Types of Contexts and Contextual Relationships

The above–mentioned observations allow us to distinguish between the macro context (global context), communicative context and micro context (local context), i.e. the context of a particular utterance. In practice, interpreters deal with these three types of overlapping contexts every time they have to perceive, understand and interpret messages of the SL speaker. These overlapping contexts are shown on the scheme below.

Messages “operate” within three types of contexts, which “surround” each particular message in space and in time. Therefore, elements of meaning of each message have to be related to these surrounding contexts in some way. It is generally assumed that such contextual relationships of messages may be of three kinds:

a) anaphoric or “backward” relationships, which occur when the meaning of a linguistic unit acquires sense through the reference to the preceding units of the micro or communicative context, for example:

China's President continues his visit to former Soviet republics – this time to Ukraine. It's the first official visit by China's leader to the independent Republic.

In this example the sense of the independent Republic is determined by the word Ukraine in the previous sentence.

b) cataphoric or “forward” relationships, which occur when the meaning of a linguistic unit acquires sense through the reference to the oncoming, anticipated units of the micro or communicative context, for example:

Russian and American troops have been taking part in “ Peacekeeper–94 ” – the first Russian–American joint military exercise.

In this example the meaning of “ Peacekeeper–94 ” acquires sense from the rest of the utterance.

c) exophoric or “outward” relationships, which occur when the meaning of an element acquires sense through the reference to the macro context, i.e. to the background knowledge, cultural and subject field competence of the addressee and to the knowledge about “the world”, for example:

Veteran Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal has been awarded one of Poland's top decorations by President Walesa. The 85–year old Auschwitz, death camp survivor is in Poland at Walesa's invitation.

In this example general cultural competence will help to render Auschwitz death camp (the Nazi death camp located in the Polish town of Oświęcim) as ma6ip cмерті Ocвенцім.