Lexical ambiguity is caused when two words have the same form (homonymy or homophony) or when a word has more than one meaning (polysemy). * A classic example of lexical ambiguity involves the word(s) bank. ... I went to the bank.
What are some examples of ambiguity?
For instance, it is ambiguous to say “I rode a black horse in red pajamas ,” because it may lead us to think the horse was wearing red pajamas. The sentence becomes clear when it is restructured as, “Wearing red pajamas, I rode a black horse.”
What is lexical ambiguity and examples?
Lexical ambiguity is caused when two words have the same form (homonymy or homophony) or when a word has more than one meaning (polysemy). * A classic example of lexical ambiguity involves the word(s) bank. ... I went to the bank.
What are the types of lexical ambiguity?
Two types of lexical ambiguity are traditionally distinguished: polysemy (one word with multiple senses) vs. homonymy (different words that happen to sound the same) . Both cases involve an ambiguous word form; the difference lies in how the information is organized in the speaker’s mental lexicon.
How do you explain lexical ambiguity?
Lexical ambiguity is a writing error that occurs when a sentence contains a word that has more than one meaning . This problem, which is also called semantic ambiguity, obscures the writer’s intent and confuses the reader.
How do you remove ambiguity in a sentence?
Expansion: Adding a word or two to the sentence can remove ambiguity. He finished the race last Thursday. —> He finished the race on last Thursday.
What is ambiguity in grammar?
In English grammar, syntactic ambiguity (also called structural ambiguity or grammatical ambiguity) is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words , as opposed to lexical ambiguity, which is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word.
What is ambiguity in sentences?
An ambiguous sentence has two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words . This can confuse the reader and make the meaning of the sentence unclear.
What are sources of ambiguity?
Semantic and syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity arises when a sentence can have two (or more) different meanings because of the structure of the sentence —its syntax. This is often due to a modifying expression, such as a prepositional phrase, the application of which is unclear.
What is ambiguity in the workplace?
Ambiguity is an unclear statement, task or goal . When you encounter an ambiguous situation, you may be unsure of how to proceed because the goal is vague or you don’t have access to all of the information you need.
What is type of ambiguity?
In speech and writing, there are two basic types of ambiguity: Lexical ambiguity is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word. Syntactic ambiguity is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words.
What is Surface ambiguity?
In transformational terms, surface structure ambiguity refers to those sentences in which the surface string can be bracketed in two distinct ways , onc for each of the meanings. An example of surface structure amhiguity is thc sentence cited above, “Thc stout doctor’s wife stayed at home.”
What is a structurally ambiguous sentence?
STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY. Structural ambiguity is also referred to as syntactic ambiguity or grammatical ambiguity. Structural or syntactic ambiguity, occurs when a phrase, clause or sentence can be given two or more different interpretations as a result of the arrangement of words or lexical units .
What are the three types of ambiguity?
Three types of ambiguity are categorised as potential ambiguity: lexical, syntactical, and inflective .
What is scope ambiguity?
A scope ambiguity is an ambiguity that occurs when two quantifiers or similar expressions can take scope over each other in different ways in the meaning of a sentence.
What is structural ambiguity examples?
The other type, structural ambiguity, occurs when the meaning of the component words can be combined in more than one way (O’Grady et al. 1997), for example: Nicole saw the people with binoculars . The sentence can be grasped in two ways. ... The other meaning, the people had binoculars when Nicole saw them.
