Metapragmatics: When the author brings meaning and the addressee context

Abstract

The present article is formulated against the background of a theory of metapragmatics that studies how the effects of language usage are objects of discourse analyses. The notion of metapragmatics is discussed as it follows from approaches by Jacobson, Silverstein, Verschueren, Spitzmüller and is in line with modern approaches in intercultural sociolinguistics. Metapragmatics focuses on the reflexive metacommunicative effects of linguistic choices in discourse. Metapragmatic reflexivity is behind the meaning construction and linguistic choice when considering language in use. As a point of departure in analyzing the meaning making processes is the presumption, that meaning derives from social situation. The focus is placed on the notion of social sharing. Semantisation and contextualization are discussed as connected but sometimes divergent processes. The present paper aims to prove that understanding is the result of proper contextualization in which utterances are made to fit a particular context. Context change, or incorrect contextualization, can cause communicative conflicts and misunderstandings. Thus this paper has two central notions of context and contextualization to discuss the processes of meaning making within social practice. The theoretical and methodological framework under discussion is exemplified on a modern Russian sociocultural practice. The social effects of misunderstandings through context change are considered.