Ambiguity

Posted by : Unknown Sabtu, 02 April 2016

Definition Of Ambiguity

A word,phrase,or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning ambiguity occurs when a language element has more than one meaning. Ambiguity is when the meaning of a word,pharase,orsentence is uncertain.There could be more than one meaning.

There are three types of ambiguity :

1.Semantic Ambiguity (Usually an Idiom)

2.Structural or Syntactic ambiguity (When a headline may have more than one alternative structure and ambivalent structure)

3.Lexical Ambiguity (A word or phrase that has more than one meaning while it stands in a sentence).

TYPES OF AMBIGUITY

There are two types of ambiguity, lexical and structural

Lexical ambiguity is by far the more common.Everyday examples include nouns like'chip','pen' and 'suit',verbs like'call','draw' and 'run',and adjectives like 'deep', 'dry' and 'hard'.There are various tests for ambiguity.Structural ambiguity occurs when a pharase or sentence has more than one underlying structure, such as the pharases" Tibetan history teacher",'a student of high moral principles' and 'short men and women'.and the sentences the girl hit the boy with a book' and 'visiting relatives can be boring'.These ambiguities are said to be structural because each such pharase can be represented in two structurally different ways.

consider the structurally ambigous sentence "The chiken is ready eat " which could be use describe either a hungry chiken or a broiled chiken it is arguable the operative reading depends on wheather or not the implicit subject of the infinitive clause" to eat" is tied anaphorically to the subject (the chiken) of the main clause.

Example Of Ambiguity

Ø Zoya gave a bath to her dog wearing a pink t-shirt.

Ambiguity: Is the dog wearing the pink t-shirt?

Ø I have never tasted a cake quite like that one before!

Ambiguity: Was the cake good or bad?

So,we know ambiguity is Ambiguity occurs when a language element has more than one meaning.there are two types of ambiguity lexical and structural ambiguity.If the ambiguity is in a single word it is lexical ambiguity.