Word-meaning-and-context

WordmeaningandcontextInlinguistics,contextcarriestremendousimportanceindisambiguationofmeaningsaswellasinunderstandingtheactualmeaningofwords.Therefore,understandingthecontextbecomesanimportanttaskintheareaofappliedlinguistics,computationallinguistics,lexicalsemantics,cognitivelinguistics,aswellasinotherareasoflinguisticsascontexttriggersvariationofmeaningandsuppliesvaluableinformationtounderstandwhyandhowaparticularwordvariesinmeaningwhenusedinapieceoftext.Aword,whenusedinapieceoftext,usuallydenotesonlyonemeaningoutofmultiplemeaningsitinherentlycarries.Althoughitisstillunknowntoushowdoesithappen,thegeneralobservationisthatitisthecontextthatdetermineswhichmeaningofthewordshouldbeconsidered.SowehaveknownthatinEnglish,awordhasmanydifferentmeanings.Andthismakesuslanguagelearnersfeelmoredifficult.Thoughthewordisthesame,itisdifferentindifferentcontext.Thatistosay,whatisthemeaningofaworddependsonwhatcontextitbelongsto.ForanEnglishlearner,wecannotonlyknowvocabularies,wealsoneedtoknowhowtoreadanarticlewell.ThatistheaimforuslearningEnglish.Inourtraditionalreadingpattern,wepaytheattentiontothevocabularies,phrases,andthemainmeaningofthepassage,astimegoesby,weformabadhabit,weattachimportancetothereadingskills,anddespisetheEnglishlanguageandknowledge,thiswillweakenourreadingcompetence.Therefore,tolearnEnglishwell,topayattentiontothewordmeaningisnecessary.LikeChinese,Englishisakindoffixablelanguage,thefuzzinessandvacillationofthislanguage.Whenwearereading,inordertosuppressaboveinterference,wemustsetapieceofconceptionaboutthepassageweread,andthenfindoutwhatcontextisaboutthepassage.Sowecangiveafoundationtotheword,andthenmakethewordmeaningclearanddefinite.Taketheword“position”foranexample,ithasthemeaning“thewaysomeoneisstanding,sitting,orlying”,italsohasthemeaning“thesituationthatsomeoneisin,especiallywhenthisaffectswhattheycanandcannotdo”,andthemeaning“theplacewheresomeoneorsomethingis,especiallyinrelationtootherobjectsandplaces”,andsoon.BeijinguniversityprofessorWangFengjingsaysitatleasehastenmeaningsinthephrase“whatisyourposition”.Todecidewhatthemeaningis,weneedtoconfirmwhatthecontextitisin.Soweknowthatdifferentcontextshapesdifferentmeaningofaword.Theyaretotallydifferentindifferentcontext.Themeaningofasentencecomesfromlanguageitself,andtheuncertaintyofthelanguageleadstoambiguityofthesentence.Buttheambiguitycanbeeliminatedbycontextsituation.Insituationalcontext,theatmosphereandnatureoftimethatapassageproduces,alsocanclearupthemeaningofaword.Lookatthissentence“Hewaitedformebythebank．”Thefirstimpressionwegetistheword“bank”isabusinessthatkeepsandlendsmoneyandprovidesotherfinancialservices.Butifthefollowingsentenceis“Andheenjoyedthesceneryaroundhim.”Thenweknowtheword“bank”actuallymeansapiecelandalongthesideofariverorlake.Sowhenwefeelconfused,wecanpayattentiontocontext,makethewordmeaningmoreclear.Ontheotherhand,whenauthorswrite,theyoftenincludecontextcluestothemeaningofwordstheyusebutthinkthatsomeoftheirreadersmaynotknow.Thuswhenwearereadinganarticle,wecouldmeetsomenewwords.Thisisageneralphenomenon.Infact,whilewearereading,wecan’tunderstandeverywordinapassage.Somelanguagelearnerswilllookupthenewwordsinadictionary,butitcanbewastingtime,andreducetheaccuracy.Nowthemosteffectivewayisguessing.weoughttoguessthestrangewordsaccordingtothecontext.Whenwecometoanewword,wecansometimesfigureoutwhatthewordmeansbythinkingaboutthewordsaroundit.Wordsthatgiveuscluesaboutwhatthenewwordmeansarecalledcontextcluesbecausetheygiveuscluesaboutmeaningsofnewwords.Sometimesthecontextcluescomebeforethenewwordandsometimestheycomeafterit.Wemayfindadefinitionofthenewwordinthesentenceorparagraph.Asentencemighthaveawordthatmeanstheoppositeofthenewword(antonym),andsometimesasynonym,orwordthatmeansthesamethingasthenewword,willgiveusaclue.Thecontextclueisusuallypresentedinthesentenceorparagraphinwhichthewordoccurs.Sometimesavisualsuchasapictureisprovided.Forexample,Readthissentence:Theydrovetheirbrightnewredvehicletothepark.Youmightnotknowthewordvehicle,buttheworddroveisacluethatvehiclecouldmeanacar.Inthissentencethecontextcluecomesbeforethenewword.Readthesentenceagainusingthewordcarinsteadofvehicletoseeifthewordmakessense.Sowordmeaningandcontextarecloselyrelated.Inourreading,wecanjustmemorizethesinglemeaning,weneedtonoticethecontext,foritwilldousgreatfavorinreadingandcomprehension.Ifweknowdifferentmeaningsofaword,wecanconfirmitsmeaningfromthecontext,andifwedon’tknowanymeaningofanewword,wealsocaninferitfromcontextclues.Thinkaboutthecontextisanimportantstrategyforlanguagelearners.