Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
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72 Comment The exact context of any utterance can never be speci fied with complete certainty. The notion of context is very flexible (even somewhat vague). Note that facts about times and places very distant from the time and place of the utterance itself can be part of the context of that utterance, if the topic of conversation happens to be about these distant times and places. Thus, for example, facts about certain people in Egypt could well be part of the context of a conversation in Britain five years later. Practice According to the de finition of context, (1) Is the context of an utterance a part of the universe of discourse? Yes / No (2) Is the immediate situation of an utterance a part of its context? Yes / No (3) Draw a diagram with three circles and label the circles ‘universe of discourse’, ‘context of utterance’, and ‘immediate situation of utterance’ in such a way as to indicate what is included in what. Feedback (1) Yes (2) Yes (3) Comment Now we relate the notion of context to the notion of de finiteness. Rule If some entity (or entities) (i.e. person(s), object(s), place(s), etc.) is/are the ONLY entity (or entities) of its/their kind in the context of an utterance, then the de finite article (the) is the appropriate article to use in referring to that entity (or those entities). Practice If I carry on a conversation with a friend about the time, five years earlier, when we first met in Egypt (and we are now holding the conversation in the garden of my house in Britain): (1) Which of the following two utterances would be more appropriate? Circle your answer. (a) ‘Do you remember when we met at the university?’ (b) ‘Do you remember when we met at a university?’ universe of discourse context of utterance immediate situation of utterance U N I T 7 Deixis and definiteness 73 (2) Which of the following two utterances would be more appropriate? (a) ‘Shall we go into a house now?’ (b) ‘Shall we go into the house now?’ (3) In the context we are considering, would it be appropriate to use the referring expression the elephants (as far as you can tell from what we have told you about this context)? Yes / No (4) In this context, would it be appropriate to use the referring expression the printer (again, as far as you can tell)? Yes / No Feedback (1) (a) (2) (b) (3) No (4) No Comment The appropriateness of the de finite article is dependent on the context in which it is used. The expressions judged inappropriate in the previous practice would be quite appropriate in other contexts. Think of such contexts for practice. Contexts are constructed continuously during the course of a conversation. As a conversation progresses, items previously unmentioned and not even associated with the topics so far discussed are mentioned for the first time and then become part of the context of the following utterance. Eventually, perhaps, things mentioned a long time previously in the conversation will ‘fade out’ of the context, but how long it takes for this to happen cannot be speci fied exactly. When something is introduced for the first time into a conversation, it is appropriate to use the inde finite article, a. Once something is established in the context of the conversation, it is appropriate to use the. But the de finite article the is not the only word which indicates de finiteness in English. Definition DEFINITENESS is a feature of a noun phrase selected by a speaker to convey his assumption that the hearer will be able to identify the referent of the noun phrase, usually because it is the only thing of its kind in the context of the utterance, or because it is unique in the universe of discourse. Example That book is de finite. It can only appropriately be used when the speaker assumes the hearer can tell which book is being referred to. The personal pronoun she is de finite. It can only appropriately be used when the speaker assumes the hearer can tell which person is being referred to. tải về 1.74 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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