax interface' by Heinz J Giegerich (p22ff), and 15.3: Non-intersective adjectives; Paul Kroeger; Dallas International University via Language Library Press, for example.

Looking at possibilities for [adjective + noun] pairs:

  • A small house is small and a house.

  • A heavy smoker need not be heavy but is a smoker.

  • A fake diamond is fake but is not a diamond.

  • The English horn is neither English in origin nor a horn.

Only the first example above shows intersection; 'heavy smoker' etc are non-intersective.

Edwin Ashworth
  • 83,272
0

There is a term in Signal Engineering known as Aliasing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing.

In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or aliases of one another) when sampled.

Therefore, the word aliasing when applied to linguistics, would mean words and phrases that could be used deceptively to mean one thing, and then bait-and-switched to mean another.

Therefore, we should be able to use alias as

  • aliasing of words, phrases and their messages.

The effects of message aliasing would be a blurred and ambiguous perspective of the message or messages.

Blessed Geek
  • 9,623
0

8 years later… the word is 'amphiboly'

Under the heading of Verbal Fallacies by Brittanica

(2) Amphiboly occurs when the grammar of a statement is such that several distinct meanings can obtain (example: “The governor says, ‘Save soap and waste paper.’ So soap is more valuable than paper.”).

Mari-Lou A
  • 91,183
Paul
  • 1
  • 3
    Can you add a definition from some reliable source? – Peter Shor Jul 15 '23 at 13:43
  • Hello, Paul. Though 'a heavy smoker' is certainly inherently ambiguous (though usually defaults to 'one who smokes heavily'), 'a potential witness' isn't. It's a string fulfilling OP's requirement, but not an example of amphiboly. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 15 '23 at 13:47
  • 1
    @EdwinAshworth, while nobody but a scientifically-minded pedant would think of a potential witness as a person who observed an electrical potential (better known as voltage), such a person might exist. More seriously, I read OP's question as being about ambiguous strings. – Peter Jul 15 '23 at 14:05
  • @Peter I think the 'ambiguity' tag was already available in 2015; OP doesn't select it. And 'let's say it wasn't ambiguous, and was only meant to be used in that one way' could be taken to be part of the question (an artist manqué isn't an artist, and a Guinea pig isn't a pig, but there is no ambiguity involved here). – Edwin Ashworth Jul 15 '23 at 14:21
  • 1
    @EdwinAshworth, as I read the question it is about noun compounds which are normally understood in one way but can be understood differently. While I don't intend to down-vote the suggestion, to me amphiboly refers to a much wider range of ambiguous expressions. I don't think you can draw conclusions from the tags - it can take a fair bit of experience to choose the best tags. – Peter Jul 15 '23 at 15:00
  • @Mari-Lou A If that were the only definition available, I'd say the answer would have to be CV-d. However, Collins allows the broader 'ambiguity of speech' (though with a caveat). – Edwin Ashworth Jul 15 '23 at 15:32