Context & Meaning
----0404 Cici Vera Season
It is a difficult operation.
1. A surgical operation performed on a human being
or an animal;
2. A strategic movement of troops and ships;
3. A financial transaction;
4. Something related to mathematics;
5. The way a machine works.
What is context?
A: In a narrow sense
It refers to the words, clauses, sentences in
which a word appears.
This is known as linguistic context or co-text
which may cover a paragraph, a whole
chapter and even the entire book.
B: In a broad sense
It includes the physical situation as well,
which embraces the people, time, place,
and even the whole cultural background.
It is called extra-linguistic or
non-linguistic context
Types of context
Two types of context:
Linguistic context
Extra-linguistic context
a. situational context
b. cultural context
Extra-linguistic context
context — the time, place,
participants and their relationship.
 Cultural context — the whole culture
background (the social custom shared by
people of a certain speech community,
including politics, economy, philosophy,
technology, history, etc.)
 Situational
Situational context
In different situations (time, place, etc.), the
same utterance may have different
meanings. E.g.
It is time to go aboard.
Example1
John is like a fish.
Situation A: It is said when John is swimming.
Interpretation: John swims well.
Situation B: It is said at a party.
Interpretation: John drinks a lot of wine.
Situation C: It is said when people discuss about
John’s character.
Interpretation: John is as cold as a fish. (indifferent)
Example 2
Mary: Can you open the door?
Jack: Yes, I can.
If Jack goes to open the door after this, then the word
CAN indicates a request.
If Jack doesn’t go to open the door after this, then the
word CAN indicates a kind of ability. Then the
Jack’s answer is an indirect refusal.
Example3
The classroom is noisy, the students are in a mess.
The teacher comes in,
Teacher: Order!
A student: Beer!
All of the students burst into laughter.
The naughty student misunderstands the
teachers’ meaning deliberately.
Example 4
The oldest abolitionist in the House of Commons
(A.废奴主义者, B.废除主义者,C.主张废除死刑者)
If this phrase is put in the context of 1960s in England,
the word abolitionist means a person who favors
abolition of capital punishment (主张废除死刑的人)
If this phrase is put in the context of 1920s in America,
then an abolitionist is a person who favors abolition
of wine-prohibition. (主张废除禁酒法令的人)
Cultural context
In different cultures, the same lexical
term may not mean the same thing to
people of different culture backgrounds.
Example1
Dog in different cultures
In English culture:
“Love me, love my dog.”（爱屋及乌）
“a lucky dog” （指称幸运儿）
“Every dog has its day.”（人人皆有得意日）
In Chinese culture:
“狗头军师”、“狼心狗肺”、““狗急跳墙”、
“狗仗人势”、“狗拿耗子”、“狗胆包天”、“狗
腿子”、“狗日的”、“狗嘴里吐不出象牙”、“癞
皮狗”以及“狗改不了吃屎”等等,把天下所有的狗
都骂了个“ 狗血淋头”。
Bear
In Chinese culture ---- stupidity, clumsiness
In Russian culture ---- friendliness
Calf
In Chinese culture ---- “初生牛犊不怕虎”
In English culture ---- stupid young people
Red vs. 红色
In English culture ---- misfortune, cruelty, disaster,
passion, violence, etc.
have red hands(犯杀人罪)
red tape(官样文章)
painted the town red(狂欢、胡闹)
waving a red flag (to irritate sb.)
In Chinese culture --- symbol of revolution, good luck
王维的诗《相思》:“红豆生南国,春来发几枝,愿君多采
撷,此物最相思。”因此,“红豆”的英译不是red pea,而
是love pea。
Individualism vs.个人主义
In western culture:
doing things in their own way, not imitating
others, pursuing uniqueness and fulfilling
personal values.
In Chinese culture:
selfishness, pursuing personal benefit.
Example 2
I was not Pygmalion, I was Frankenstein.
In Greek Mythology, Pygmalion is a sculpture who
created a beauty and falls in love with her.
 Frankenstein is the hero of the novel Frankenstein
written by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
He was killed by a monster which was created by
himself.
 (我不是一个像皮格马利翁那样创造美，享受美的人；
而是一个像弗兰克斯坦那样自食恶果的人。)

Why “swan”?
Shakespeare is called “the Swan of Avon”.
Why should it be “swan”, but not eagle or
pigeon or something else?
Because swan can refer to an excellent poet,
writer or singer.
Thank you!