-
Essay / Importance of Context in Context - 2457
DA and Context (introduction in chronological order)The term context is used daily in every possible aspect of our lives. In linguistic analysis, context is used in almost every possible situation to broaden the scope of linguistic description. The term context, used in language analysis, dates back to Malinowski, who wanted to illustrate how code works in contexts of use. He invoked the notion of context to explain the way in which language…functioned as a “mode of action.” As Malinowski suggests, “the meaning of a word depends to a very large extent on its context” (1923: 306). The interpretation of a sentence is an important factor when examined through the prism of context and since the early 1950s, linguists have become increasingly aware of this importance. JR Firth, considered the founder of modern British linguistics, notes that logicians view words and propositions as carrying meaning in themselves and that this meaning is "independent of the participants in the context of the situation" ( 1957: 226). This approach seems to exclude speakers and listeners, thinks Firth, who suggests that "voices should not be entirely divorced from the social context in which they function." Firth's suggestion was to view all texts in modern spoken languages as having an "involvement of utterance" and the participants as always referred to in a "generalized context of situations" (1957: 226). Firth is interested in the integration of the utterance into the "social context", which Hymes would later argue in his works of the early 1960s. Hymes treats the role of context in interpretation and analysis as a aspect that limits the range of possible interpretations and at the same time supports...... middle of article ...... says that context is crucial. But how and why is this crucial? Which aspects of context are applicable to which types of text? If contextual features are activated interdependently in an analysis, then an alteration of one of these features will automatically emphasize the importance of the others. Nevertheless, the problem arises as to what type of linguistic analysis of text should provide a more solid basis for interpretation. Interpretation is therefore the procedure of developing a discourse from a text. Interpretation will constantly depend on the connection between text and context. No matter how careful the analysis of a specific text, the textual features must be contextually relevant. If this is the case, then we need to study how different contexts can influence the same text and give rise to different interpretations...