词汇学 第八章 meaning and context.ppt

Chapter VIII. MEANING AND CONTEXT speaker:李倩 12级英本4班 CONTENTS 1.Two Types of Contexts A. Linguistic context B.Extra-linguisitc context 1.Lexical context 2.Grammatical context 3.Verbal context 2.The Vital Role of Context in Determination of Word Meaning A. Eliminating ambiguities B.Conveying emotional overtones C.Indicating referents and the range of the meaning of a word 3.Suggested Ways for the Correct Comprehension of Word Meaning 1.Situation context 2.Cultural context MAKE We made (“had”)a good breakfast before leaving. I made (“earned”) 10,000 yuan a month. The regulations were made (“enacted”) to protect children. Linguistic context 1.Lexical context Lexical context refers to the lexical items combined with a given polysemous word. * 2.Grammatical context get + n. get + adj. meaning “to receive” meaning ”to become” I got a letter today. He’s getting better. In grammatical context, the syntactic structure of the context determines various individual meanings of a polysemous word. * 2.Grammatical context I don’t get your point. I got a letter from my sister. The above examples show that the meaning of a word often has to be determined by the lexical and grammatical contexts combined. * 3.Verbal context In addition to lexical, and grammatical context ,the verbal context ,in its broadest sense , may cover an entire passage ,or even an entire book ,and in some cases even the entire social or cultural setting ,as stated at the beginning of the chapter . The complete significance of an important term can often be grasped only in the light of the whole passage or of the work as a whole . * B. Extra-linguisitc context 1.)Situational context（情景语境） In different situations (time, place, etc.), the same utterance may have different meanings. [OR: The meaning of a word is determined by the speech situation in which the word used. ] “It’s a difficult operation.” （文化语境） Operation 操作，经营，手术，运算 It might mean a surgical operation performed on human