Contexts in context

Adopting an integrated approach, the contribution demonstrates that context can no longer be seen as an analytic prime. Rather than being looked upon as an external constraint on linguistic performance, it is analyzed as a product of language use, as interactionally constructed and as negotiated. The first part categorizes context as social context, sociocultural context, linguistic context and cognitive context, and the second part examines the dynamics of context captured through a relational conception based on the premises of indexicality and intentionality.