Contextual enrichment of lexical units in utterance interpretation: Evidence from Chinese and English
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Yongping Ran
Yongping Ran is Professor in the Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Peoples Republic of China. He has published articles and books on pragmatics and discourse analysis in Chinese. He directs the MOE Project on comparative and contrastive lexical pragmatics between Chinese and English. His research has been supported by the MOE Program for “New Century of Excellent Talent in Universities.”
Abstract
The goal of this study is twofold. First, it will focus on the contextual enrichment of lexical units in utterance interpretation and discuss how the semantic multiplicity or underdeteminacy of lexical units is specified in context. It is argued here that relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson 1986/1995; 1998) serves as the most suitable theoretical framework to explain the interplay of lexical units and context. Narrowing and broadening, the two main processes of contextual enrichment, are demonstrated through numerous examples from English and Chinese. Second, the study investigates the role of language and/or culture-specificity in contextual enrichment. Kecskes (2003) has suggested that language and/or culture-specificity is involved as a constraint both in salience and contextual processes. I will argue that cultural knowledge constrains various forms of contextual enrichment, and use Chinese examples to support this hypothesis.
About the author
Yongping Ran is Professor in the Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Peoples Republic of China. He has published articles and books on pragmatics and discourse analysis in Chinese. He directs the MOE Project on comparative and contrastive lexical pragmatics between Chinese and English. His research has been supported by the MOE Program for “New Century of Excellent Talent in Universities.”
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Contextual enrichment of lexical units in utterance interpretation: Evidence from Chinese and English
- A pragmatic reading of Ahmed Yerima's proverbs in Yemoja, Attahiru, and Dry Leaves on Ukan Trees
- A pragmatic analysis of children's interlanguage in EFL preschool contexts
- Meaning merger: Pragmatic inference, defaults, and compositionality
- Interlanguage pragmatics: A response to Andrew Cohen's “Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts” published in Vol. 2, No. 3, of Intercultural Pragmatics
- Book reviews
Articles in the same Issue
- Contextual enrichment of lexical units in utterance interpretation: Evidence from Chinese and English
- A pragmatic reading of Ahmed Yerima's proverbs in Yemoja, Attahiru, and Dry Leaves on Ukan Trees
- A pragmatic analysis of children's interlanguage in EFL preschool contexts
- Meaning merger: Pragmatic inference, defaults, and compositionality
- Interlanguage pragmatics: A response to Andrew Cohen's “Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts” published in Vol. 2, No. 3, of Intercultural Pragmatics
- Book reviews
