Context and Its Values in Verbal Communication

A somewhat cliché concept and topic, context presents as much mystery to apprentices as to masters of it. What, after all, is context? And what are its values in verbal communication? These two questions still largely puzzle us. A condensed analysis of the subject matter, this study views context as chosen instead of given, created by communicators as contextualization cues in communication, rather than something pre-existing before interaction takes place. It also considers context as dynamic rather than static; it keeps changing and expanding as interactants' mutual knowledge expands. Due to such nature, some aspects of context can be intentionally manipulated and made use of by communicators as communicative strategy. Fundamental to verbal communication, context exhibits four colossal values: (i) Imposing constraints on communicators in process of interaction to provide common ground for uttering and understanding. (ii) Supplying enough proofs for understanding utterance meanings to speed up hearer's recognition of hearer's utmost intention. (iii) Manipulating contextual elements for achieving communicative goals. (iv) Adding beauty to speech both in form and content.