语言学歧义现象
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A Linguistic Analysis on Lexical Ambiguity
1 A Linguistic Analysis on Lexical Ambiguity
I. Introduction
Ambiguity is everywhere and becomes a fundamental problem of language
comprehension and communication. Since it was put forward, it has attracted a lot of
attention. Different linguists hold different definition. The famous linguist Chomsky
holds that “ambiguity occurs when an expression has grammatical structure and is
semantically relational but its deep structure can be interpreted in two or more ways.”
(1965:25) While Professor Xu holds that “Ambiguity is the condition of admitting of
two or more meanings, of being understood in more than one way, or of referring to two
or more things at the same time.”(1994:04)
Although their definitions are not the same, they share a common characteristic,
that is, ambiguity is with various understandings or multi-meanings.
From previous study, ambiguity can be sub-divided into four categories:
phonological ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, syntactic ambiguity and pragmatic ambiguity.
This paper I will focus on lexical ambiguity.
Firstly, I will find out the reasons for ambiguity. I shall put forward six different
aspects from the perspective of lexical which include homonym, polysemy, idiom and
historical change, dialectical and categorical differences. Secondly, I will introduce
some methods for clearing out this kind of ambiguities. I sincerely hope that these
methods can help people achieve successful communication in their daily life and help
English readers and learners understand without mistakes.
II. Analysis of lexical ambiguity
As I said before, lexical ambiguity can include six different aspects. Since there are A Linguistic Analysis on Lexical Ambiguity
2 many unknown occasions, we should pay attention to the implied meaning after the
literal meaning and look it over carefully when we meet a word or phrase. In the
following part I will elaborate on these six aspects and also give you some examples for
better understanding.
2.1 Lexical Ambiguity caused by homonym
In the English, there are many pairs of groups of words, which, though different in
meaning, are pronounced alike, or spelled alike, or both, such words are called
homonyms. (张韵斐,周锡卿 现代英语词汇学概论 2004)
(1) Did you enjoy your date?
This is a very simple sentence. The ambiguity consists in this complete homonym
word” dates”. It can be interpreted as “a meeting that you have arranged with a
boyfriend or girlfriend or with sb. who might become a boyfriend or girlfriend” or” a
sweet sticky brown fruit that grows on a tree called a date palm, common in N Africa
and W Asia ” (Definition from the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s English-Chinese
Dictionary).
(2) Can you see the bow (bough) from this photo?
In this sentence, “bow” and” bough” is a pair of homophonic words. The word
“bow” means” a weapon used for shooting arrows”, while the word” bough” means “a
large branch of a tree”. This ambiguity only exists in oral English, which is caused by
homophones. If we write them on paper, the ambiguity will disappear.
(3) Have you noticed my mate?
In this sentence, ambiguity is caused by the word “mate”, which belongs to
homographic words. If its pronunciation is [meit], it means” A good friend or
companion”. However, when it is pronounced as [mætei], it means “A tealike beverage,
popular in South America, made from the dried leaves of this plant.” Then this sentence
can be interpreted as “Have you noticed my companion” or “Have you noticed my drink
(a kind of beverage)”. (Definition from the American Heritage Dictionary) A Linguistic Analysis on Lexical Ambiguity
3 2.2 Lexical Ambiguity caused by polysemy
A term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of
different meanings. (张韵斐,周锡卿 现代英语词汇学概论 2004)
(1) I went to the bank yesterday.
The word” bank” can be translated into “river bank” or “bank from which money is
drawn”.
(2) He has a head for remembering historical figures.
The word” figures” can be translated into “numbers” or “well-known people”.
These two examples are from the textbook. (陈佑林,何举纯 普通语言学概论
2010)
2.3 Lexical Ambiguity caused by idiom
In English, there are many idioms and most of them have their own special
meanings. Their meaning is not the sum total of all the meaning of its components, but
has its connotation meaning. As a result, we cannot take it for granted and we should
become alert and avoid blind translation.
(1) He cries wine and sells vinegar.
In this sentence, the words “wine” and “vinegar” are not a kind of food, but have
its extended meaning. The whole sentence is translated as”挂羊头，卖狗肉” in Chinese.
