8-MeanContext.ppt

8 Meaning and Context Meaning and Context 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. 8.1 Types of Context8.1.1 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. 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) 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) 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 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context landlord （地主; 房东） exploiter of peasants (negative) one who has house to let (positive) 8.1.1 Extra-linguistic Context worker (before 1949) (1950s-1960s) (1980s) (1990s) (2000) 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. 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) 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. 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） 8.1.2 Linguistic Context make God made the coun