Compositionality is the idea that we can understand the meaning of a big word by looking at what small words it's made of. Just like how we can understand how to build a big Lego tower by looking at the small Lego pieces that make it up.
For example, let's think about the word "snowman". We know that a snowman is a figure made of snow that looks like a person. We can break down the word "snowman" into two smaller words, "snow" and "man". When we put them together, we understand the meaning of a snowman.
Compositionality is important because it helps us understand complex ideas and concepts by breaking them down into smaller parts. It's like a puzzle where we can see how all the pieces fit together to create a bigger picture.
In language, compositionality allows us to create new words and understand their meanings without having to memorize every single word in the dictionary. We can use our knowledge of smaller words and how they combine to create new and complex meanings.
So, compositionality is all about understanding how small things can come together to make bigger things, and how we can use this understanding to make sense of language and the world around us.