Unit 26

●● Role of Context
　　8.2 The Role of Context
　　 Having discussed the different types of context and their relative importance, now we should look into the actual functions of context. But in this section we shall confine ourselves to verbal context only. Context has two major functions:
●●● Elimination of Ambiguity
　　8.2.1 Elimination of Ambiguity
　　 Ambiguity often arises due to polysemy and homonymy. When a word with multiple meanings is used in inadequate context, it creates ambiguity, e.g.
[44] He is a hard businessman.
　　The word hard in this context can mean both 'hard-working' and 'difficult'. The context fails to narrow down the meaning so that it is difficult for the reader to decide what exactly the speaker means. But there would be no misunderstanding if the original sentence is extended as 'He is a hard businessman to deal with.' Now compare the following two sentences and see the effect of context in eliminating ambiguity:
[45a] John ran the egg and spoon race.
[45b] John ran the egg and spoon race and won second place.
　　 The first sentence is quite ambiguous because we have no way to determine whether John 'participated' in the race or 'organised' the race as the word run can mean both. Contrastingly, the second sentence is definite and leaves us no doubt that John took part in the race personally because he got second place.
　　 Homonymy is another cause of ambiguity as two separate words share the same form, e.g.
[46] They saw her duck.
[47] The ball was attractive.
　　 In each case we can make two different senses depending on our interpretation of the words duck and ball. Duck can be understood as a noun meaning a 'kind of poultry' or as a verb meaning 'lower one's head or body quickly, dodge'. Both fit in the syntactic structure of the sentence. Similarly, ball may mean a 'round object to play in a game' as well as a 'dancing party'. Grammatically, the usage is perfectly all right. This ambiguity can only be eliminated by altering the context a little as 'They saw her duck swimming in the river' in the first case or as 'The ball was attractive with nice music and a lot of people' in the second case.
　　 Grammatical structure can also lead to ambiguity, e.g.
[48] The fish is ready to eat.
[49] I like Mary better than Jean.
　　 On a grammatical basis, both sentences can have two different interpretations. The first sentence may mean 'The fish is cooked or served, so ready for people to eat' or 'The fish is ready to eat things.' However, in the context of 'What a nice smell! The fish is ready to eat', fish definitely means the former. The second sentence can be regarded as an elliptical one, which gives rise to ambiguity: 'I like Mary better than I like Jean or I like Mary better than Jean like Mary.' To achieve clarity, we can either say 'I like Mary better than Jean does or I like Mary better than I do Jean or I like Mary better as Jean is untidy', etc.
　　 The shooting of the hunter was horrible.
　　 (The hunter shot something in a horrible way.
　　 The hunter was shot in a horrible way.)
●●● Indication of Referents
　　8.2.2 Indication of Referents
　　 English has a large number of words such as now/then, here/there, I/you, this/that, which are often used to refer directly to people, time, place, etc. Without clear context, the reference can be very confusing. For example, the word now always means the time of speaking, naturally referring to a past time when the speech took place in the past or a present moment if the person is speaking. It is the same with all referring expressions. Even a phrase like the Prime Minister may bring about ambiguity without adequate verbal context, for it can be used to refer to any of the Prime Ministers in British history.
●●● Provision of Clues
　　8.2.3 Provision of Clues for Inferring Word-meaning
　　 Context may prove extremely valuable in guessing the meanings of new words. In many cases, when a new word (thought to be) appears for the 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:
　　 1) Definition.
　　 Often we find that the author gives formal definition immediately after the new term, e.g.
[50] Perhaps the most startling theory to come out of kinesics, the study of body movement, was suggested by Professor Bird-whistell.
　　 2) Explanation.
　　 If 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 restatement in known words e.g.
[51] It's just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors--those tiny parts of a computer commonly known as 'silicon chips'.
　　 3) Example.
　　 In some cases, instead of giving a formal definition or explanation, the author may cite an example which is sufficient to throw light on the meaning of the term, e.g.
[52] Many United Nations employees are polyglots. Ms Mary, for example, speaks five languages.
　　 4) Synonymy.
　　 Synonyms or synonymous expressions are frequently employed by authors to explain new words, e.g.
[53] Their greatest fear was of a conflagration, since fire would destroy their flimsy wooden settlement before help could arrive.
　　 5) Antonymy.
　　 Contrasting words or statements are also commonly used to explain unknown words, e.g.
[54] As the fighting on all fronts reached its peak, the economy neared its nadir.
　　 6) Hyponymy.
　　 Superordinates and subordinates often define and explain each others, thus forming an important context clue, e.g.
[55] The village had most of the usual amenities: a pub, a library, a post office, a village hall, a medical centre, and a school.
　　 Of course, only by hyponyms, we may not get the exact meaning. For example, pub does not tell us exactly what amenity means, but we know at least that it belongs to the same category as the rest and this is adequate because in real situation often a general idea is sufficient.
　　 7) Relevant details.
　　In some contexts, the author provides details relating to the unknown word, such as the functions, characteristics, nature, etc. of the referent, e.g.
[56a] 'Do get me a clop,' she said, smacking her lips, but her brother, with a scornful glance up at the branches, said that there were none ripe yet.
[56b] In spite of the fact that the fishermen were wearing sou'westers, the storm was so heavy that they were wet through.
　　 In sentence [56a], though the author did not explain what clop was, yet the key words such as smacking her lips, branches, ripe form a frame of reference for us, implying it is something eatable which can be obtained from trees when ripe. Likewise, the contextual details in sentence [56b] give sufficient hints for the word sou'wester, something worn by people in storms. The meaning becomes clear.
　　 8) Word structure.
　　 The morphemic structure of words, especially compounds and derived words offers clues for inferring the meanings of unknown words, e.g.
[57] Copernicus believed in a heliocentric universe, rather than in the geocentric theory.
　　 If we know the form geo- as in geology or geography as well as the fact that it is used in contrast to helio-, we should not have much difficulty in guessing the meanings of heliocentric and geocentric with the help of our historical knowledge of Copernicus' contribution (See Word-formation).