1. 8 Meaning and Context

2. Context is very important. As most words are polysemic, without context there is no way to determine the meaning of a word. Meaning is defined in context.

3. 8.1 Types of Context

4. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context Extra-linguistic context is context beyond language, but physical situation, in which language is used: the people, time, place, and even the whole cultural background, e.g.

5. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context weekend(length of time) 1) one day (1980s) 2) one day and half (1995) 3) two days (1996) 4) two days and half (some places)

6. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context weekend (days for rest) Sunday and Monday ( 华师分校 ) Monday and Tuesday (some factories) one day of a week (private enterprise)

7. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context 广场（ square ） 1) a large flat area without buildings 2) a large building ( 亚贸广场；武广 ) 城（ city ） 1) a large town with more than 300,000 residents 2) 家俱城；书城

8. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context landlord （地主 ; 房东） exploiter of peasants (negative) one who has house to let (positive)

9. 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context worker(before 1949) (1950s-1960s) (1980s) (1990s) (2000)

10. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context Linguistic context is the linguistic enviornment, in which a linguistic unit is used. A linguistic unit can be a phrase, a clause, a sentence, a paragraph, a passage, a chapter in a book or even a book.

11. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context do a sum (work out the answer to a mathematical question) do one ’ s teeth (brush) do the flowers (arrange) do fish (cook) do science at school (study) do a museum/a city/a country (visit)

12. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context A car can do 80 miles an hour. John is doing well in school. I ’ ll do you if you don ’ t stop. Lexical context refers to the words used before or after a particular linguistic unit.

13. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context figure 1) a half-length figure （像） 2) a historical figure （人物） 3) double figure （数字） 4) figure of speech （词格）

14. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context make God made the country, man made the town. (created, built) She will make a good teacher. (become) He is going to make us a report. (give)

15. 8.1.2 Linguistic Context The meaning of make is affected by the grammatical structures. This is called grammatical context. Grammatical context is the grammatical structures in which a particular linguistic item is used.

16. 8.2 The Role of Context

17. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity Ambiguity often arises due to polysemy and homonymy. When a word with multiple meanings is used in inadequate context, it creates ambiguity, e.g.

18. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity He is a hard businessman. hard:1) hard-working 2) difficult He is a hard businessman to deal with.

19. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity They saw her duck. 1) dodge 2) type of foul Revised: They saw her duck swimming in the pond. They saw her duck quickly. That saved her life.

20. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity [47] The ball was good. 1) dancing party 2) round object Revised: The ball was good. I never danced like this before. The ball was good. I used it for a long time.

21. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity Grammatical structure can also lead to ambiguity, e.g. The fish is ready to eat. I like Mary better than Jean. (1)I like Mary better than Jean likes M. (2) I like Mar better than I like Jean.

22. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity The shooting of the hunter was horrible. (1) The hunter shot something in a horrible way. (2) The hunter was shot in a horrible way.

23. 8.2.2 Indication of referents This is the book I mentioned to you the other day. Now there is nothing we can do. Without context there is no way to tell what “ this ” refers to or the exact time “ now ” stands for.

24. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity Revised: He took Vanity Fair from a wooden shelf and said “ This is the book I mentioned to you the other day. ”

25. 8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity Revised: Water continued to rise and the whole family were driven to the attic of the house. There was no other place to go. “ Now there is nothing we can do, ” said the father helplessly.

26. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning Context may prove extremely valuable in guessing the meanings of new words. In many cases, when a new word (thought to be) appears for the first time, the author generally manages to give hints.

27. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning The hints (context clues) might help the readers to grasp the concept or understand the idea. Context clues vary a great deal. There are six or seven major context clues.

28. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning Perhaps the most startling theory to come out of kinesics, the study of body movement, was suggested by Professor Bird-whistell. 身势学 (definition)

29. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning Many United Nations employees are polyglots. Mary, for example, speaks five languages. (example)

30. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning It ’ s just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors — those tiny parts of a computer commonly known as ‘ silicon chips ’. (explanation)

31. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning As the fighting on all fronts reached its peak, the economy neared its nadir. (antonym)

32. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning Their greatest fear was of a conflagration, since fire would destroy their flimsy wooden settlement before help could arrive. (synonym)

33. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning Copernicus believed in a heliocentric universe, rather than in the geocentric theory. (word structure)

34. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning The village had most of the usual amenities: a pub, a library, a post office, a village hall, a medical centre, and a school. (superordinate)

35. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning ‘ Do get me a clop, ’ she said, smacking her lips, but her brother, with a scornful glance up at the branches, said that there were none ripe yet. (relevant details)

36. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning In spite of the fact that the fishermen were wearing sou ’ westers, the storm was so heavy that they were wet through. (relevant details)

37. END