AMBIGUITY

1. LEXICAL
a. Polysemous
Ex. Poor
poor speaker = not very good
poor speaker = with no money
It can be
- deliberate
- spontaneous
b. Homographs
i. Similarities
1. Sound Humour can be produced deliberately
Ex. Bear/bare, ant/aunt
2. Spelling written text
Ex. Tear/tear
ii. Sound alike and spelled the same
Ex. Cleave
2. GRAMMATICAL
a. Possessive manipulated can produced ambiguity.
Ex. We admired Prince Charles painting
bought by
of
made by
Ex. He disappointed of Marys leaving home
leaving: que abanadona
Marys: Mara (no decepciona la accin, sino la persona)
b. Elliptical clauses (with no context, no meaning prefixed)
Ex. Mary likes Manchester better
comparacin con otra ciudad
comparacin con otro equipo de ftbol
le gusta ms en una poca de tiempo
c. Adverbial/adjectival
Ex. The students discussed his problems with the classmate
The problem of the classmate or of another person with the
classmate.
The problem of the classmate or of another person among
them.

3. LITERARY
a. Ambiguity created by the author
b. Metaphoric manipulation
Jonathan Swift (1667.1745). a modest proposal (1729) as a solution to
the Irish famine eat the children!

Sin saber la historia, el final no tiene nada que ver. En realidad se trata
de una irona por parte del autor. Its a reaction to the English perverse.
Sin el contexto parece una barbaridad.

SENTENCES
-

He protested the questioning of the lawyers

o
Passive the questions asked to the lawyers
o
Active lawyers are asking
o
The question of the lawyers but not of the others
Those kids are frightening children
George fell downstairs
o
Se cay cuando bajaba por las escaleras
o
Se cay en el suelo de la planta B (=downstairs)
In France,we saw Rodins famous statue
Fliying planes can be dangerous
o Pilot
o The game
o The planes that fly
The lawyer told her she didnt feel confident about the case
o
Abogada no segura
o
Que otra persona no segura