Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics - Developers

Dictionary of language and linguistics 50
ambiguity
In natural languages, property of expressions that can be interpreted in several ways, or,
rather, that can be multiply specified in linguistic description from lexical, semantic,
syntactic, and other aspects. In this sense, ambiguity is different from the complementary
term vagueness as a designation for pragmatic ambiguousness or indeterminacy, which
cannot be systematically described. Ambiguity can be resolved or represented (a) by the
competent speaker, who can clarify the different readings with the help of paraphrases,
(b) by grammatical analysis, for instance, within the framework of generative syntax
models, which accord each possible interpretation of ambiguous surface structures
different underlying structures ( disambiguation). Depending on whether ambiguity
results from the use of specific lexemes or from the syntactic structure of complex
expressions, a distinction is drawn between (a) lexical ambiguity (also polysemy,
homonymy) and (b) syntactic ambiguity (also polysyntacticity, constructional
homonymy). The representation and resolution of ambiguity by multiple interpretation is
considered to be the most important criterion for the evaluation of the efficacy of
grammars, especially as the occurrence of ambiguity plays a decisive part in numerous
linguistic problems of description, as, for example, in quantifiers, negation,
pronominalization ( personal pronoun), as well as in word formation. In everyday
communication, ambiguity is a rather marginal problem, as context, intonation, situation,
etc. usually sift out the adequate reading.
References
Gorfein, D.S. (ed.) 1989. Resolving semantic ambiguity. Berlin
Kempson, R.M. 1977. Semantic theory. Cambridge. 123–138.
Kooij, J. 1971. Ambiguity in natural language. Amsterdam.
Su, S.P. 1994. Lexical ambiguity in poetry. London.
Zwicky, A. and J.Saddock. 1975. Ambiguity tests and how to fail them. In J.Kimball (ed.) Syntax
and semantics. vol. 4 New York. 1–36.
Bibliography
Fries, N. 1980. Ambiguität und Vagheit. Tübingen.
ambisyllabic
A segment occurring on the boundary of two syllables. e.g. [r] in Arab.