Syntactic ambiguity
Encyclopedia
Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentence
s which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing. Ambiguity may or may not involve one word having two parts of speech or homonym
s.
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 implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text is equivocal and meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.
In legal disputes, court
s may be asked to interpret the meaning of syntactic ambiguities in statutes or contracts. In some instances, arguments asserting highly unlikely interpretations have been deemed frivolous.
s are written in a telegraphic style (headlinese
) which often omits the copula
and therefore lends itself to syntactic ambiguity, usually of the garden path
type. The name 'crash blossoms' was proposed for these ambiguous headlines by Dan Bloom and Mike O'Connell in the Testy Copy Editors discussion group in August 2009 based on a headline "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms". The Columbia Journalism Review regularly reprints such headlines in its "The Lower case" column, and has collected them in the anthologies Squad helps dog bite victim and Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge.
Many purported crash blossoms are actually apocryphal or recycled. One celebrated one from World War I
is "French push bottles up German rear"; life imitated art in the Second World War
headline "Eighth Army Push Bottles Up German Rear".
The following is an example of scope ambiguity—which operator is logically 'above' the other. Some linguistic theories consider them syntactic ambiguities, while other linguistic theories consider them semantic ambiguities.
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
s which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing. Ambiguity may or may not involve one word having two parts of speech or homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
s.
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 implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text is equivocal and meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.
In legal disputes, court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s may be asked to interpret the meaning of syntactic ambiguities in statutes or contracts. In some instances, arguments asserting highly unlikely interpretations have been deemed frivolous.
Syntactic and semantic ambiguity
In syntactic ambiguity, the same sequence of words is interpreted as having different syntactic structures. In contrast, in semantic ambiguity, the structure remains the same, but the individual words are interpreted differently.In headlines
Newspaper headlineHeadline
The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
s are written in a telegraphic style (headlinese
Headlinese
Headlinese is nonconversational, abbreviated writing style used in newspaper headlines.-Syntax:Because space is limited, headlines are written in a compressed telegraphic style, using special syntactic conventions:...
) which often omits the copula
Zero copula
Zero copula is a linguistic phenomenon whereby the subject is joined to the predicate without overt marking of this relationship...
and therefore lends itself to syntactic ambiguity, usually of the garden path
Garden path sentence
A garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that the readers' most likely interpretation will be incorrect; they are lured into an improper parse that turns out to be a dead end. Garden path sentences are used in psycholinguistics to illustrate the fact that...
type. The name 'crash blossoms' was proposed for these ambiguous headlines by Dan Bloom and Mike O'Connell in the Testy Copy Editors discussion group in August 2009 based on a headline "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms". The Columbia Journalism Review regularly reprints such headlines in its "The Lower case" column, and has collected them in the anthologies Squad helps dog bite victim and Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge.
Many purported crash blossoms are actually apocryphal or recycled. One celebrated one from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
is "French push bottles up German rear"; life imitated art in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
headline "Eighth Army Push Bottles Up German Rear".
Examples
Here are some examples:- The cow was found by a stream by a farmer. (Did the farmer find the cow near the stream? Or was the cow found near a stream that was near a farmer? Or did the stream find the cow near a farmer?)
- Flying planes can be dangerous. (Either the act of flying planes is dangerous, or planes that are flying are dangerous.)
- I know the people John knows. (Either I am acquainted with the same people as John is, or I know who John's acquaintances are.)
- They are hunting dogs. (Either "they" are hunting for dogs, or those dogs are a type known as "hunting dogs".)
- Eye Drops Off Shelf. (Describing eye dropsEye DropsEye Drops was a television program on TechTV that showcased short computer animation movies and clips made using off the shelf 3D animation software. The show claimed to showcase all different types of animation, but only a very small number of shorts featured non-CG animation...
that came from a shelf, an eye that fell from its location on a shelf, or an eye that delivered a shelf)
- I'm going to sleep. ("Going" can be a verb with destination "sleep" or an auxiliary indicating near future. So it can mean "I am (now) falling asleep", "I am (in the future) intending to sleep" or "I am leaving (this event) to (go and) sleep")
- The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, the prophet. (Which of the three is the prophet?)
- The British left waffles on Falklands (Did the British leave waffles behind, or is there waffling by the British Left?)
- Monty flies back to front. (Monty returns to the frontline, Monty flies backwards, the Monty variety of flies are backwards, or the Monty variety of flies retreat to the front?)
- The Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
(An orchestra of electric lights, or a light orchestra that's electric)
- Stolen painting found by tree. (Either a tree found a stolen painting, or a stolen painting was found sitting next to a tree.)
- I'm glad I'm a man, and so is Lola.Lola (song)"Lola" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by The Kinks which details a romantic encounter between a young man and a transvestite he meets in a club in Soho, London....
(can mean "Lola and I are both glad I'm a man", or "I'm glad Lola and I are both men", or "I'm glad I'm a man, and Lola is also a man")
- Rubber baby buggy bumpers. (Either they are bumpers made of rubber designed for baby buggies, or they are bumpers made for buggies which carry rubber babies.)
- Little Hope Given Brain-Damaged Man (A brain-damaged man is unlikely to recover, or a brain-damaged man is causing another situation to have little hope of resolution, or someone gave a brain-damaged man to a small girl named Hope.)
- Somali Tied to Militants Held on U.S. Ship for Months. (Either the Somali was held for months, or the Somali was just now linked to militants who were held for months. One could also imagine rope was involved, at which point lexical ambiguity comes into play.)
- Free Ireland. (Either a syntactical entity or a Republican call-to-arms.)
The following is an example of scope ambiguity—which operator is logically 'above' the other. Some linguistic theories consider them syntactic ambiguities, while other linguistic theories consider them semantic ambiguities.
- Someone ate every tomato. (Either some one person ate all of the tomatoes, or for each tomato there is some one person who ate it--Ariel ate one, John ate one, etc.)
See also
- AmbiguityAmbiguityAmbiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity...
- AmphibologyAmphibologyAmphibology or amphiboly is an ambiguous grammatical structure in a sentence. -Examples:*Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive...
- Garden path sentenceGarden path sentenceA garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that the readers' most likely interpretation will be incorrect; they are lured into an improper parse that turns out to be a dead end. Garden path sentences are used in psycholinguistics to illustrate the fact that...
- List of linguistic example sentences
- Natural language processingNatural language processingNatural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
- ParaprosdokianParaprosdokianA paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax...
- Transderivational searchTransderivational searchTransderivational search is a psychological and cybernetics term, meaning when a search is being conducted for a fuzzy match across a broad field. In computing the equivalent function can be performed using content-addressable memory.Unlike usual searches, which look for literal Transderivational...
- Ibis redibis