Examples of structure ambiguity ( Nguyen Huong Giang, 982 words)
The first example is the slogan “Connecting people”. It is the slogan of the famous phone
company, Nokia. The utterance is “Connecting people”. This utterance is made up of the verb
Ing+complement, which can take two forms: gerund+complement or participle, which modifies a
noun. This is an ambiguous structure. The following are the interpretations: The advertising
claims that the product can link people, or that there are individuals who connect people.
Another slogan example is "Made fresh for you," which is one of the most memorable nursery
slogans. The utterance is “Made fresh for you”. It has the word "you" in it, which is a referential.
It might be ambiguous if "you" refers to a specific individual or a general platitude. However, as
a public advertisement, it is obvious that it is not intended for a specific person. It may be
assumed that it is intended for the general public. As a result, referential ambiguity will not be
discussed. Then there's the ambiguity in the deep structure. Does "made fresh for you" imply
"made fresh for customers" or "made fresh for customers"? That word sequence actually has
several meanings; it is a deep structural ambiguity. The interpretations are as follows: The room
is exceptionally nice, or the bakeries are really tasty. Anybody who enters or consumes bakeries
will feel refreshed, or The bakeries are extremely fresh, and they are produced specifically for
the customers.
Practical implications of ambiguity
1. Ambiguity in listening comprehension
The goal of listening comprehension instruction is to teach students how to understand the
pure information contained in sound signals. The capacity of students' listening
comprehension will increase as they realize the features of ambiguity and the basic method of
ambiguity identification.
1.1. Structural ambiguity
1.1.1. Pronunciation ambiguity
Homonyms and homophones, as well as pronunciation ambiguity, have disrupted the
meanings of pronunciations in English. Homonym is a good example. For example, I
/aɪ/, eye/aɪ/ or see/siː/, sea/siː/, and so on. Because they all have the same
pronunciation, they are homophones. For instance, sense/senses and sense/senses, as
well as nail/neil. These words have similar spellings, but they have different
meanings. The term "homograph" refers to phrases that have various meanings
depending on the situation. Without a specific setting or context, the meaning of a
term will be ambiguous. "Match" refers to a game played by two individuals or
teams, as well as a piece of wood that produces fire when rubbed against anything
abrasive.
The purpose of listening comprehension instruction is to prepare students to speak
with foreigners. Learners frequently blend many words into one word in a proficient
discourse. As a result, we should highlight this in vocabulary and pronunciation
classes. Combine "a part" with "apart," or "a special way" with "special way," for
example. Learners, on the other hand, frequently divide a word into numerous words.
Another example is separating “underground” into “ender of the ground” or
separating “especially” into “a special” and so on.
In daily conversation, the listener can understand the meaning of the talker, even though
the pronunciation of certain words is ambiguous. In some cases, homonyms will cause
thinking and listening to comprehension to be suspended.
1.1.2. Words Ambiguity
"Words do not have meaning, people have meanings for them," linguistic Eric Partridge
explained. It indicates that the ambiguity and diversity of word meanings is an
important aspect of communication. Words can have multiple meanings or even
contradictory meanings depending on the situation. For instance:
“It is a wet summer”. “Wet” means “rainy” in this context.
“He is wet through”. The term “wet” refers to being completely submerged in a liquid.
“He is all wet”. The term "wet" refers to the definition of a blunder in this context.
Learners may correctly hear the words, but they may not understand the exact meaning
of the words because they have not mastered enough meanings of the words. “People
will give a word some different meanings under different context,” said Robert A.Hall.
When it comes to listening comprehension, learners need to examine the material
extremely thoroughly in order to get the whole meaning.
1.1.3. Ambiguity in the sentence’s structure.
In fluent speech, carelessness obscures terms like “a, an, the, of, in, at, or will”. When
these words are said, the speaker's voice is muted and the discourse is so quickly that
they are omitted. The word “the” will be omitted. Such as:
A : He went to prison yesterday.
B: He went to the prison yesterday.
In sentence A, the person was a prisoner. The person in sentence B has just returned
from a visit to a prison.
1.2.The basic methods of distinguishing ambiguity
The English language should be taught in the same way as other languages. The logic of
people's thoughts governs their understanding of ambiguity. That is the key to knowing
pure information. It's a good way to learn to do it.
1.2.1. Griping the additional things of sounds.
In the absence of communication, one can convey his meaning by pausing, altering his
tone, mood, and other means, such as laughing, shouting, moaning, sighing, and so on.
All of them are language's extra features, and they're crucial in identifying ambiguity
in listening comprehension.
1.2.2. Identify the context
As the context shifts, the meaning of the statement shifts as well. The term "context"
refers to the situation in which communication is taking place. For example: “It is a
square meal”. Because of the meal in the phrase, the word "square" here refers to a
generous form, not a shape with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles.
The shape of language depends on context and variations usually cling to a given
context. The talker employs correct speech in a given context to arrange his speech to
correspond with a specific context and social background. We should distinguish
context positively in order to reduce misunderstanding of the current information's
ambiguity.
References
Lebrun, Y. (2018, February 5). Partridge (Eric). 1. Origins. 2. A Dictionary of Slang.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1962_num_40_1_2405_t1_0128_0000_3
Moulaei, A. (2017). Investigating the Relationship between Tolerance of Ambiguity, Individual
Characteristics and Listening Comprehension Ability among Iranian EFL Learners.
International Journal of English Linguistics, 6(7), 185.
https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v6n7p185