Contextualization Competence:A Nexus of Pragmatics and Rhetoric

Though constitutive of rhetorical invention and communicative competence, the notion contextualization competence failed to receive due attention in pragmatic studies, which is equally attributable to infrequent contact between pragmatics and rhetoric, and to their divergence in disciplinary assumptions.In scrutinizing the notions pragmatic context and rhetorical situation, this paper attempts to define contextualization competence as the ability in the speaker to manipulate all the available semiotic resources to construct new contexts for and justify his subsequent moves to attain her communicative goals.Such a rhetorical design finds its expression well in a three-tier structure:linguistic, paralinguistic, as well as behavioral means.The findings support the claim that doing contextualization, as a pragmatic practice, can both reveal the speaker's intention, rhetorical awareness and realize illocutionary and perlocutionary acts at the same time.