NMTS-Group1: Difference between revisions
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2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-2|lexical ambiguity]]<br /> | 2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-2|lexical ambiguity]]<br /> | ||
3. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-3|structural ambiguity]]<br /> | 3. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-b-3|structural ambiguity]]<br /> | ||
<span style="color:red">Comment: provide more information in the solution!</span> | |||
c) Which word is the ambiguous word in the sentence?<br /> | c) Which word is the ambiguous word in the sentence?<br /> | ||
1. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-1|I bought it.]]<br /> | 1. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-1|I bought it.]]<br /> | ||
2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-2|There is no bank in this town.]]<br /> | 2. [[Group1-Ex1-Solution1-c-2|There is no bank in this town.]]<br /> | ||
<span style="color:red">Comment: provide more information in the solution!</span> | |||
d) Can you explain the ambiguity in c) by paraphrasing the sentences?<br /> | d) Can you explain the ambiguity in c) by paraphrasing the sentences?<br /> | ||
| Line 114: | Line 116: | ||
e) Think of three sentences in which the word “hot” has different meanings.<br /> | e) Think of three sentences in which the word “hot” has different meanings.<br /> | ||
[[Group1-Ex1-e-Solution|{{CheckSolution}}]]<br /> | [[Group1-Ex1-e-Solution|{{CheckSolution}}]]<br /> | ||
<span style="color:red">Comment: you should give more example sentences with other meanings of ''hot''. Take all readings given in your favorite monolingual dictionary. For example: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hot?q=hot</span> | |||
* '''Exercise II: different types of ambiguity'''<br /> | * '''Exercise II: different types of ambiguity'''<br /> | ||
Revision as of 23:05, 28 January 2013
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(Back to the group overview)
Ambiguity (Group 1)
Overview
Members
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. Lexical ambiguity is defined as words having multiple meanings.
Example:
Is life worth living? It depends on the liver.
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:
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
Our e-learning objects
Our wikipages
- antonym (definition in Basic Glossary)
- entailment (definition in Basic Glossary)
- homograph (definition in Basic Glossary)
- register (definition in Basic Glossary)
- structural ambiguity (definition in Basic Glossary)
Our podcasts
Our materials for an interactive whiteboard
List all the files that your group created for the interactive whiteboard.
Our pictures
Anna's cat Carlo
Marc M
Nicki
Jellyfishes (Zoo Berlin), Lorena's picture
Leo
Our exercises
- Exercise on types of ambiguities. Link to the exercise (only one example so far).
- Exercise I: general definition of ambiguity
a) What is an ambiguous word?
1. a word with only one meaning
2. a polysemous word, i.e. a sound sequence that has two or more different, but semantically related meanings
3. a homophone word, i.e. a form that has two or more distinct meanings, but is pronounced in the same way
Comment: provide more information in the solution!
b) What is the technical term for words that have more than one meaning?
1. scope ambiguity
2. lexical ambiguity
3. structural ambiguity
Comment: provide more information in the solution!
c) Which word is the ambiguous word in the sentence?
1. I bought it.
2. There is no bank in this town.
Comment: provide more information in the solution!
d) Can you explain the ambiguity in c) by paraphrasing the sentences?
Check your solution!
e) Think of three sentences in which the word “hot” has different meanings.
Check your solution!
Comment: you should give more example sentences with other meanings of hot. Take all readings given in your favorite monolingual dictionary. For example: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hot?q=hot
- 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. Scope Ambiguity
2. Lexical Ambiguity
3. Structural Ambiguity
b) Which two meanings does the following sentence contain? Paraphrase them.
We need more intelligent administrators.
--> Paraphrases
c) Think of an ambiguous phrase or sentence on your own and explain its ambiguity.
--> Example
- Exercise III: Trees
a) Draw the two different trees of the following paraphrase.
poor women and men
--> Trees
b) Draw the two different trees of the following sentence.
Peter read the book on the Eiffel-Tower.
--> Trees