Transcript Meeting : 10 Semantics IG 0352 Ambiguity

Meeting : 10
Semantics IG 0352
Ambiguity
Learning Outcome
• Students are able to apply the notion of
ambiguity in their daily communication
Semantics IG 0352
2
Outline
• Lexical ambiguity
• Structural ambiguity
• Sentence ambiguity
• Lexical ambiguity:
– Ambiguity because of the ambiguous words
– E.g. She looked at the ball happily.
• Ball  a round object
• Ball  a party
• Structural Ambiguity
– Visiting relatives can be nuisance
– Visiting relatives
• Relatives who come to visit (participial phrase)
• The action of visiting relatives (gerund)
• Ambiguity in words (lexical) but not in
sentence
• Ambiguity in structure (structural) but not
in sentence
Conclusion
• Ambiguity can be in the levels of words
(lexical) or sentences.
• The causes of ambiguity of sentence can
be from the ambiguity in the levels of
words or grammar or either or neither