语用学中的语境

语境研究概述张建萍201021003010一、ContextThetermisderivedfromLatincontextus,whichmeanstoweavetogether.Inanow一obsoleteusage，itreferredtotheweavingtogetherofwordsoracontinuousdiscourseproducedbytheweaving.Italsoreferredtothewordsthathelpdeterminethemeaningofawordorpassagetheysurround.Butthemeaningconcerningusisobviouslybroaderandmuchmoregeneral.Sincethereareanumberofdisciplines，suchas，philosophy，logic，sociolinguisticssemantics，pragmatics，thathavelongbeenassociatedwithitandhavetakenupthecontextasatopicofgreatimportance.Therefore,thecontextismuchtappedintobyscholarsinthesefields.Contextisanimportantconceptinthedomainofpragmatics.Contextisaprerequisitetounderstandandinterpretlanguage.Withouttheanalysisofcontext,thestudiesofotherfieldsthatarerelatedtoitwillnotbeall-round.Iwillgiveabriefreviewoftheresearchesoncontextsinceitsproducing.二、ForeignScholars’ViewonContext2.1AnthropologicalviewofthecontextMalinowski,thegreatpolish-bornanthropologist,whoisthefatherofmodernanthropologyfirstputforwardterm“contextofsituation”inhisarticleTheProblemofMeaninginPrimitiveLanguagewrittenin1923,andstressedtheneedtointerpretspeechinitscontextofsituation:“Exactlyasintherealityofspokenorwrittenlanguages,awordwithoutlinguisticcontextisamerefigmentandstandsfornothingbyitself,sointherealityofaspokenlivingtongue,theutterancehasnomeaningexceptinthecontextofsituation”(Malinowski1923:307).2.2LondonSchool’sviewofthecontextMalinowski’snotionofcontextofsituationwasacceptedandelaboratedbyoneofhiscolleaguesFirthwhotookoverMalinowski’scontextofsituationandextendedittolinguistics.Hebelievedthatitisneeessarytoplacetheutteranceinthe“socialcontext”，andtogeneralizethemeaningsinspecified“socialcontexts”.Hestated:“voicesshouldnotbeentirelydisassociatedfromthesocialcontextinwhichtheyfunction(Firth1957:226)andsuggestedthatcontextofsituationisbestusedas“asuitableschematicconstructtoapplytolanguageevents.In1950,hemadeadetailedexpositionaboutcontextinhisbookPersonalityandLanguageinSociety.HefurtherpointedoutthatMalinowski’sconceptionofthecontextofsituationwasnotquiteadequateforthepurposeoflinguistictheory,becauseitwasnotgeneralenough.Heclassifiedcontextintolinguisticcontextandcontextofsituation.Firth’sownlinguistictheorywasbuiltintobyfurtheringthestudyofcontext.2.3FunctionalviewofthecontextAsoneofFirth’sstudents,M.A.KHallidayfurtherdevelopsthetheoryofsituationintowhatisknownasregistertheory,whichcanbedescribedasaframeworkofthreedimensions:fieldofdiscourse,tenorofdiscourse,modeofdiscourse.Heproposeshisownopiniononthenotion.Thefieldofdiscoursereferstowhatishappening,includingthesocialaction,languageuserandtheprocessoftheinteraction.Tenoristherelationbetweenparticipants,or“whoaretakingpart”.Modemeanswhatitisthattheparticipantsexpectthelanguagetodofortheminthesituation.Hallidayclaims,“itrequiresaninterpretationnotonlyofthetextitselfbutalsoofitscontext,andofthesystematicrelationshipbetweencontextandtext”(Halliday2000:41).Hallidayemphasizedtheimportanceofcontextstudy,hesaid:“thecontextofculturedeterminesthenatureoftheCode.Asalanguageismanifestedthroughitstext,acultureismanifestedthroughitssituation;sobyattendingtotext-in-situationachildconstruesthecode,andbyusingthecodetointerprettextheconstruestheculture.Thusfortheindividual,thecodeengenderstheculture;andthisgivesapowerfulinertiatothetransmissionprocess”(Halliday2000:57).2.4SociolinguisticviewofthecontextTheAmericansociallinguistHymesfurtherdevelopedthetheoryof“context”.Hymesconsidersacontextconstructedof16componentsin8“categories”inModelsoftheInteractionofLanguageandSocialSetting.Hymes(1972)devisedhisownsetoffactorstodescribethecontextofsituationforthespeechevent.HenamedthemusingtheacronymsSPEAKINGasthefollowing:actsituation,participants,ends,actsequence,keys(mannerofspirit),instrumentalities,normsandgenres.Hymes(1962)states:“Theuseofalinguisticformidentifiesarangeofmeanings.Acontextcansupportarangeofmeanings.Whenaformisusedincontext,iteliminatesthemeaningspossibletothatcontextotherthanthosetheformcansignal:thecontexteliminatesfromconsiderationthemeaningspossibletotheformotherthanthecontextcansupport”.Hymes’notionofthecontexthavesomesimilaritieswiththatofHalliday.Itisconcernedwithwhatdeterminestheappropriatenessoftheutterancesintheparticularcontext.2.5SemanticviewofthecontextLyonsputforwardthatcontextistheoreticalconcept,allkindsoffactorsthatconstructcontextisabstractfromspecificcontextbylinguists,whichsystematicallydecidetheformofdiscourse,appropriatenessofdiscourseormeaningofdiscourseofinfluenceonparticipantsoflanguageactivity(He2002:180-205).Languagesystemitselfisanobjectiveexistencewhichprovidesaseriesoflanguageformforlanguageuser,includingallkindsofphonologicalforms,syntacticformandlexicalforms.Thelanguageabilitytolanguageuserdecideshimtomastertheseforms.Lyonsthoughtthataspeakercanjudgeappropriatenessofdiscoursecorrectlyliesinhisknowledge,whichisspecificreflectionofcontext,orwhichconstructscontext.Lyonsillustrateshisnotionofthecontextbyintroducing6kindsofknowledgeinhisSemantics（1977）.Heliststhecomponentsofcontextareasfo