Ambiguity of Senses Written by Dr. Khalid on Nov. 2, 2023 in Semantic SEO. Last update on Nov. 3, 2023. Don't forget to share this post Ambiguity of Senses In this essay, we will discuss the nature of lexical ambiguity and sentence ambiguity. ( See Essay No.8 on Levels of Meaning in semantics. ) We will also explore the ways in which these two types of ambiguity can be resolved. Ambiguity is a phenomenon in which a word or a sentence can have multiple possible interpretations. Types of Ambiguity There are two main types of ambiguity: lexical ambiguity and sentence ambiguity Lexical Ambiguity Lexical ambiguity occurs when a word has multiple meanings. For example, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or a sloping land next to a river. The meaning of a lexically ambiguous word is typically determined by the context in which it is used.( See Essay No. 2 on Lexical Relations.) Examples of word list having more than one sense (meaning) Word Sense 1 Sense 2 Sense 3 1. File a file a file - 2. Will He has enough will ( strong desire) He wrote his will before he died I will resign tomorrow. (Future Tense Auxiliary Verb) 3. Fire to set fire to fire a gun under fire to fire questions at him to fire an employee to fire clay 4. Firm Strong Strict Company 5. Pupil pupil at school pupil of the eye - In the examples ( 1-5), each word has more than one sense, so they are ambiguous words. Sentence Ambiguity sentence ambiguity occurs when a sentence can be interpreted in multiple ways, even when all of the words are unambiguous. For example, the sentence "The man saw the woman with the telescope" can have two possible interpretations: The man saw a woman who was holding a telescope. ( the telescope was with the woman) The man saw a woman through a telescope.( the telescope was with the man) The meaning of an ambiguous sentence is typically determined by the reader's knowledge of the world and their understanding of the grammar of the sentence. Types of Sentence Ambiguity Sentence ambiguity caused by word ( lexical) ambiguity. Examples: Please, give me a file. ( a metal tool? or a folder?) The pupil needs some care. ( the school pupil? Or the eye pupil?) Here, sentences (1+2) are ambiguous because of word ambiguity ( file/ pupil) Sentence ambiguity caused by grammatical/ syntactic ambiguity. Examples: Visiting Relatives He ate five oranges and apples The chicken is ready 1. To visit relatives is boring? or relatives who visit us are boring? 2. Is five the number of oranges and apples together? or the number of oranges only 3. Is the chicken ready to eat “seeds”? or is the chicken ready to be eaten by somebody?) Sentences (1,2 and 3) are ambiguous because of grammatical ambiguity. Conclusion To sum up, lexical ambiguity and sentence ambiguity are two common types of ambiguity that can occur in language. Lexical ambiguity occurs when a word has multiple meanings, while sentence ambiguity occurs when a sentence can be interpreted in multiple ways. The meaning of a lexically ambiguous word is typically determined by the context in which it is used, while the meaning of a sentence ambiguous sentence is typically determined by the reader's knowledge of the world and their understanding of the grammar of the sentence. References Hurford, J., B. Heasley and M. Smith (2007) Semantics: a coursebook (2nd edition) Cambridge University Press George Yule (2014) The Study of Language (5th edition) Cambridge University Press Alkhuli, M.A., An Introduction to Semantics ( 2008) Dar AlFalah, Jordan