ABSTRACT

All naturalistic learning of first and second languages takes place in context and at the level of discourse rather than the abstract sentence level. When learners can comprehend and reproduce an utterance such as I’m hungry, the contextual meaning generally involves much more than the literal meaning of the sentence (see Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). If a child utters this to his mother on coming home from school, it is a request for food. If the same child utters it after having completed his lunch, the utterance is a complaint and a request for additional food. A beggar uttering these words in the street is requesting money rather than food. If a guest says these words on arriving for dinner, it may well signal an indirect compliment, “I’ve eaten very little today in anticipation of a wonderful meal,” in addition to conveying the literal meaning of the utterance.