• The actual speech situation refers to the situation in which a word is used. In everyday life, word meaning is more often dependent on the actual situation in which a word is used.
Extra-linguistic Context
• peasant vs. 农民
peasant 具有贬义：《新编韦氏大学词典》：
一般指未受过教育的、社会地位低下的人； 《美国传统词典》：乡下人，庄稼人，乡巴 佬，教养不好的人，粗鲁的人
Functions of Context
1. Eliminating ambiguity 2.Conveying emotional overtones 3.Indicating referents and the range of the meaning of a word
Eliminating Ambiguity
• Polysemy may cause ambiguity. • Grammatical structure may cause ambiguity.
鸡 不 吃 了。 ‘The chicken does not eat.’ ‘I don’t eat chicken any more.’
get+NP: get a big apple; get an interesting book become get+AP: get very angry; get incredibly cold
receive
cause
get…to do: I got him to do the job.
Extra-linguistic Context
Extra-linguistic Context
• The extra-linguistic context may extend to include the entire cultural background. trade union Organization of workers formed to fight for their interests against the employers. gonghui Organization of workers under the leadership of Party. No fighting! No negotiating!
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Pragmatic Meaning 语用意义
1.Context 单击此处编辑母版标题样式 2.Features of Pragmatic Meaning 3.Types of Pragmatic Meaning
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Word Meaning Pragmatic Meaning Linguistic Meaning Lexical Meaning
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Context
Linguistic context
Non-Linguistic context
Two types of contexts
• Linguistic context refers to words, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, or the whole book in which a word appears. • Extra-linguistic context refers to a particular time, space, or culture in which a word appears. 1.the actual speech situation 2.the entire cultural background
Example: paper
The word “paper” has a number of meanings in the dictionary, but in each of the following context, it conveys only one meaning. • • • • • a sheet of paper a white paper a term paper today’s paper examination paper
Indication of Referents
• A large number of deictic words such as now/there, 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.
Linguistic Context
• Linguistic context can be further divided into – Lexical context – Grammatical context • Lexical context: the lexemes that co-occur with the word in question. The meaning of the word is affected or determined by the neighboring lexemes.
约翰 拔 了3颗 蛀牙。 ‘John pulled out three rotten teeth.’ ‘John got three rotten teeth pulled out.’
Conveying Emotional Overtones
– Some appreciative word may acquire unfavorable meaning in certain contexts.
It is obvious that the main reason for bringing out this or that meaning of the word “paper” is the specific words which the word “paper” is combined with.
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Week 9
Sandy
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Outline
l Pragmatic Meaning
– Context – Features of Pragmatic Meaning – Types of Pragmatic Meaning
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Grammatical Context
• In some cases, the meaning of a polysemous word may be determined by the grammatical structure (not specific words) in which it occurs.
听完二乐子的满口秽言，小李不无讽刺的说：“你真是出口 成章呀！”
– Some derogatory word may acquire appreciative meaning in certain context.
当他听完高一民关于利用激光侦破走私光盘的设想后, 不禁 猛地拍了高一民一掌说：“好一个大野心家, 我怎么没发现 你呀！”
Eliminating Ambiguity
• Ambiguity refers to a word, a phrase, a sentence with more than one possible meaning. Ambiguity may be caused by different things.
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“I' m lonely.” Adam told God in the Garden of Eden. “I need to have someone around for company.” “Okay,” replied God. I' m going to give 单击此处编辑母版标题样式 you the perfect woman, beautiful, intelligent, and gracious一she'll cook and clean for you and never say a cross word.” “Sounds good,” Adam said, “But what' s she going to cost?” “An arm and a leg.” “That' s pretty steep,” countered Adam. “What can I get for just a rib?”
Conceptual Meaning
Static meanin g
Grammatical Meaning
Dynamic meaning/meaning in use/meaning in context
Associative Meaning
Connotative Meaning Stylistic Meaning Affective Meaning Collocative Meaning
• Polysemy may cause ambiguity. Mary baked a birthday cake for her mother. • Homonymy may cause ambiguity. The ball was attractive.