On Context Adaptation

In 1923, Malinowski coined the term 'context of situation'. From then on, linguists started taking interested in the research of context. At first, they studied context statically, that is, they only studied the definition and the classification of context. With further research, linguists realized that they should combine context with other linguistics, so they began to use the dynamic way. In 1999, Verschueren mentioned the theory 'Adaptability of Context' in his book Understanding Pragmatics. In this thesis the author uses this theory, combining other linguistics (such as phonology, syntax, semantics, etc), to study context dynamically. The author wants to show how speakers or writers adapt sounds, words, sentences and codes to contexts by analyzing all kinds of linguistic phenomena.The thesis consists of seven parts, including the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction tells the reason why the author chooses this subject as well as the significance of this subject.Chapter one mainly discusses some basic features of making choices and three properties of language. In fact, using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously, for language-internal or external reasons. Choice-making has some features as follows: first, choices are indeed made at every possible level ofstructure; secondly, speakers choose not only forms but also strategies; thirdly, the process of making choice may show any degree of consciousness; fourthly, choices are made both in producing and in interpreting an utterance; fifthly, a language user has no freedom of choice between choosing and not choosing, that is, once language is used, the user is under an obligation to make choices, no matter whether the range of possibilities can fully satisfy the communicative needs of the moment; sixthly, choices are not equivalent, they can evoke or carry along their alternatives.The reason why human being can make choices during communication is that language has three properties: variability, negotiability and adaptability. Variability is the property of language which defines the range of possibilities from which choices can be made. Negotiability is the property of language responsible for the fact that choices are not made mechanically or according to strict rules or fixed form-function relationships, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies. Adaptability is the property of language which enables human being to make negotiable linguistic choices from a variable range of possibilities in such a way as to approach points of satisfaction for communicative needs. These three properties are fundamentally inseparable. Their hierarchical ranking is only a conceptual tool to come to grips with the complexity of pragmatic phenomena, which will allowus to use the higher-order notion of 'adaptability' as the point of reference in further theory formation and empirical research, keeping in mind that it has no content without both variability and negotiability.In the following chapters, we will discuss 'Context Adaptation' from four aspects.Chapter two mainly discusses sound adaptation. Human being's language is the conventional combination of sound and meaning. When we change linguistic signs into sign sequences to express our feelings, we should attach importance to the sound effect. Only doing like this, we can make our utterances tender and sweet, at the same time, we can get the expected communicative effect whenever we use the spoken or the written expressions. If the combination of sound and meaning is very good, it's beneficial to completely express our feelings and make interpreters thoroughly understand our meanings; otherwise, interpreters will feel hard to understand us. Therefore, during communication, when we want to strengthen the expressing effect, we will make use of sound forms. Different sound forms will directly affect the success of communication. That's because whether speaking or writing, speakers or authors are always fr...