The Role of Context in Meaning Construction beyond Semantics to Pragmatics
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Abstract
Many language users tend to undermine the influence context exerts on meaning, which moves meaning from semantics to pragmatics. This study aims at dissecting the role of context in meaning construction. Drawing from observation and secondary data, the study reveals that context determines the meaning of linguistic units (constructions). It plays a very significant role in the way meaning is constructed and understood. Next, there is a great difference between what is said and where it is said. In most cases, speakers’ utterances are understood by listeners based on the context in which the utterances are made. Leaning on socio-cognitive theory of language use, this study postulates that the hearer’s mind is so flexibly elastic enough to construct, accommodate and understand more concepts than language can linguistically do so. The study concludes that the pre-determination of meaning by context shows a convergence between pragmatics and semantics. It recommends that more work should be done as to teach, learn and master the knowledge of context, meaning, context role and the correlation between pragmatics and semantics.
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