16-Chapter 8 Meaning and Context.doc

Chapter 8 Meaning and ContextWithout context, there is no way to determine the very sense of the word that the speaker intended to convey; whereas with context there is generally no danger of misinterpretation, for meaning lives in context and the context defines meaning. 8.1 Types of ContextIn a narrow sense, it refers to the words, clauses, sentences in which a word appears. This is known as linguistic context .In a broad sense, it includes the physical situation as well. This is called extra-linguistic or non-linguistic context, which embraces the people, time, place, and even the whole cultural background.8.1.1 Extra-linguistic ContextBrown and Yule (1983: 36) invented two situations to illustrate the effect on the meaning of the word quick:1.speaker: a young mother, hearer: her mother-in-law, place: park, by a duckpond, time: sunny afternoon in September 1962. They are watching the young mothers two-year-old son chasing ducks and the mother-in-law has just remarked that her son, the childs father, was rather backward at this age. The young mother says: I do think Adams quick.2. speaker: a student, hearer: a set of students, place: sitting around a coffee table in the refectory, time: evening in March 1980. John, one of the group, has just told a joke. Everyone laughs except Adam. Then Adam laughs. One of the students says: I do think Adams quick.In 1, Adam is compared favourably with his father. Quick can be interpreted as meaning something like quick in developing. It is used in contrast to backward. In 2, Adam is compared unfavourably with the set of other students. Therefore, quick must be interpreted as meaning something like quick to understand/react/see the joke. In this case, quick is used ironically to mean the opposite slow.The word landlord affords another example. In Chinese culture, landlord is usually understood as referring to someone who owned a lot of land and collected money by renting land without working. It used to be associated with exploitation, naturally carrying a negative overtone. 8.1.2 Linguistic ContextLinguistic context can be subdivided into lexical context and grammatical context.1. Lexical context(collocation) For instance, paper has a number of meanings in the dictionary, yet in each of the following context, it conveys only one sense.(1)a sheet of paper 纸(2)a white paper 政府文件(3)a term paper 学期末写的论文(4)todays paper 报纸(5)examination paper 考试试卷The same is true of all the polysemic verbs such as do. do a sum 计算do ones teeth 刷牙do the flowers 插花do fish 烹调do science at school 学习do a museum/a city/a country 参观2. Grammatical context（Sentence Structure） Let us consider the verb become for example.(1)become + adj/n (used as predictive), meaning begin to be, e.g.变得a. Daydreams have become realities.b.She became increasingly anxious about her husbands strange behaviour.(2)become + pronoun/n (used as object), meaning suit, befit, e.g.适合c.This sort of behaviour hardly becomes a person in your position.d. Sarcasm doesnt become you.这种嘲笑人的话不适合你说。(3)become + of, 结果是，使遭遇e.I dont know what will become of us if the company goes bankrupt.8.2 The Role of Context We shall confine ourselves to verbal context (语言语境)only. Context has three major functions:8.2.1 Elimination of AmbiguityAmbiguity often arises due to polysemy and homonymy. 1.)He is a hard businessman.(勤奋的/难对付的) He is a hard businessman to deal with. 2)a. John ran the egg and spoon race. （参加/举办）2)b. John ran the egg and spoon race and won second place.Homonymy is another cause of ambiguity as two separate words share the same form, e.g.3)They saw her duck.（看见/躲闪）4) The ball was attractive.（舞会/球） They saw her duck swimming in the river. The ball was attractive with nice music and a lot of people Grammatical structure can also lead to ambiguity, e. g. 1)The fish is ready to eat.2)I like Mary better than Jean. The fish is cooked or served, so ready for people to eat or The fish is ready to eat things. What a nice smell! The fish is ready to eat I like Mary better than I like Jean or I like Mary better than Jean likes Mary. I like Mary better than Jean does or I like Mary better than I do Jean or I like Mary better as Jean is untidy, etc.8.2.2 Indication of Referentsa large number of words such as now/then, here! there, I/you, this/that, which are often used to refer directly to people, time, place, etc. Without clear context, the reference can be very confusing. 8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word meaningContext may prove extremely valuable in guessing the meanings of new words.1)Definition.(下定义).Perhaps the most startling theory to come out of kinesics（身势学）, the study of body movement, was suggested by Professor Birdwhistell.2)Explanation.（说明） Its just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors（微处理器） those tiny parts of a computer commonly known as silicon chips.3)Example.（举例）Many United Nations employees are polyglots（通晓多种语言的人）. Ms. Mary, for example, speaks five languages.4)Synonymy（同义关系）.Their greatest fear was of a conflagration(大火灾), since fire would destroy their flimsy wooden settlement before help could arrive.5)Antonymy(反义关系). As the fighting on all fronts reached its peak, the economy neared its nadir(最低点).6)Hyponymy(上下义关系). Superordinates and subordinates e.g.The village had most of the usual amenities（便利设施）: a pub, a library, a post office, a village hall, a medical centre, and a school.7) Relevant details（相关细节）. In some contexts, the author provides details relating to the unknown word, such as the functions, characteristics, nature, etc. of the referent, e. g.a.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.b.In spite of the fact that the fishermen were wearing sou westers, the storm was so heavy that they were wet through.8) Word structure（词的结构）. The morphemic structure of words, especially compounds and derived words offers clues for inferring the meanings of unknown words, e.g.Copernicus believed in a heliocentric universe（日心说, rather than in the geocentric theory(地心说).Questions and Tasks1.Give a term according to each of the definitions:a.part of a piece of writing or speech which surrounds a word and helps to explain its meaning ( )b.structural patterns where a particular word is used ()c.hints given in a context ()d.physical situation or environment relating to the use of wordse.words which are used with a particular word and influence its meaning ( )f.guessing word- meaning according context ( )g.getting rid of double meanings ( )2.Many familiar words have different meanings when they are used in different contexts. This is justified by the following illustrating examples. Study the sentences carefully and try to define the words in bold type in each context with the help of a dictionary if necessary.Aa.If you bring over your bicycle, Ill fix it for you.b.When the radio signal comes on again, Ill take a fix on our positionc.Janet is in a terrible fixd.The drug addict was desperate for a fix.Ba.The scientists have added another stage to the rocket.b.Michael Jackson is a star of the stage, screen, and television.c.I believe in the national independence as the first stage of responsible self-government.d.The union kept plans alive to stage new strikes.Ca.The union continued to seek dialogue with the authorities.b.Their dialogue was interrupted by a riot outside.c.The plot is fascinating but the dialogue needs improvement.3.Context provides a variety of clues for inference of word-meaning. Guess the meaning of the words in bold type and tell what contextual clues have helped you in arriving at the meanings.a.He was in a mood of complete euphoria, his happiness being the result of an announcement that he had won the sweepstakes.b.The tribal community still practises polygamy, a custom in which someone can be married to more than one person at the same time.c.An east or north-east wind brings cold dry weather to England, but a sou wester usually brings rain.d.Do you know the architect? He designed St. Pauls Cathed