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OnContextandMeaning12级英语D班，赖惠珊，NO.12Linguistshaveclassifiedcontextfromdifferentperspectivesandfordifferentaims.Forexample,contextmaybeclassifiedintobroadandnarrowonesaccordingtotheirscopes;notionalandsituationalonesaccordingtotheircontent;emotionalandrationalonesaccordingtotheiremotions;implicitandexplicitonesaccordingtoexpressingforms,etc.However,themostwidelyusedwayistodrawadistinctionbetweentwomajortypes:linguisticcontextandnon-linguisticcontext,whichcanbeillustratedasthefollowing.TherearetwoTypesofcontext.1)LinguisticcontextItreferstoallthewordsthatgobeforeorcomeafterthewordinquestion.Therearethreemaintypesoflingusticcontext.A.Lexicalcontextreferstothewords,clauses,sentencesinwhichaparticularwordappearsorcombinedwithagivenpolysemousword.Forexample,‘awhitepaper’meansgovernmentdocument;‘atermpaper’meansessaywritttenattheendoftheterm;‘today’spaper’meansnewspaper.B.Grammaticalcontext:thesyntacticstructureofthecontextdeteminesvariousindividualmeaningsofapolysemousword.Takesomeexample,‘become+pronoun/n(usedasobjecct),meaning‘suit,befit’;‘become+of,meaninghappento,ofteninabadway’Suchmeaningaresometimesdescribedasgrammaticallyboundmeanings.Thegrammaticalstructureofcontextalone,however,althoughindicativeofdifferencesinthemeaningsofawordinvariousstructures,isnotsufficienttoindicatealltheindividualmeaningsofgivenword.Considerthefollowingsentences,whichshowthatgethasdifferentmeaningsinthesamepattern‘get+n’.“Idon’tgetyourpoint”,“I’llgethimonthatpoint”,“shereallygetsmewhenshesaysthesefoolishthing”.Theaboveexamplesshowthatthemeaningofawordoftenhastobedeterminedbythelexicalandthegrammaticalcontextscombined.C.Verbalcontextinitsbroadsense:maybeanentirepassage,orevenanentirebook,andinsomecaseseventheentiresocialorculturalsetting.2)Extra-linguisticcontextItisalsocallednon-linguisticcontext,whichincludespeople,place,time,relevantobjects,backgroundknowledgeetc.Contextisofgreatimportancefortheunderstandingofwordmeaning,especiallyfortheunderstandingofthemeaningsofpolysemicwords.Nomatterhowmanydenotativemeaningsawordmayhave,generallytherewillbenoriskofmisunderstandingthemeaning,whenitoccursinaparticularcontext.Thevitalroleofcontextindeterminationofwordmeaning.Theimpactofcontextonwordmeaningcanbeseeninthefollowingaspects:1)EliminationofambiguityAmbiguityoftenarisesduetopolysemyandhomonymy.Whenawordwithmultiplemeaningsisusedinaninadequatecontext,itcreatesambiguity.LexicalambiguitiesA.thedamagewasdonebytheriver.B.Heisahardbusinessman.StructuralambiguitiesA.Thefishisreadytoeat.B.IlikeMarybetterthanJean.2)ConveyingemotionalovertonesIndicatingreferentsandtherangeofthemeaningofaword.Theemotivesideofwordmeaningdependslargelyonthecontext,withtheexceptionofthosewordsthathaveaffectivemeaningaspartofwordmeaning.Onlythecontextcanshowwhetherorawordshouldbetakenasapurelyobjectiveexpression,whetheritconveysandevokesemotions,orwhetheranappreciativewordisusedinanunfavorableway.3)ProvidingcluesforthecorrectcomprehensionofwordmeaningContextmayproveextremelyvaluableinguessingthemeaningsofnewwords.Inmanycases,whenanewwordappearsforthefirsttime,theauthorgenerallymanagestogivehintswhichmighthelpthereaderstograsptheconceptorunderstandtheidea.Indicatingreferentsandtherangeofthemeaningofawordcontextisofgreatimportanceinunderstandingthereferencesofpro-formssuchasI,you,he,thisorthatordo,etc.Notonlycancontextindicatereferents,itcanalsomakecleartherangeofthemeaningofaword.Contextinitstraditionalsensereferstothelexicalitemsthatprecedeorfollowagivenwords.Modernlinguistshavebroadeneditsscopetoincludebothlinguisticandextra-linguisticcontexts.Lingusticcontextislexical,grammaticalandverbalcontextinitsbroadsense.Extra-linguisticcontextrefersnotonlytotheactualspeechsituationinwhichawordisusedbutalsototheentireculturalbackgroundagainstwhichaword,oranutteranceoraspeecheventisset.Boththelinguisticandextra-linguisticcontextesarenecessarytodeterminetheexactmeaningofpolysemicandhomonymouswords.However,wemustseetheimpactofcontextonmeaninginitsproperperspective.Everywordhasameaningormeaningofitsown,independentofcontext.Whenwesaycontextdeterminesthewordsense,wedonotmeanthatitgivesasensetotheword,butthatitselectsoneoutofallpossiblemeaningsalreadythere.Oneshouldalwaysdevelopone’sabilitytodeterminewordmeaningfromthecluesfurnishedbuthecontextinwhichthewordoccurs.wordmeaningandcontextarecloselyrelated.Inourreading,wecanjustmemorizethesinglemeaning,weneedtonoticethecontext,foritwilldousgreatfavorinreadingandcomprehension.Ifweknowdifferentmeaningsofaword,wecanconfirmitsmeaningfromthecontext,andifwedon’tknowanymeaningofanewword,wealsocaninferitfromcontextclues.Thinkaboutthecontextisanimportantstrategyforlanguagelearners.