The
Importance
of
Context
So why have we assumed that the conversation between these two is about sexual attraction? Well, it is probably the context. The fact that they are in a remote spot – a spot perhaps which
has been deliberately chosen because what they have to say is private. Perhaps because of the way the girl is leaning in towards the boy: there is something conspiratorial about this, and maybe indicative of a more than usual closeness. Finally the boy’s grumpy expression. Such an expression is not one generally used when being polite to a stranger.
Actually, in spite of all these contexts, we are still dealing with pure speculation. But it does show that communicating meaning through language is not just about the words (morphemes), and not just about the ways in which they are grouped together (phrase structure), but about the place in which they are used.
In this module, we will be exploring this idea further through what the linguist Paul Grice has referred to as the co-operative principle of language, which outlines how the way we communicate in conversation is based on specific contextual assumptions.