Meaning and the Second Language Learner

Meaning is about the most elusive and controversial phenomenon in the study of language .The ambiguous nature of meaning is manifest in the fact that in almost any language, one expression can be subject to a number of interpretations depending on the speaker, the hearer and the situation where the expression is used. Meanings are ultimately determined not by words but by people [Hybels and Weaver26]. Most often the second language learner seeks to interpret word meaning without reference to the person who uses it and the community in which it is used. The concern of this paper is to bring out the complexity between meaning and the second language learner, because meaning lies on the interpreter and not on the user of the language.