结合语境理解含义

三、语境的作用

1．消除歧义

国内外许多语言学家都认为要破除影响我们理解歧义障碍的主要关键是语境。如果我们离开语境孤立地看一个词，就很难准确地理解该词的真正含义。例如：the girl’s story这个短语是英语属格结构，它本身的意义是不确定的，与有关人和事件有关系，其意义需要语境来确定，它可以有以下三种含义：the story told by the girl;the story about the girl;the story for the girl。如果我们知道the girl是个聋哑人，就不会理解出第一种意思；如果我们知道the girl的内容是女孩子喜欢的，我们则可以理解出第三种意思；如果我们知道the girl是位传奇人物，那么the girl’s则是第二种意思。因此，the girl’s story的意思的正确理解是要靠语境的帮助来完成的。

语境是一个包容力极强的范畴，它包括语言的上下文，社交语境（交际的时间、地点、话题、说话方式、交际者的地位及相互之间的关系等），文化语境（交际的文化背景），认知语境（语言使用者内在化、认知化了的结构状态）。语境是交际成功的重要保证，是准确理解话语的一把金钥匙。在有限的语境下存在的词汇歧义现象可以通过增加语境信息得到化解（disambiguate）。例如：

The Pearsons are on coke.

其中的on coke含有歧义，如果语境不详，则可以有三种解释：

A：The Pearsons are drinking coca cola.

B：The Pearsons are using cocaine.

C：The Pearsons are having solid-fuel heating.

但是，如果能增加语境信息，我们便可以使歧义得到化解，从而理解出其确切的含义：语境在餐厅里则为A；语境在犯罪团伙的黑窝里则为B；语境在客厅里则为C。

2．为猜词义提供线索

语境往往可以给词义的猜测提供线索，常常我们可以利用的有以下一些。

（1）通过定义或解释

Serendipity is the art of looking for one thing but finding,quite by chance something more valuable.

通过serendipity后面所下的定义我们可以猜出其意义为“偶然发现珍宝的运气”。

A domain can be considered as an area of human activity in which one particular speech variety or a combination of several speech varieties is regularly used.

通过be considered as 可以知道后面的信息是对domain的定义，那么，这里的domain的意思是“语言应用领域”。

Procrastinators are people who have a chronic habit of putting things off,usually until the last minute and sometimes until it is too later altogether.

通过定义我们可以猜出procrastinator的意思是“拖延者”。

In sociological research,a sample means a group of persons selected from the larger population.

从means可知sample的意思为“样本”。

All other birthdays are called sing il（born day）.The sixty-first birthday is called huan gup（beginning of new life）.

句中的sing il和huan gup均为朝鲜词的音译，但通过括号中的定义，我们便能很容易地知道它们的意思分别是“生日”和“新生活的开始”。

The majority of organism are aerobic,that is,they require oxygen to release the energy needed for life functions.

通过that is后面的解释，我们可以推断出aerobic的意思为“需要氧气的”。

In academic writing there is a marked tendency to reify people,that is,to treat them as though they were only impersonal objects and best described by statistics and charts.

句中的reify可以通过that is后面的解释性信息很容易地将其词义确定为“拟物”。

（2）通过同位关系

It’s just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors——those tiny parts of a computer commonly known as“silicon chips”.

通过破折号后的同位语可以猜出microprocessor的意思为“集成电路块”。

Perhaps the most startling theory to come out of kinesics,the study of body movement,was suggested by Professor Birdwhistell.

通过同位语the study of body movement便可以得知kinesics的意思为“身势学”。

Another layer of the earth’s crust is formed of metamorphic rocks：rocks that have been changed,usually by high temperature and pressure within the crust.

通过冒号后面的同位语意可知metamorphic rock 的意思为“变形岩”。

In groups,whether professional or social,often develop their own jargons and distinctive slang,and such social dialects may become so distinctive that one needs to speak of diglossia，two different forms of the same language,as in the case of Black English and standard American English.

通过diglossia后面的同位语可以知道它的意思为“双语体现象”。

Probably the most important psychological function of language is cognition,the use of language to think.

Cognition后面的同位语告诉我们它的意思是“认知”。

（3）通过举例

A tornado can do a lot of damage.For example,in the east of Australia,people talk about a “rain of blood”.This is a tornado picking up red dust and mixing it with water to make red rain.There are even stories about a rain of fish and frogs caused by a tornado sucking them up and then dropping them.

本段通过举例的方式充分说明了tornado是一种卷起灰尘，引起暴风雨等具有巨大毁灭性或破坏性的事物，由此可猜出它的意思是“龙卷风”。

Many United Nations employees are polyglots.Ms Mary,for example,speaks five languages.

通过举例可以知道polyglot的意思是“通晓多种语言的人”。

Select any of these periodicals：Time Magazine,Newsweek,Reader’s Digest or The New Yorker.

