Comprehension of Word Meaning through Context

陳 櫻

Abstract:Context plays a very important part in the understanding of word meaning. This paper contributes to an understanding of word meaning, context, their close relationship and the impact of context on word meaning. It mainly discusses the relationship between context and the denotative meaning, connotative meaning and figurative meaning of words. Context helps to choose the right dictionary meaning, to convey emotional overtones and to understand the figurative meaning. Senior English learners should carefully consider the effects of context on word meaning and apply them to the understanding and appreciation of various literary works, which would help to improve their abilities to learn a foreign language.

Key Words:word meaning context senior English learning

I. Introduction

As English learners of the senior stage, we have passed the stage of seeing English merely as a set of grammatical, semantic and phonological rules. It is a fact that we have mastered most of these rules and a fairly large number of vocabularies. However, we are less successful in the understanding and appreciation of various literary works. We are still vague about the exact meaning of words in context. While reading a text, most learners often attach one meaning in a dictionary entry to the word in context at will, without concerning the relationship between words and context. As a matter of fact, word meaning is closely related to context. The relationship between word meaning and context plays a very important role in senior English learning.

II. Definition of Word Meaning and Context

According to different perspectives, there are different types of word meaning and context. This paper will discuss the denotative meaning, connotative meaning, figurative meaning of words and two types of context, which are closely related to senior English learning.

2.1 Denotative Meaning

Denotative meaning is sometimes called conceptual, cognitive or dictionary meaning. That is to say, it is the extensional meaning of a word. The word “room”, for instance, can be understood by everyone who is engaged in any profession.

2.2 Connotative Meaning

Connotative meaning refers to the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggests in one's mind. It is the supplementary value which is added to the purely denotative meaning of a word. For instance, the denotative meaning of the word “woman” is “female human”, but it generally connotes “frail” “prone to tears” “emotional” “inconstant” “gentle” “compassionate” “hard-working”, etc.

2.3 Figurative Meaning

We know that words are used in two ways: literally and figuratively. When used literally, they have their natural and usual meaning. When used figuratively, they have a non-literal, suggested meaning. When words used figuratively, they can achieve great effectiveness. People always use figures of speech by words to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create atmosphere. Take a sentence as an example, “Imperialism is a paper tiger.” is an expression more suggestive of outward ferocity and inner weakness than the literal statement “Imperialism appears to be strong but inwardly it is weak.”

2.4 Context

Context is one of the most important concepts of pragmatics. Generally speaking, there are two types of context: linguistic and non-linguistic context. Talking about context, we usually think of linguistic context. In a narrow sense, it consists of the lexical items that come immediately before and after any word in an act of communication, but modern linguists have considerably broadened its scope, and have also probed deeply into its influence on word meaning. It may extend to embrace a paragraph, a whole chapter and even the entire book.

III. Relationship between Word Meaning and Context

So far, we have discussed three main types of word meaning and two types of context. As a matter of fact, word meaning depends on context. Different contexts give words different meanings. As we know, “Polysemy is a universal feature of all languages, including the English language.” A word which has a range of different meanings is called polysemy. Such a word can express different meanings in different contexts. For example, the word “fair” has various meanings: “(of attitude, behavior) just and honest, impartial”; “(of results) average, quite good”; “(of the skin, hair) clear and sunny”; “clean, clear, without blemish”.

As most words have more than one meaning, it is often impossible to tell the meaning of a word until it is used in discourse. The meaning of the word one wants to know is defined by context. “Without context, there is no way to determine the meaning that the writer intends to convey, whereas with context there is generally no danger of misinterpretation, for meaning lives in context and the context throws light on meaning.”

IV. Impact of Context on Word Meaning

Most English learners may have such an experience that, while reading a text, they usually read word by word. When they meet with unfamiliar words, they stop to consult a dictionary or word list and then attach one meaning to the word at will. While this may initially seem to be a reasonable reading habit, it can actually hinder the full understanding of the text.

4.1 Choosing the Right Dictionary Meaning

As mentioned above, “In English, polysemy is the rule, but monosemy is the exception.” When a word with multiple meanings is used in context, it has a different meaning. For example:

(1) But the cars wouldn't start; the electrical systems had been killed by water.

According to the context, the cars wouldn't start because the electrical systems of them had been doused by water. In this sentence, the word “kill” does not mean “cause death”. It is an informal colloquial expression, which can be interpreted as “put out, stop or fail”.

