ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the fundamentals of English in context and on some of the key terminology used to describe speech situations and general areas of language use. Dell Hymes was an anthropological linguist and his main interest was in investigating the influence of 'rules of speaking' within different cultures and describing from an ethnographic perspective the language of formal, set events such as weddings and welcoming ceremonies. Speakers interact in ways that cannot simply be put down to 'norms', and their actual words and intended meanings may not match up in the way that happens in official or ceremonial contexts. The study of what speakers may mean and how they are understood goes beyond our present concern with situational context. Within the broader social context of communication we need to bear in mind that many discourses today are multi-modal and combine linguistic with non-linguistic sign systems such as photography, film, computer graphics and music.