从所举例子不难猜出periodical的意思是“期刊、杂志”。

In the corner there may be a Christmas tree with its branches decorated with shining ornaments such as colored lights and glass balls,and sometimes hung with gifts.

通过such as 后面的例子可以猜出ornament的意思是“装饰品”。

The includes poultry for the main course（e.g.chicken,turkey,duck,goose）,salads,breads,and vegetables,and features a variety of desserts,for example,pies,puddings,and ice-cream.

通过e.g.和for example后面的举例不难看出poultry和dessert的意思分别是“家禽”和“甜食”。

（4）通过经验或常识

After the accident,the ship went down so fast that we weren’t able to salvage any of our personal belongings.

从沉船事故的直接或间接经验中可以猜出salvage 的意思为“抢救”。

The door was so slow that I hit my head on the lintel.

根据常识可以猜出lintel的意思为“门楣”。

The tired soldiers trudged through knee-deep mud for hours before they found a dry place to sleep.

根据常识从tired和knee-deep mud这两个信息可以猜出trudge的意思是“walk slowly”。

（5）利用同义关系

On the whole,men hold a higher position in society than women.Because of this status,men enjoy more power than women.

从上下文可以看出status和position具有同义关系，意思是“地位”。

Usually if restaurant food is poorly prepared,I don’t criticize the waiter.Instead,I reprimand the manager.

从don’t和instead可以断定reprimand和criticize具有同义关系，意思是“责备”。

For thousands of years men have looked up at “falling stars”and wondered what they were and where they came from.Today we know that they are not“stars”at all,we call them meteors.

第二句的meteor与第一句的falling star具有同义关系，意思是“流星”。

Behind a second story window I saw the place.It looked huge.In my imagination I saw this massive thing,like a three-story house,taking off to the blue sky.

句中的massive与huge具有同义关系，意思是“巨大的”。

Mother was tall,fat and middle-aged.The principal of the school was an old woman,almost as chubby as Mother,but much shorter.

根据上下文提供的信息，可以判断出chubby与fat具有同义关系，意思是“肥胖”。

Their greatest fear was of a conflagration,since fire would destroy their flimsy wooden settlement before help could arrive.

句中的conflagration与fire构成同义关系，意思是“火灾”。

（6）通过反义关系

Furthermore,language is an open system with overlapping meanings and fuzzy boundaries——the bane of logicians but the delight of poets.

句中的bane和delight构成反义关系，意思是“祸根”。

As the fighting on all fronts reached its peak,the economy neared its nadir.

句中的nadir与peak形成反义关系，意思为“低谷”。

Unlike her gregarious sister,Jane is a shy,unsociable person who does not like going to parties or making new friends.

从unlike可以看出gregarious与unsociable构成反义关系，意思为“爱交际的”。

Although Marsha is fastidious,her twin Marilyn is very careless.

通过although可以知道fastidious与careless具有反义关系，意思为“very careful”。

While I love the film,my husband loathes it.

通过while得知loathe与love构成反义关系，意思为“hate”。

（7）通过上下义关系

The village had most of the usual amenities：a pub,a library,a post office,a village hall,a medical centre,and a school.

句中的amenities 与pub，library，post office，village hall，medical centre和school构成上下义关系，通过下义词的意思便可猜出其上义词amenities的意思是“设施”。

There was a fine rocking-chair that his father used to sit in,a desk where he wrote letters,a nest of small tables and a dark imposing bookcase.Now all this furniture was to be sold,and with it his own past.

句中的furniture与rocking-chair，desk和bookcase构成上下义关系，意思是“家具”。

（8）通过相关细节

In spite of his aged appearance,his movements were spirited as a young man’s.

短语介词的spite of 连接让步状语，对主句意义起反衬作用，使前后两部分形成意义上的对比，因此可得知spirited的意思为“有精神的，朝气蓬勃的”。

The snow was falling.Big flakes drifted with the wind like feathers.

通过与羽毛在风中飘动作比较，结合snow可以得出flake的意思为“雪片”。

The hot-air balloon took off.It was as buoyant in the air as a cork in water.

通过与水中的软木塞进行比较可猜出buoyant的意思为“飘浮的，轻快的”。

He had a wan look.He was so pale and weak that we thought he was ill.

通过阅读wan后面的重述部分，可以得出was的意思是“pale and weak”。

In spite of the fact that the fishermen were wearing sou’westers,the storm was so heavy that they were wet through.

通过对sou’westers 提供的线索，可以知道它指的是人们在暴风雨中穿的东西，即“雨衣”。

In this small volume written by two of Saussure’s students on the basis of classroom notes,a clear distinction is made between diachronic and synchronic,that is between a historical view of the language development and a description of a language at a particular point of time.

根据相关细节可以知道diachronic的意思为“历时的”，synchronic的意思为“共时的”。