Context in language is what surrounds a word or piece of text . In order to understand what words mean, we have to know something about the situation where they are used. ... So the context is what goes with a text (written or spoken) which helps the reader (or listener) understand the communication.
What is the relationship between language and context?
Social context recognises that people use language and that language is a part of society. Social context tries to describe, and account for, the different ways that different people use language. Social context looks at relationships between language and society and looks at language as people use it.
What is an example of a context?
(linguistics) The text in which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning. ... An example of context is the words that surround the word “read” that help the reader determine the tense of the word . An example of context is the history surrounding the story of Shakespeare’s King Henry IV.
Why is context important in language?
It is widely accepted that language requires context in order to function as communication between speakers and listeners . As listeners, we make use of background knowledge — about the speaker, about entities and concepts, about previous utterances — in order to infer the speaker’s intended meaning.
What is an example of linguistic context?
Linguistic context refers to the context within the discourse, that is, the relationship between the words, phrases, sentences and even paragraphs. Take the word “bachelor” as an example. ... Linguistic context can be explored from three aspects: deictic, co-text, and collocation.
What do we mean by language variation?
The term linguistic variation (or simply variation) refers to regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways that a particular language is used . Variation between languages, dialects, and speakers is known as interspeaker variation.
What is language and society in sociolinguistics?
1. Language and society. Language is both a system of communication between individuals and a social phenomenon . The area of language and society – sociolinguistics – is intended to show how our use of language is governed by such factors as class, gender, race, etc.
What is context in simple words?
1 : the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning . 2 : the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs : environment, setting the historical context of the war.
How do you describe context?
Context is the background, environment, setting, framework, or surroundings of events or occurrences . ... This piece of information is called context. Context illuminates the meaning and relevance of the text, and may be something cultural, historical, social, or political.
How do you understand context?
Context = the surrounding circumstances, ideas and words woven together to form the setting or background for an event, statement, or idea. Context—the words or ideas expressed before and after— provides us with the information we need to fully understand, evaluate or interpret the ideas in the passage.
What is context in language learning?
Linguistic context or verbal context refers to the linguistic environment in which a word is used within a text . ... Meaning involves more than the grammatical description and goes beyond the scope of grammar to an understanding of the situational context that involves individual beliefs and knowledge of the world.
How does context change the language?
Within the domains of perception and language, we review neuroimaging results showing that context interacts with stimulus processing, changes activity in classical perception and language regions, and recruits additional brain regions that contribute crucially to naturalistic perception and language.
What is purpose of learning English in the present context?
1. English is the Language of International Communication . Although English is not the most spoken language in the world, it is the official language in 53 countries and is spoken as a first language by around 400 million people worldwide. But that’s not all, it is also the most common second language in the world.
Social context refers to the specific setting in which social interaction takes place. ... For example, a wave or wink in a particular culture or setting may communicate a warm greeting or friendly joke by one definition. In a different social context, however, these actions might signify a completely different message.
What is the use of context?
Context helps readers understand what they otherwise wouldn’t be able to comprehend . It is a much-needed assistant, helping readers define unknown words and make sense of outside information. In writing, it is often necessary to provide new words, concepts and information to help develop a thought.
What are the types of linguistic context?
Linguistic context refers to information that was formerly written or spoken, and situational context is the general knowledge that a person has of the world. Yule (2010) mentions two types of context, linguistic and physical context .
