張維友詞匯學(xué)chapter8meaning_and_context

1、Meaning and ContextvRelationship between meaning and contextvTwo types of contextsvThree functions of contextvClues for inference of meaning IntroductionIntroduction “ “I m lonely.” Adam told God in the Garden of I m lonely.” Adam told God in the Garden of Eden. “I need to have someone around for Ed

2、en. “I need to have someone around for company.” “Okay.”replied God. I m going to company.” “Okay.”replied God. I m going to give you the perfect woman, beautiful, give you the perfect woman, beautiful, intelligent, and intelligent, and graciousgracious一一shell cook and shell cook and clean for you a

3、nd never say a clean for you and never say a crosscross word.” word.” “Sounds good,” Adam said, “But what s she “Sounds good,” Adam said, “But what s she going to cost?“ An arm and a leg.” going to cost?“ An arm and a leg.” “That s pretty “That s pretty steepsteep,”,” countered Adam. countered Adam.

4、 “What can I get for just a rib?“What can I get for just a rib? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ B i b l eWhat is the meaning of the following sentence? voperation. The doctor will perform an operation on her for a diseased lung. The skillful operation of this machine is hard to learn.The armys operati

5、on in that country were very successful. Meaning and Context Context is of the greatest importance for the understanding of meaning. Meaning depends on context. ( William Branford 1967) The best way to study semantics is to examine the meaning of particular words in their context. ( Brook, 1958)Mean

6、ing and Context Without context, there is no way of determining the very sense of the word that the speaker intends to convey; while with context, there is generally no danger of misinterpretation, for meaning lives in context and context defines meaning. (Lodwig, 1973)contextLinguistic contextLingu

7、istic contextNon-linguistic contextNon-linguistic contextTypes of ContextTwo types of contextsvLinguistic context refers to words, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, or the whole book in which a word appears. vExtra-linguistic context refers to a particular time, space, or culture in which a word appea

8、rs.the actual speech situation the entire cultural backgroundLinguistic contextvLinguistic context can be further divided into Lexical contextGrammatical contextvLexical context: the lexemes that co-occur with the word in SENTENCE. The meaning of the word is affected or determined by the neighboring

9、 lexemes. 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. va sheet of paperva white paperva term papervtodays papervexamination paperGrammatical contextvIn some cases, the meaning of a polysemous word may

10、be determined by the grammatical structure (not specific words) in which it occurs. get+NP: get a big apple; get an interesting book get+AP: get very angry; get incredibly cold getto do: I got him to do the job. Extra-linguistic contextvThe actual speech situation refers to the situation in which a

11、word is used. In everyday life, word meaning is more often dependent on the actual situation in which a word is used. vExample: Johns really quick. vThe teacher told a joke, and then all the students but John laughed. Then John laughed. Then one of the students said: Johns really quick. Extra-lingui

12、stic contextvThe extra-linguistic context may extend to include the entire cultural background. ptrade union Organization of workers formed to fight for their interests against the employers. pgonghui Organization of workers under the leadership of Party. No fighting! No negotiating!Functions of con

13、textvEliminating ambiguityvIndication of referentsvProvision of clues for inferring word-meaningEliminating ambiguityvAmbiguity refers to a word, a phrase, a sentence with more than one possible meaning. Ambiguity may be caused by different things.vPolysemy may cause ambiguity. He is a hard business

14、man.vHomonymy may cause ambiguity. The ball was attractive. vGrammatical structure may cause ambiguity. I like Mary better than Jean.Eliminating ambiguityvPolysemy may cause ambiguity. vGrammatical structure may cause ambiguity. 雞不吃了。雞不吃了。The chicken does not eat.I dont eat chicken any more.約翰拔約翰拔了了

15、三顆蛀牙三顆蛀牙。John pulled out three rotten teeth.John got three rotten teeth pulled out.vA 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 referenc

16、e can be very confusing.vExample: Betty, Mary and Alice are classmates. Betty told Mary that Alice was angry. She said it secretly. But she didnt believe her.But she was not angry. Indication of referentsClues for Inference of Word MeaningvIn many cases, when a new word (thought to be) appears for t

17、he first time, the author generally manages to give hints which might help the readers to grasp the concept or understand the idea. Context clues vary a great deal but can be summed up as follows:DefinitionvOften we find that the author gives formal definition immediately after the new term.Perhaps

18、the most startling theory to come out of kinesics, the study of body movement, was suggested by Professor Birdwhistell. ExplanationvIf the concept is complicated and must involve technical terms in its definition, the author might explain the idea in simple words. That is, he might make a restatemen

19、t in known words. It is just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors-those tiny parts of a computer known as “silicon chips”.ExemplificationvIn some cases, instead of giving a formal definition or explanation, the author may cite an example which is sufficient to throw light

20、 on the meaning of the term. Many United Nations employees are polyglots. Ms. Mary, for example, speaks five languages. Synonymyv Synonyms or synonymous expressions are frequently employed by authors to explain new words.Their greatest fear was of a conflagration, since fire would destroy their flimsy wooden settlement before help could arrive.AntonymyvContrasting words or statements are also commonly used to explain unknown words。As the fighting on all fronts reached its peak, the economy neared its nadir. HyponymyvSuperordinates and subordinates often defi