WEEK 3: context

Question 1

What is context?

Answer 1

Internal selection of circumstances represented in the mind - our mind chooses what is important in the interpretation of the message

Question 2

What types of context do we have? What they signify?

Answer 2

1. Extralinguistic context
   - external factors that influence communicational behaviour in a given situation
   - context of culture and situation
2. Linguistic context
   - context inside the discourse, refers to connection between the words, phrases, sentences,…

Question 3

What are the types of extralinguistic context?

Answer 3

1. Singular situational
   - utterance has meaning only in given context and no other (Pooh discovered North Pole)
2. Typical situational
   -utterance which may violate rules of given language, acquires specific situation in which it is pronounced
   (MALE SEEKS WOMAN)
3. Social historical
   - context of culture, change in social and historical context
   - leads to change in text interpretation

Question 4

How to analyse context?

Answer 4

1. Setting
2. Time and aspect
3. Mode (medium)
4. Participants
5. Topic/ themes
6. Purpose
7. Dynamics
8. Genre

Question 5

What is conventionalization? What is it based on?

Answer 5

Implicit contract in a community of language variety users that certain expressions will mean certain things when used in certain combination under certain social conditions

Based on:
Evaluative attitudes - better, worse
Language change in diachrony - depends on historical development of a language, changes in meaning

Question 6

What is standard language?

Answer 6

Prescriptive, idealized variety of a language, considered dominant/prestige variety within language
(Theory)

Question 7

What is language variation?

Answer 7

It is the language in practice

Question 8

What is a dialect?

Answer 8

Speech habits characteristic of geographical area or region, or specific social group

Question 9

What are the types of dialect?

Answer 9

1. Regional
2. Sociolect
3. Ethnolect

and accent + idiolect