课件名称：词义和语境 制作人：孙红梅、张培成 单位：曲阜师范大学外国语学院 英语词汇学课程课件 课件名称：词义和语境 制作人：孙红梅、张培成 单位：曲阜师范大学外国语学院

Teaching Objectives Teaching Focus Help students understand two types of contexts, the relationship between meaning and context and the way in which context affects the meaning of words, and how to make use of the context. Teaching Focus Types of meaning: extra-linguistic context and linguistic context Role of context: elimination of ambiguity, indication of referents and provision of clues for inferring word-meaning

8.1 Types of Context Extra-linguistic Context The context of situation: stating the meaning of a word in terms of the speech situation in which the word is used The entire cultural background Compare the following terms in English and Chinese A trade union Landlord Weekend

Linguistic Context Lexical context The lexemes that co-occur with the wood in question. The meaning of the word is often affected and defined by the neighboring lexemes. Grammatical context The meaning of a polysemant may be influenced by the structure in which it occurs.

8.2 The Role of Context Elimination of Ambiguity Ambiguity often arises due to polysemy and homonymy. Compare the meaning of “run” in each of the following sentences. John ran the egg and spoon race. John ran the egg and spoon race and got second place. Ambiguity caused by grammatical structure. The fish is ready to eat. I like Mary better than Jean. Flying planes can be dangerous. 鸡不吃了。

Indication of Referents A large number of deictic words such as now/there, here/there, this/that, are often used to refer directly to the personal, temporal or locational characteristics of the situation. Without clear context, the reference can be very confusing. Provision of Clues for Inference of Word Meaning Definition Explanation Exemplification Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy Relevant details

Assignment What is context? Can you differentiate verbal context from extra-linguistic context? Analyze the questions on Page 178-179.