Chapter-8-Meaning-and-Contxt

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,Chapter Eight,Meaning and Context,词义和语境,西亚斯国际学院 李广升,Teaching Objectives,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 context: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,1)Extra-linguistic Context,非语言语境,The context of situation:stating the meaning of a word in terms of the speech situation in which the word is used.,e.g.Look out,中文笑话,The entire cultural background:participants(addresser and addressee),place,time,Compare the following terms in English and Chinese,A trade union,Landlord,Weekend,2)Linguistic Context,Lexical context,The lexemes that co-occur with the word in question.The meaning of the word is often affected and defined by the neighboring lexemes.,e.g.,a sheet of paper,a term paper,a white paper,todays paper,examination paper,Grammatical context,The meaning of a,polysemant,may be influenced by the structure in which it occurs.,E.g.,Daydreams have become realities.,The sort of behavior hardly becomes a person in your position.,I dont know what will become of us if the company goes bankrupt.,8.2 The Role of Context,1)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.,鸡不吃了。,What a nice smell!.,to eat things.,than Jean likes Mary(than Jean does).,than I do Jean.,2)Indication of Referents,A large number of deictic words such as now/then,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.,E.g.,now,the prime minister,3)Provision of Clues for Inference of Word Meaning(p-176),1).Definition,2).Explanation,3).Exemplification,4).Synonymy,5).Antonymy,6).Hyponymy,7).Relevant details,8).word-formation,Assignment,What is context?Can you differentiate verbal context from extra-linguistic context?,Analyze the questions on Page 178-179.,