7/31/2019 3.1. Semantic Ambiguity http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/31-semantic-ambiguity 1/1 3.1. Semantic Ambiguity 3.1.1. Semantic Ambiguity vs. Semantic Vagueness In the present section, the term ambiguity is used to refer to the semantic char acteristic of lexical items and syntactic structures of allowing for more than o ne semantic interpretation in a certain context, a case in which the interpreter of a certain piece of linguistic discourse encounters difficulties in mentally processing the meaning of the message. For example, in: 1). The bank is overcrowded today. the noun bank is semantically ambiguous as it is not clear whether its meaning i s the bank of a river or the financial institution where money is deposited and kep t. The phrase porcelain egg container is semantically ambiguous due to its syntactic structure. It may describe either an egg container that is made of porc elain, a case in which the modifier is simple, or a container for porcelain eggs, i f the modifier is compound. The sentence: 2). He saw her duck. is syntactically ambiguous due to the categorial ambiguity of the word duck. If there are no disambiguating contextual clues, the meaning of this sentence may b e either: a). He saw her pet which is a duck and then duck would be a noun filling t he Direct Object position or: b). He saw her lowering her head in order to avoid being hit by something, and duck would be a short infinitive filling the corresponding position in an A ccusative + Infinitive construction. For practical purposes, semantic ambiguity is to be distinguished from semantic vagueness. Kent Bach defines a vague expression as one that has a single meaning that admits of borderline cases, and he provides such examples as bold, heavy, old, new, etc. to illustrate this. He says that these words vagueness is explained by the fact that they apply to items on fuzzy regions of a scale of meaning. Th ere is no precise breaking point on a scale between young or new and old, for in stance, when a person ceases to be young or a thing to be new and starts to be o ld. Bach also considers vague such cluster concepts as intelligent, athletic, an d just because their instances are determined by the application of several crite ria, no one of which is decisive. Another distinction between ambiguity and vagueness is made by Leon Felkins, who associates vagueness with arbitrariness. For instance, the sentence: 3). Tom is tall for his age. refers to Toms height related to his age. But there are no precise natural height standards corresponding to various ages. However, for various practical reasons , such standards are necessary and people settle them in an arbitrary way. Felk ins considers that all the terms referring to such arbitrarily settled standards are vague, not ambiguous. Therefore, the adjective tall above is vague, not amb iguous.

3.1. Semantic Ambiguity

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3.1. Semantic Ambiguity3.1.1. Semantic Ambiguity vs. Semantic VaguenessIn the present section, the term ambiguity is used to refer to the semantic characteristic of lexical items and syntactic structures of allowing for more than one semantic interpretation in a certain context, a case in which the interpreterof a certain piece of linguistic discourse encounters difficulties in mentallyprocessing the meaning of the message.

For example, in:

1). The bank is overcrowded today.

the noun bank is semantically ambiguous as it is not clear whether its meaning is the bank of a river or the financial institution where money is deposited and kept.

The phrase porcelain egg container is semantically ambiguous due to itssyntactic structure. It may describe either an egg container that is made of porcelain, a case in which the modifier is simple, or a container for porcelain eggs, if the modifier is compound.The sentence:

2). He saw her duck.

is syntactically ambiguous due to the categorial ambiguity of the word duck. If

there are no disambiguating contextual clues, the meaning of this sentence may be either:a). He saw her pet which is a duck and then duck would be a noun filling t

he Direct Object position or:b). He saw her lowering her head in order to avoid being hit by something,

and duck would be a short infinitive filling the corresponding position in an Accusative + Infinitive construction.For practical purposes, semantic ambiguity is to be distinguished from semanticvagueness. Kent Bach defines a vague expression as one that has a single meaningthat admits of borderline cases, and he provides such examples as bold, heavy,old, new, etc. to illustrate this. He says that these words vagueness is explainedby the fact that they apply to items on fuzzy regions of a scale of meaning. There is no precise breaking point on a scale between young or new and old, for in

stance, when a person ceases to be young or a thing to be new and starts to be old. Bach also considers vague such cluster concepts as intelligent, athletic, and just because their instances are determined by the application of several criteria, no one of which is decisive.Another distinction between ambiguity and vagueness is made by Leon Felkins, whoassociates vagueness with arbitrariness. For instance, the sentence:

3). Tom is tall for his age.

refers to Toms height related to his age. But there are no precise natural heightstandards corresponding to various ages. However, for various practical reasons, such standards are necessary and people settle them in an arbitrary way. Felkins considers that all the terms referring to such arbitrarily settled standards

are vague, not ambiguous. Therefore, the adjective tall above is vague, not ambiguous.