communication ambiguity
对外经济贸易大学
University of International Business and Economics
Communication Ambiguity
学号 201101294
姓名 刘仕途
学院 国际贸易学院
专业 国际贸易
Communication Ambiguity
As a practical communication tool, English and all the other languages have ambiguous situation causing misunderstanding. Kess, F. J. and Hoppe, A. R. said in their book Ambiguity in Psycholinguistics that “Upon careful consideration, one cannot but be amazed at the ubiquity of ambiguity in language.” Ambiguity often caused by the users or the languages themselves and often unconsciously happens. As follow, the paper will illustrate different kinds of ambiguity in English.
(Ⅰ) Phonetic Ambiguity
Two common kinds of phonetic ambiguity are implicit sound segment and devoicing of plosive. (a) “He is eating an ice cake.” VS “He is eating a nice cake.” The liaison of /n/ and /ai/ leads to the misunderstanding. Only if you pronounce separately and slowly, the receptor can distinguish the meaning. However in our daily life we do not stress the liaison. (b) “Notebooks are put on the desk.” VS “No books are put on the desk.” The plosive /t/ is not fully pronounced in this case which make it hard to tell the difference between notebooks and no books.
In the phonetic level, other kinds of ambiguity are caused by different stress and tone. Stressing the different part of ‘That is my dog’ gives different meanings. The tone has the same function.
(Ⅱ) Lexical Ambiguity
Sometimes the homograph and the polysemy words weigh heavy in the sentence. They are vital to the meaning. “She can’t bear children so she never talks about them.” The meaning depends on bear. The explanation can be a) she can’t give birth to children so she never talks about it and b) she can’t tolerate little children and to some extend she hates them so she never talk about them. The second example is “They passed the notice in the dark.” The phrase in
University of International Business and Economics
Communication Ambiguity
学号 201101294
姓名 刘仕途
学院 国际贸易学院
专业 国际贸易
Communication Ambiguity
As a practical communication tool, English and all the other languages have ambiguous situation causing misunderstanding. Kess, F. J. and Hoppe, A. R. said in their book Ambiguity in Psycholinguistics that “Upon careful consideration, one cannot but be amazed at the ubiquity of ambiguity in language.” Ambiguity often caused by the users or the languages themselves and often unconsciously happens. As follow, the paper will illustrate different kinds of ambiguity in English.
(Ⅰ) Phonetic Ambiguity
Two common kinds of phonetic ambiguity are implicit sound segment and devoicing of plosive. (a) “He is eating an ice cake.” VS “He is eating a nice cake.” The liaison of /n/ and /ai/ leads to the misunderstanding. Only if you pronounce separately and slowly, the receptor can distinguish the meaning. However in our daily life we do not stress the liaison. (b) “Notebooks are put on the desk.” VS “No books are put on the desk.” The plosive /t/ is not fully pronounced in this case which make it hard to tell the difference between notebooks and no books.
In the phonetic level, other kinds of ambiguity are caused by different stress and tone. Stressing the different part of ‘That is my dog’ gives different meanings. The tone has the same function.
(Ⅱ) Lexical Ambiguity
Sometimes the homograph and the polysemy words weigh heavy in the sentence. They are vital to the meaning. “She can’t bear children so she never talks about them.” The meaning depends on bear. The explanation can be a) she can’t give birth to children so she never talks about it and b) she can’t tolerate little children and to some extend she hates them so she never talk about them. The second example is “They passed the notice in the dark.” The phrase in