What is Text Without Context?

A word, or sign, cannot stand alone and have meaning.  It is defined by the context that surrounds it.  A sign, in text, only has meaning in context. Text is an organized system of metaphors and the intended meaning of a particular word, or sign, is determined by the other words surrounding it.  Hjelmslev states that “No sign has meaning if completely isolated; every sign-meaning arises in a context, since we here mean a situational context or an explicit context…”  (Johansen and Larsen 2002, pg. 115).
    I have been increasingly aware of this lately because my daughter, Addie is learning how to read.  Even before I read this chapter, this has been on my mind.  Addie is constantly asking me what a word means.  I’ll be working on a paper or reading and offer her an answer without thinking.  On more than one occasion, she has said, that doesn’t’ make any sense.  I stop and ask her to read the sentence.  After hearing the sentence, my definition almost always changes.  Why in the English language do we have so many meanings for one word?  It is amazing how changing the context can completely change the meaning of the same word.  The word is spelled the same way but it means something totally different.
    In writing this paper, I asked Addie for an example of a word like this.  She said, “left”.  She said you could say, turn left or I left the room.  I asked her if it still confused her.  She said no, “because it depends on the sentence”.  I was shocked when she said, “you have to read or listen to all the other words before you know which one to use”.  I think I stood there with my mouth wide open, because she asked, “what?” and added, everyone knows that.”  Even a seven year old understands what is meant by this theory.
    How many times have we tried to explain something to someone else and have had to change the metaphor repeatedly?  The context stays the same, but we change the word until we finally get our point across.  I have seen this a lot in teaching.  As teachers, we sometimes choose the wrong word in our explanations.  We know the material, so we often use a harder word.  When we notice the puzzled looks on our students’ faces, we back up and try it again with an easier word.  We have left the context the same but because we were able to break it down, our students have learned a new word.  They can connect the more complicated word to the same context.  The next time they hear that word, they will know what it means based on the context that the word is used.
    I now understand why good readers have better vocabulary.  In elementary school, we would have to look up and memorize vocabulary words.  The teachers usually would have us use the word in a sentence.  They did this so we could associate the word and a particular meaning.  Students that read all of the time will have a better understanding of the meanings of words because they have been exposed to so many different contexts for the words. 
    A word, or sign, cannot stand alone and have meaning.  It is defined by the context that surrounds it.  Therefore, if we want to be effective communicators, we must choose our words wisely or be very good at choosing the context with which we use them.