Syntactic analysis and countermeasures of ambiguous sentences

【Abstract】Ambiguity is a common phenomenon in language， and ambiguous sentences in English are more common. The existence of English ambiguous sentences is mainly caused by three factors， pronunciation， vocabulary and syntax. The syntactic ambiguity is the scope of the study of syntax， and is an important part of it. In this paper， we will combine examples to explain the syntactic mechanism of the source of several structural ambiguities in English， and try to propose a practical approach that overcome and eliminate such ambiguity.

【Key words】Ambiguity; Linguistics; Practical method

【作者簡介】高子芮，云南大学旅游文化学院。

Introduction：Ambiguity refers to the fact that a structural term in a language contains more than two different interpretations leading to two or more interpretations of the structural term. Ambiguity makes the meaning of sentences unclear and ambiguous， and becomes a barrier in language communication. Ambiguity is a very important linguistic phenomenon， and it is also an important part of linguistics， especially semantics.

1. The Introduction of Ambiguity

A. Definition of ambiguity

Ambiguous sentences produce two possible sentences in understanding， in other words， sentences that can be understood in one way or another. How many ways of understanding a sentence.

The study of ambiguity in modern linguistics is quite different from that in traditional grammar. The latter points to the function of commenting on ambiguity and only considers the difficulties in grammatical provisions such as homonymy and polysemy. The former attempts to describe the ability of native speakers to understand its meaning.

Linguists observe languages at three levels： phonetic， syntactic and semantic. Bolinger and Kingstmann thought that phonological factors， such as connection， segmentation， stress and intonation， were the most important factors of ambiguity. The change of meaning brought by the ever-changing tone is difficult to describe， so the ambiguity caused by the tone is inevitable. The causes of ambiguity at the phonological level are “homonym polysemous” and “polysemous” discovered by traditional grammars. The so-called polysemy is that a word has multiple meanings， and these meanings revolve around a single center.

B. The function of ambiguity sentences

Ambiguity is a normal phenomenon for natural language. It is difficult to simply say good or bad. Can not all be regarded as a language disease， complete prohibition. Ambiguity is even used consciously in literary works. In crosstalk works， ambiguity is often used to create baggage. Some rhetorical devices， such as “puns”， which are frequently used in daily oral communication and written communication， can also be regarded as positive application of ambiguity in a certain sense.

2. The classification of ambiguous sentences

2.1 The Type of ambiguity sentence

Ambiguity sentence is a kind of grammatical form that exists widely in language system， and it can also be called ambiguous sentence. It refers to a linguistic phenomenon with two or more meanings in the same language form.

We can discuss the types of ambiguous sentences from the following aspects： homonym， word weight， polysemous words， multiple parts of speech， combinational levels， semantic relations， multiple modifiers， verb-object structures， and inexplicable meanings.

At the level of semantics， the main purpose of the study of ambiguity is to explain the psychological process in which language users recognize and eliminate ambiguity according to context. Instead of analyzing ambiguous sentences in isolation， this study considers how context plays a role in the interpretation of ambiguous sentences.

2.2 Example & Analysis

There are two or more possible interpretations of the meaning of a language. Ambiguity occurs in many ways， such as：

It is too cold to eat.  “It”：something/weather

這个太冷了，不可以吃。

天气实在是太冷了，不可以吃。

In a sense， the ambiguous sentences we mentioned above can be classified as contextual ambiguities， because in a specific context， these sentences will not be ambiguous. Therefore， it is the context that makes the sentence ambiguous.

Contextual ambiguity refers to the fact that only one sentence or one sentence is placed in a specific context， otherwise it will be ambiguous. Many linguists believe that although sentences may be ambiguous， words are not ambiguous. Ambiguity is not a real problem in life， because the use of language generally occurs in a specific context or non-linguistic context.

3. The countermeasures of the ambiguity

In order to eliminate ambiguity， we can make use of the change of pronunciation， the difference of stress and the difference of pause. We can eliminate ambiguity by adding context， changing words， changing word order， adding modifiers， adding punctuation marks and adding related words. We can also use contextual methods to make the meaning of a sentence clear.

3.1 Word choice

The accuracy of the use of words is an important way for us to eliminate ambiguous sentences. The choice words mentioned here are the words used to avoid ambiguity.

Word change，As the name suggests， it is to use the right words to replace inappropriate words. When the quantitative phrase is used as an attributive to cause ambiguity， the ambiguous sentence can be eliminated by appropriately changing the quantifier.

Adding words is to add words， that is， according to the needs of expression， add appropriate words in the appropriate position of the sentence， so that the semantics are fixed.

3.2 Reorganization of the order

We can eliminate the ambiguous sentence by reordering the word order. Sentences are ambiguous， and both meanings make sense， but you can only choose one. Reordering the word order is based on the need to express a definition. The goal is to help readers receive the right information.

3.3 Transformation of sentence patterns

There are many sentences in peoples minds. When you encounter a sentence， everyone always puts it into a certain sentence to understand. However， this type of sentence is often illegible and causes ambiguous sentences. Therefore， according to the semantics， the original general sentence is changed to the word “put” or “be”， so that the semantic meaning is the only to eliminate ambiguity.

4. Conclusion 

To sum up， we can see that ambiguity is an inherent characteristic of natural language， which is inevitable in peoples daily life. The reasons are as follows： first， the fundamental mechanism lies in the infinite use of finite language means， which leads to the asymmetry between the forms of expression and the content of human language. Second， in order to meet the needs of human thinking and communication， that is to say， the linguistic inertia formed by people in daily communication has been accepted by most people. So the purpose of our discussion of ambiguity now is to make sense of it. In order to eliminate its negative role in the process of language use， so that people can obtain information more effectively in their daily life. From my perspective， as long as we are proficient in the knowledge of ambiguity， understand the common causes of ambiguity， be able to identify ambiguous sentences in reading， avoid ambiguity in the course of our usual writing， be strict in logical thinking， and use accurate language. We can improve our language cultivation and solve the ambiguity problem flexibly.

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