What is an ambiguous phrase

It should mean that the same form of language symbol sequence expresses two or more different meanings.

Expressing different meanings in the same form is an important feature that distinguishes human natural language from artificial language, and ambiguity is the embodiment of natural language. Studying the types, causes and methods of distinguishing ambiguity will help us to deepen our understanding of the complexity and fineness of Chinese grammatical structure.

Types of ambiguity

According to the causes of ambiguity, ambiguity can be divided into two types: lexical ambiguity and grammatical ambiguity.

1, lexical ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity refers to the ambiguity caused by lexical reasons.

Lexical ambiguity includes ambiguity caused by homophones and polysemous words.

① Homophonic ambiguity

Homophonic ambiguity refers to the ambiguity phenomenon with the same pronunciation but different meanings.

Example 1:

No level

No water bottle

Example 2:

There will be a mid-term exam next week.

There will be a final exam next week.

Example 3:

A new cruise ship designed and manufactured by China.

A new tanker designed and manufactured by China.

A new type of mail ship designed and manufactured by China.

Example 4:

Dear teacher (teacher)

Respect the teacher (the head of a division in the army)

② Polysemy

Improper use of polysemous words can also cause ambiguity.

Example 1:

Lend you ten dollars.

Example 2:

A black taxi.

Example 3:

The shop is closed.

Example 4:

I didn't attend class yesterday.

Example 1 "Borrow" can mean both borrowing and borrowing.

Example 2 "Black" can mean black, or it can mean illegal and undisclosed.

"Closing the door" can mean closing the business and it's time to get off work.

Example 4 "class" can be that the teacher gives lectures and the students attend classes.

2. Grammatical ambiguity

① Ambiguity caused by different parts of speech

Example 1:

The bike is unlocked.

Example 2:

Climb over that mountain

Example 3:

No job yet.

Example 4:

The porridge is not hot.

Example 1 "no" can be either a verb to deny "own" (the bicycle is not locked) or an adverb to deny "already" (the bicycle is not locked).

Example 2 "Guo" can be a dynamic auxiliary word, indicating that the action has taken place (climbing that mountain last year), or a directional verb, indicating that the action has been completed (climbing to the other side of the mountain).

Example 3 "Work" can be either a verb indicating "work" (I haven't started working yet) or a noun indicating "occupation" (I haven't found a job yet).

Example 4 "heat" can be either a verb meaning "heating" (porridge needs heating) or an adjective meaning "high temperature" (porridge is cold).

② Grammatical combination ambiguity

Ⅰ Different structural relationships

On behalf of the factory director, reserve opinions on the modification scheme of copied materials. Imported computers (object-to-object relationship/relationship between both parties)

Physical chemistry (joint relationship/partial relationship) of the system specification of butter and bread for the people of the motherland in schools and hospitals

Economic difficulties, thinking, scientific pronunciation standards, canteen hygiene, social progress (subject-predicate relationship/biased relationship)

They work in your school and our factory.

Ⅱ. Different structural levels

Example 1:

Gifts from many friends ∨ Analysis process of gifts from many friends ∨.

Formal name verb auxiliary name formal name verb auxiliary name.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ in | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| _ _ _ Ding _ _) || Partial positive relation | _ _ Subject ||| | | Predicate | Subject-predicate relation

| | | The | partial positive relationship in | | | subject-predicate relationship | _ d)

This means more gifts and more friends.

Example 2:

China's Language Studies and China's Language Studies

| _ _ || _ _ _ | Partially positive correlation | _ _ _ | | Partially positive correlation

| _|||||||| Partial positive relation|||||| Partial positive relation

Example 3:

Newly built gymnasium and track field newly built gymnasium and track field.

| _ _ _ _ _ || _ | Joint relationship | _ | _ _ _ | Partial relationship

| _ _ || _ _ _ | Partial positive relationship | _ _ | | _ | Joint relationship

Example 4:

Opinions on the factory director opinions on the factory director

| _ _ || _ _ _ _ _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| _ |||| _ | Partial positive relationship | _||||| Object-object relationship

③ Semantic combination ambiguity

I have different semantic relations

Example 1:

The man didn't ask.

Example 2:

The car is gone.

Example 1 "This person" may be an agent (this person has not asked me) or a patient (this person has not asked me).

The "car" may be the victim (the car has been transported away) or the tool (the car has been transported away).

Ii semantic orientation is different.

Example 1:

He is writing on the train.

Example 2:

Our classmates went to more than twenty people.

The prepositional phrase "on the train" can mean both "he" (he is on the train and he writes) and "writing" (he writes and his words are written on the train).

The semantic meaning of adverb "Jiu" can point to "our classmates", which means that many people go, and "Jiu" can also point to "twenty people", which means that few people go.

Ambiguity elimination

1, using context to disambiguate

Ambiguity in Chinese mainly exists in phrases. Generally speaking, after ambiguous phrases enter a specific context, they will automatically eliminate ambiguity through the constraints of context.

Example 1:

Physical chemistry-→ Physical chemistry is an interdisciplinary subject of physics and chemistry.

-→ Physical chemistry cannot be ignored.

Example 2:

Battery transporter-→ This is a newly developed battery transporter, and gasoline is no longer needed as fuel.

-→ The battery transporter in the battery factory is broken.

Example 3:

She was born last year-→ She was born last year and is under two years old this year.

She was born last year, but she hasn't fully recovered.

Example 4:

Killed the hunter's dog-→ His gun went off and killed the hunter's dog.

The hunter's body was found, but the dog that killed the hunter ran away.

2. Disambiguation through speech.

1) pause

Ambiguities caused by different structural levels can be eliminated by pausing.

For example, (∨ means pause)

Gifts from many friends, gifts from many friends.

| _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ | Partial positive relationship | _ _ _ | | Partial positive relationship

The partial positive relationship | _ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

| _ ||| _ | Subject-predicate relationship

② Gentle

Ambiguity caused by polysemy can be eliminated by whispering. For example, in I remember, "get up" is a general verb when it is not read softly, which forms a predicate-object relationship with the verb "want to get up". "Get up" is a directional verb when it is read softly, which is the complement of the verb "think", meaning "I forgot just now, but now I remember".

③ Pressure

Stress can also distinguish ambiguity and clarify the semantic orientation of words. For example, "I like Sichuan food very much", the stress is on the subject "I", and "special" points to "I", indicating that "I" like Sichuan food best among many people. The stress is on the object of "eating Sichuan food", and "special" points to "eating Sichuan food", indicating that "I" like Sichuan food best among different cuisines.

3. Change or add appropriate words.

Example 1:

Teachers in three schools-→ teachers in three schools

-→ Three school teachers

Example 2:

That black taxi-→ that black taxi

-→ That illegal taxi

Example 3:

No food for dinner-→ No vegetables for dinner.

-→ There are no vegetables for dinner

Example 4:

A book written by Lu Xun.

-→ A book about Lu Xun

-→ A book collected by Lu Xun

4. Adjust the order between words.

Example 1:

The road is built outside the courtyard wall-→ the road is built outside the courtyard wall.

Example 2:

There are guns on the mountain-→ There are guns on the mountain.

Example 3:

No one knows this man.

Example 4:

It is his father who cares-→ His father cares about him.