(2) Still without speaking, the detective licked his lips. His beady eyes, as if unbelieving, were focused upon the Duchess's own. The silence hung.

If we consult the dictionary, we may feel dizzy. Altogether there are eleven main meanings of“hang”. Only the actual situation can decide the exact meaning. According to the context, the detective was struck dumb with surprise when the Duchess offered an unbelievable sum of money to him. He licked his lips and lost in deep thought without speaking. All the people were silent, waiting for his reply. So the meaning of the word “hang” can be interpreted as “remain in the air”.

(3) Trying to reason out the best course of action...

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course...

In the first sentence, “course” means “a way of acting or proceeding”. In the second sentence, it means “situation”. The exact meaning of the word is defined by the context of “action” and “nation”.

After comparing the above sentences, we can have a better understanding of the effect of context on choosing the exact meaning of a word. The context often makes the meaning of a polysemous word so certain that we do not think of the fact that it has different senses. In the ordinary course of daily life, with the help of dictionaries and the recognition of the relationship between words and context, we may find the right meaning of a word in a dictionary and then apply it to the context in which the writer requires to express.

4.2 Conveying Emotional Overtones

Context can decide the emotive side of word meaning — connotative meaning, with the exception of those words that have effective meaning as part of word meaning. Practically, every emotionally neutral lexical item can acquire emotional overtones in certain context. When we are reading, we are required to“read between the lines”. That is to say, words have their shade of meanings, and context can help to decide the meanings behind the simple but forceful words. For example, ordinary verbs like “rise, sweat, starve, sink back” are often used in a neutral way; yet they might acquire emotional overtones, as in the following sentence: “They rise out of the earth; they sweat and starve for a few years, and then they sink back into the nameless mounds of the graveyard and nobody notices that they are gone.” This sentence can be interpreted as “They are born. Then for a few years they work, toil and starve. Finally, they die and are buried in graves without a name.” People in Marrakech live in a poor situation. They work with their hands, but they are not treated as human beings and partly invisible. Those simple verbs “rise, sweat, sink back” give a deep impression of how these people live a short and miserable life.

4.3 Understanding the Figurative Meaning

As we have mentioned, a word has its reflected meaning. What is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression is called reflected meaning. This is always achieved by using figures of speech, which can make our language figurative. We may have such an experience that, if we come across a figure of speech separated from the context, we are hardly able to understand what the writer is driving at. For instance, when we want to convey the idea that two nations are in a stalemate, we used “deep freeze” to make a comparison — “Their relations with the country are still in deep freeze.” Another example is that, when we want to describe one's frankness, we use “straight-arrow” — “Ford is straight-arrow all the way. When he finds Kissinger expendable, the secretary will be the first to know.” Without the context, “deep freeze” and “straight-arrow” cannot succeed in conveying the reflected meanings so vividly through such simple expressions.

In the course of English learning, we may come across a great number of figures of speech by words. Only with the help of context can we make a full understanding of the meaning that the writer wants to express, and can we appreciate literary works more vividly and more effectively. The following examples are the best demonstrations of this impact.

(1) The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere, and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glow.

The conversation was on wings.

The above two sentences are metaphors. In the first sentence, the writer compares “conversation” to “a stream which meanders and leaps” and “fire which glows and sparkles”. Obviously, it is a more vivid description. In the second one, the“conversation” has been compared to a bird and becomes “a bird flying and soaring”.

(2) ... men's final release from earthly struggles...

With the help of the context, we can easily find it a euphemism. It is a pleasant saying of “death” to avoid mentioning directly for fear of hurting other people's feelings.

So far we have discussed several types of figures of speech by words used in context. In the course of English learning, we are likely to come across many types of figures of speech. We should be always aware that the full understanding of these figures of speech only comes with the full understanding of the context, and in turn, the full understanding of the whole context depends on the full understanding of word meaning. They are interdependent.

V. Conclusion

The understanding of word meaning plays an important part in senior English learning. How to develop the ability to analyze and use English words is a major concern to most of the English learners. Senior English learners should try to improve their ability to link word meaning with context and apply it in their further study of English. This will help them to understand and appreciate various literary works more fully and more effectively. And it is the basic ability to learn a foreign language. It will help to develop other relevant abilities in English language learning.

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