词汇学context.ppt

Session 8
Context,
Ambiguity and Vagueness
English Lexicology
Autumn Semester
Prior Knowledge
?
What is polysemy?
?
What is homonymy?
?
What are the different types of homonyms?
?
What are seen as the
sources
of homonyms?
Discuss:
How can perfect homonymy
be distinguished from polysemy?
Key points
?
Sources of homonyms:
1. converging sound development
2. diverging sense development
3. foreign influence
back
?
First, they are different with respect to the
definition
.
?
Second, shared
etymology
(historical
origin) is a criterion to distinguish
polysemy from homonymy.
?
Third, the missing or existing
relatedness
of different meanings
is another criterion
to distinguish them.
back
Who is John?
?
John was on the bus on his way to
school.
?
He was worried about controlling the
math class.
?
The teacher should not have asked him
to do so.
?
It was not a proper part of a janitor's job.
Context and its Roles
?
Context is of great importance for the
understanding of word meaning,
especially for the understanding of the
meaning of polysemic words.
Topics:
Types of Contexts and their Definitions
Roles of Context
Types of Context and their Definitions
?
The term “context” is no longer restricted to what
immediately
precedes and follows the word in
question
, but may cover the whole passage and
sometimes the whole book in which a word occurs,
and in some cases even
the entire social or
cultural setting
which may
have a direct bearing
on
word meaning (
张韵斐
, 2004:152)
?
Context is known to include
linguistic (verbal)
context
and
extra-linguistic (nonverbal) context
.
Linguistic Context
?
Linguistic context refers to all the
linguistic units ( a word, phrase, sentence,
paragraph, passage, etc.) that go before
(precede) or come after (follow) the word
in question.
?
Linguistic context is subdivided into two
types: the
lexical context
, and the
grammatical context
.