Structural Ambiguity

University of Imam Ja`afar Al-sadiq/Baghdad
College of Arts
Department: English Literature
Morning Studies
Third stage
Subject of report
( Structural Ambiguity)
Mohammed Ammar Hashim
Dr. Abdul Majeed Hammed
Year (2019/2020)
Introduction
In English grammar, syntactic ambiguity (also called structural ambiguity or
grammatical ambiguity) is the presence of two or more possible meanings
within a single sentence or sequence of words, as opposed to lexical
ambiguity, which is the presence of two or more possible meanings within
a single word. The intended meaning of a syntactically ambiguous phrase
can generally—although not always—be determined by the context of its
use.
structural ambiguity, where a sentence may be interpreted in more than
one way due to ambiguous sentence structure.
Syntactic ambiguity arises not from the range of meanings of single words,
but from the relationship between the words and clauses of a sentence,
and the sentence structure underlying the word order therein. In other
words, a sentence is syntactically ambiguous when a reader or listener can
reasonably interpret one sentence as having more than one possible
structure.
example:
- John said that Bill slipped in the kitchen
This sentence has two possible meanings;
Either John said it in kitchen, or Bill slipped in the kitchen
1
Factors of Structural Ambiguity In English
1-Duality of Parts of Speech:
Any sentence in English is an arrangement of words as parts of speech. if
the listeners or readers do not know the identity of those parts of speech,
they will not understand the message being communicated, for example:
They are encouraging reports.
The word encouraging may be a verb and in this case the sentence would
mean : They are encouraging reports. Or it can be an adjectival giving the
following meaning: These reports are encouraging.
2- The Immediate Constituent:
A sentence or part of a sentence is ambiguous when it carries
more than one meaning. Any sentence in English can be divided into
immediate constituents hence forth ICs. Dividing a sentence into ICs does
not provide much information though sometimes it is clear. In this way the
sentence shows ambiguity i.e. a difference in meaning which results from
difference in the hierarchical structure of the IC analysis. For example
The old men and women.
This sentence is ambiguous and the ambiguity is illustrated by
paraphrasing it as follows:
1. The old men and women.
2. The old men and the old women.
In this case the ambiguity occurs because the constituents of a sentence
are not clearly shown and the meaning is not clearly signaled
2
3- The Use of Pronouns:
The use of pronouns in sentences may sometimes cause ambiguity
specifically the personal pronouns. These pronouns are similar to the
proper nouns except in one respect; the pronouns should have
antecedents.
That is, the pronoun he will not occur unless a word like Sam, the boy, my
father precedes it.
Difficulties arise when the pronoun has more than one possible
antecedents, like:
Sam told his brother that he was not going to get a typewriter for the
Christmas.
Here he is preceded by two nouns either of which might be the antecedent.
Sam told his brother that he (Sam) was not going to get a typewriter for
Christmas.
or
Sam told his brother that he (his brother) was not going to get a typewriter
for Christmas.
4- Surface Structure And Deep Structure:
Any sentence when uttered is on the surface structure and this surface
structure may hide the presence of two or more deep structures.
For example the following sentence may appear to be ambiguous on the
surface:
I saw her in the street.
3
The phrase in the street goes with "I" in one interpretation and with "her"
in another. The two interpretations sound the same i.e. one surface
structure with two meanings.
How Ambiguity Leads to Misunderstanding

Syntactic ambiguity generally results from poor word choice. If care is not
used when selecting phrases that taken in a connotative rather than a
denotative context may have more than one meaning, or if the sentences
in which they're used are not properly constructed, the results can often be
confusing for readers or listeners. Here are some examples:
The professor said on Monday he would give an exam. This sentence means
either that it was on Monday that the professor told the class about the
exam or that the exam would be given on Monday.
The chicken is ready to eat. This sentence either means the chicken is
cooked and can be eaten now or the chicken is ready to be fed.
The burglar threatened the student with the knife. This sentence either
means that a knife-wielding burglar threatened a student or the student a
burglar threatened was holding a knife.
Visiting relatives can be boring. This sentence either means that the act of
visiting one's relatives can lead to boredom or that visiting relatives can
sometimes make for less than scintillating company.
Using Speech Cues to Decipher Syntactic Ambiguity
4
In "Cognitive Psychology," authors M. Eysenck and M. Keane tell us that
some syntactic ambiguity occurs at a "global level,"
meaning entire sentences can be open to two or more possible
interpretations, citing the sentence, "They are cooking apples," as an
example.
The ambiguity is whether the word "cooking" is being used as an adjective

or a verb. If it's an adjective, "they" refers to the apples and "cooking"
identifies the type of apples being discussed. If it's a verb, "they" refers to
the people who are cooking the apples.
The authors go on to say that listeners can figure out which meaning is
implied in spoken sentences "by using prosodic cues in the form of stress,
intonation, and so on." The example they cite here is the ambiguous
sentence: "The old men and women sat on the bench." The men are old,
but are the women also old?
They explain that if the women sitting on the bench are not elderly, when
the word "men" is spoken it will be relatively long in duration, while "the
stressed syllable in 'women' will have a steep rise in speech contour." If the
women on the bench are also old, these cues will not be present.

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University of Imam Ja`afar Al-sadiq/Baghdad

Mohammed Ammar Hashim

Dr. Abdul Majeed Hammed

How Ambiguity Leads to Misunderstanding

The ambiguity is whether the word "cooking" is being used as an adjective

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