{{MaterialUnderConstruction}}

=Scope Ambiguity=

/ æmbigjʊɘti/

==Definition==
Scope ambiguities arise when the scope (scope: an area over which activity, capacity, or influence extends) of a part - or parts - of a sentence is unclear. Quantifiers (words like 'every') and negations often give rise to scope ambiguites.

==Examples==

==Related terms==
*'''[[Glossary:Lexical Ambiguity|Lexical Ambiguity]]'''
*'''[[Glossary:Ambiguity|Ambiguity]]'''
*'''[[Glossary:Structural Ambiguity|Structural Ambiguity]]'''

==References==
*Bieswanger, Markus/Becker, Annette (2008): Introduction to English Linguistics. 2te aktual. Aufl. A Francke Verlag, Tübingen und Basel., p. 155/156.
*[http://www2.let.uu.nl/Uil-OTS/Lexicon/|Structural Ambiguity in Utrecht University, Lexicon of Linguistics]
*[http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scope | Thesaurus entry on 'scope']

Glossary:Scope Ambiguity

2013-03-21T10:17:36Z

Marc M:

Group1-Ex2-b-Solutions

2013-02-04T15:24:27Z

Marc M:

''We need more intelligent administrators.'' 

Possibility 1: 
We have enough administrators, but they are not bright enough and need to become more intelligent. 

Possibility 2: 
We do not have enough administrators and need more administrators who are intelligent. 

[[NMTS-Group1#Exercise II|Back to the exercise]]

NMTS-Group1

2013-02-04T15:22:17Z

Marc M: /* Exercise I */

{{MaterialUnderConstruction}}

(Back to the [[NMTS_Meeting_2#Groups|group overview]])

= Ambiguity (Group 1) =

== Overview ==

=== Members ===
* [[User:Nicki| Nicki]]
* [[User:Marc_M| Marc M]]
* [[User:Leo| Leo]]
* [[User:Anna_Böcher| Anna Böcher]]
* [[User:Lorena| Lorena]]

=== Short description of the topic ===
Ambiguity is an extremely widespread phenomenon on which many puns and jokes are based on. 

It can be differentiated between lexical and structural ambiguity. [[Glossary:Lexical_Ambiguity|Lexical ambiguity]] is defined as words having multiple meanings. 
''Example'': 
Is life worth living? It depends on the liver.

[[Glossary:Structural_Ambiguity|Structural ambiguity]] arises when the syntactic structure of a sentence allows more than one meaning. 
''Example'': 
rich women and men: [rich women] and men ''or'' rich [women or men] 
Anna saw tourists with binoculars.: Anna saw [tourists with binoculars] ''or'' Anna saw [tourists] with binoculars.

A double meaning is created on the lexical or structural level of meaning by:
*[[Glossary:Polysemy|polysemy]]
*[[Glossary:Homophony|homophony]]
*[[Glossary:Homonym|homonymy]] 

== References and links ==

=== References ===
*Bieswanger, Markus & Annette Becker. 2006. ''Introduction to English Linguistics'' (3rd edition). Tübingen and Basel: A. Francke Verlag. 
*Kortmann, Bernd. 2005. ''English Linguistics: Essentials''. Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag.
*Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert & Hyams, Nina. 2003. ''An Introduction to Language'' (7th edition). Boston: Thomson Heinle.
*Matthias Bauer, Joachim Knape, Peter Koch, Susanne Winkler (2010): Dimensionen der Ambiguität. Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 158, 7-75.

=== Links ===

* [[Glossary:Ambiguity|ambiguity (definition in Basic Glossary)]]

* [[Glossary:Lexical_Ambiguity|lexical ambiguity (definition in Basic Glossary)]]

* [[Glossary:Polysemy|polysemy (definition in Basic Glossary)]]

* [[Glossary:Homophony|homophony (definition in Basic Glossary)]]

* [[Glossary:Homonym|homonymy (definition in Basic Glossary)]]

* [http://www2.let.uu.nl/Uil-OTS/Lexicon/ "ambiguity" in Utrecht Institute of Linguistics, Lexicon of Linguistics ]

* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ambiguity/ "ambiguity" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

* [http://online.sfsu.edu/kbach/ambguity.html Online version of Kent Bach's entry on ''ambiguity'' in the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.]

