Two Linguistic Context, Pragmatic Context, Mental Context: Meaning Construction AND INTERPRETATION via Contextualization

LAszlo Imre Komlosi

University of Pecs, Hungary and Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra,

Slovakia

“Context is a psychological construct.” (Sperber and Wilson 1986: 15)

Abstract

The concept of meaning construction via contextualization presumes a distinction in the study of natural language use between fixed meanings residing in the mental lexicon and constructed or otherwise inferred meanings negotiated in verbal interaction. The result of combining fixed or coded meanings with constructed meanings will be manifest in the practice of situated language use.

The chapter attempts to clarify first the conceptual differences between situations and contexts by analysing the ontological and epistemological commitments underlying the use of these two notions. However, the main focus of the analysis is the notion of context whose exploration is carried out by a profound conceptual analysis of the many uses of the term.