= Our e-learning objects =

== Our wikipages ==

* [[Glossary:Antonym|antonym (definition in Basic Glossary)]] 
* [[Glossary:entailment|entailment (definition in Basic Glossary)]] 
* [[Glossary:Homograph|homograph (definition in Basic Glossary)]] 
* [[Glossary:Register|register (definition in Basic Glossary)]] 
* [[Glossary:Structural_Ambiguity|structural ambiguity (definition in Basic Glossary)]] 

== Our podcasts ==

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyyqkS1aofI Podcast on Lexical Ambiguity]

[[NMTS_Meeting_10]]

== Our materials for an interactive whiteboard ==
List all the files that your group created for the interactive whiteboard.

== Our pictures ==

<gallery>
File:Carlo.jpg|Anna's cat Carlo
File:MarcM1.jpg|Marc M
File:Nicki1.jpg|Nicki
File:PA080194.jpg|Jellyfishes (Zoo Berlin), Lorena's picture
File:Leo.jpeg|Leo
</gallery>

== Our exercises ==

* Exercise on types of ambiguities. [[Determine_the_type_of_ambiguity|Link to the exercise]] (only one example so far). 

=== Exercise I ===
'''General definition of ambiguity''' 

a) What is an ambiguous word? 
1. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-a-1|a word with only one meaning]] 
2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-a-2|a polysemous word]] 
3. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-a-3|a homophone word]] 

b) What is the technical term for words that have more than one meaning? 
1. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-1|scope ambiguity]] 
2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-2|lexical ambiguity]] 
3. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-3|structural ambiguity]] 

c) Which word is the ambiguous word in the sentence? 
1. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-1|I bought it without any further inquiry.]] 
2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-2|There is no bank in this town.]] 

d) Think of three sentences in which the word “hot” has different meanings. 
[[Group1-Ex1-e-Solution|{{CheckSolution}}]] 

=== Exercise II===
'''Different types of ambiguity''' 

a) Also phrases and whole sentences can have more than more than one meaning. How is this form of ambiguity called? 
1. [[Group1-Ex2-Solution-a-1|Scope Ambiguity]] 
2. [[Group1-Ex2-Solution-a-2|Lexical Ambiguity]] 
3. [[Group1-Ex2-Solution-a-3|Structural Ambiguity]] 
Comment: good that you link to the definitions here. But the question is not very good, because a sentence can be ambiguous because of a scope ambiguity or a lexical ambiguity, not just because of a scope ambiguity. Please reformulate your question.

b) Which two meanings does the following sentence contain? Paraphrase them. 
''We need more intelligent administrators''. 
→ [[Group1-Ex2-b-Solutions|Paraphrases]] 
Comment:
1) give a linguistic characterization of the ambiguity. In reading 1 ''more'' is used as the comparative particle, i.e. ''more intelligent'' forms one constituent. In reading 2 ''more'' is used as a determiner, i.e., it combines with the phrase ''intelligent administrators''.


c) Think of an ambiguous phrase or sentence on your own and explain its ambiguity. 
→ [[Group1-Ex2-e-Solutions|Example]] 

===Exercise III===
'''Trees''' 

a) Draw the two different trees of the following paraphrase. 
''poor women and men'' 
→ [[Group1-Ex2-c-Solutions|Trees]] 

b) Draw the two different trees of the following sentence. 
''Peter read the book on the Eiffel-Tower''. 
→ [[Group1-Ex2-d-Solutions|Trees]] 

Comment: maybe in b) you could add an explanation which two readings are possible, like you did in a)

Group1-Ex1-e-Solution

2013-02-04T15:21:41Z

Marc M:

The Oxford dictionary proposes the following six different solutions (According to the dictionary you used other solutions might be possible)

* This girl is really hot. -> hot = good looking
* This pepper is really hot. -> hot = extremely spicy
* This soup is really hot. -> hot = warm
* That was a really hot debate -> hot = involving much activity
* Marc is very hot on Hifi. -> hot = very knowledgable, interested in
* The whole situation was too hot to be handled by us alone -> hot = difficult to deal with

If you want to check if a word has different meanings you can consult a dictionary. A good address is http://oxforddictionaries.com 

[[NMTS-Group1#Exercise I| Let's try some other exercises!]]

2013-02-04T14:59:18Z

Marc M:

Sorry, but your answer is not entirely correct.

Polysemous means that a sound sequence has two or more different, but '''semantically related''' meanings 

e.g. 
'''Man'''
*A human being (vs. animal)
*A male human being (vs. female)
*An adult male human being (vs. boy)

See the Glossary entry on [[Glossary: Polysemy| Polysemy]] for more information. 

[[NMTS-Group1#Exercise I| Try it again, please!]]