Ambiguity

Ambiguity

 

 

Ambiguity is a type of uncertainty of meaning in which several interpretations are plausible. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement whose intended meaning cannot be definitively resolved according to a rule or process with a finite number of steps. (The ambi- part of the name reflects an idea of "two" as in two meanings.)

The concept of ambiguity is generally contrasted with vagueness. In ambiguity, specific and distinct interpretations are permitted (although some may not be immediately apparent), whereas with information that is vague, it is difficult to form any interpretation at the desired level of specificity.

Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity. For example, the same piece of information may be ambiguous in one context and unambiguous in another.

The lexical ambiguity of a word or phrase pertains to its having more than one meaning in the language to which the word belongs. "Meaning" here refers to whatever should be captured by a good dictionary. For instance, the word "bank" has several distinct lexical definitions, including "financial institution" and "edge of a river". Another example is as in "apothecary". One could say "I bought herbs from the apothecary". This could mean one actually spoke to the apothecary (pharmacist) or went to the apothecary (pharmacy).

The context in which an ambiguous word is used often makes it evident which of the meanings is intended. If, for instance, someone says "I buried $100 in the bank", most people would not think someone used a shovel to dig in the mud. However, some linguistic contexts do not provide sufficient information to disambiguate a used word.

Lexical ambiguity can be addressed by algorithmic methods that automatically associate the appropriate meaning with a word in context, a task referred to as word sense disambiguation.

The use of multi-defined words requires the author or speaker to clarify their context, and sometimes elaborate on their specific intended meaning (in which case, a less ambiguous term should have been used). The goal of clear concise communication is that the receiver(s) have no misunderstanding about what was meant to be conveyed. An exception to this could include a politician whose "weasel words" and obfuscation are necessary to gain support from multiple constituents with mutually exclusive conflicting desires from their candidate of choice. Ambiguity is a powerful tool of political science.

More problematic are words whose senses express closely related concepts. "Good", for example, can mean "useful" or "functional" (That's a good hammer), "exemplary" (She's a good student), "pleasing" (This is good soup), "moral" (a good person versus the lesson to be learned from a story), "righteous", etc. " I have a good daughter" is not clear about which sense is intended. The various ways to apply prefixes and suffixes can also create ambiguity ("unlockable" can mean "capable of being unlocked" or "impossible to lock").

Syntactic ambiguity arises when a sentence can have two (or more) different meanings because of the structure of the sentence—its syntax. This is often due to a modifying expression, such as a prepositional phrase, the application of which is unclear. "He ate the cookies on the couch", for example, could mean that he ate those cookies that were on the couch (as opposed to those that were on the table), or it could mean that he was sitting on the couch when he ate the cookies. "To get in, you will need an entrance fee of $10 or your voucher and your drivers' license." This could mean that you need EITHER ten dollars OR BOTH your voucher and your license. Or it could mean that you need your license AND you need EITHER ten dollars OR a voucher. Only rewriting the sentence, or placing appropriate punctuation can resolve a syntactic ambiguity. For the notion of, and theoretic results about, syntactic ambiguity in artificial, formal languages (such as computer programming languages), see Ambiguous grammar.

Spoken language can contain many more types of ambiguities which are called phonological ambiguities, where there is more than one way to compose a set of sounds into words. For example, "ice cream" and "I scream". Such ambiguity is generally resolved according to the context. A mishearing of such, based on incorrectly resolved ambiguity, is called a mondegreen.

Semantic ambiguity happens when a sentence contains an ambiguous word or phrase—a word or phrase that has more than one meaning. In "We saw her duck" (example due to Richard Nordquist), the word "duck" can refer either

1. to the person's bird (the noun "duck", modified by the possessive pronoun "her"), or
2. to a motion she made (the verb "duck", the subject of which is the objective pronoun "her", object of the verb "saw").

For example, "You could do with a new automobile. How about a test drive?" The clause "You could do with" presents a statement with such wide possible interpretation as to be essentially meaningless.^{[citation needed]} Lexical ambiguity is contrasted with semantic ambiguity. The former represents a choice between a finite number of known and meaningful context-dependent interpretations. The latter represents a choice between any number of possible interpretations, none of which may have a standard agreed-upon meaning. This form of ambiguity is closely related to vagueness.

Linguistic ambiguity can be a problem in law, because the interpretation of written documents and oral agreements is often of paramount importance.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ambiguity 

Read More

allomorph and zero allomorph

   Allomorph

In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme, that is, when a unit of meaning varies in sound without changing meaning. The term allomorph explains the comprehension of phonological variations for specific morphemes.

Allomorph is variant form of morpheme about the sounds and phonetic symbols but it doesn’t change the meaning. There are three types of allomorph, phonologically, morphologically and lexically conditioned allomorph.

1. Phonologically conditioned allomorph

The choice of allomorph is predictable on the basis of the pronounciation

• Allomorph of the indefinite article : an (before vowels, ex : an elephant) and a (before consonant, ex : a dog) both of them have meaning one,single.
• Allomorphs of the regular past tense morpheme

1. /id/ after d,t : hated
2. /t/ after all other voiceless sounds : picked
3. /d/ after all other voiced sounds : wedged
4. /im/ before bilabial sounds : impossible
5. /il/ before consonant /l/ : illegal
6. /in/ elsewhere : independent

• Some allomorph of the negative prefix in-

2. Morphologically conditioned allomorph

The choice of allomorph is determined by particular morphemes, not just by their pronounciation, ex : the morpheme –sume in changes to –sumpt- in (consume = consumption)

3. Lexically conditioned allomorph

The choice of allomorph is unpredictable, thus memorized on a word by word basis, ex : ox –plural- oxen, sheep-plural- sheep.

There are examples of allomorph.

Example :

1. Three different allomorphs

   Cats /s/
   
   Dogs/z/
   Boxes/iz/

2. One allomoprh

   Disagreement /dis/
   
   Discount /dis/
   Disbelieve /dis/

      3.Loved /d/

Two differen  allomorphs

     Voiced /d/

     Walked /t/

     Stopped /t/

     Kicked /t/

Note : allomorph occur at every morpheme, ex : agree (one morpheme, one allomorph)

So, allomorph is variant form of a morpheme about the sounds and phonetic symbol but it doesn’t change the meaning. Allomorph has different in pronounciation and spelling according to their condition. It means that allomorph will have different sound, pronounciation or spelling in different condition.

English has several morphemes that vary in sound but not in meaning. Examples include the past tense and the plural morphemes.

For example, in English, a past tense morpheme is -ed. It occurs in several allomorphs depending on its phonological environment, assimilating voicing of the previous segment or inserting a schwa when following an alveolar stop:

• as /əd/ or /ɪd/ in verbs whose stem ends with the alveolar stops /t/ or /d/, such as 'hunted' /hʌntɪd/ or 'banded' /bændɪd/
• as /t/ in verbs whose stem ends with voiceless phonemes other than /t/, such as 'fished' /fɪʃt/
• as /d/ in verbs whose stem ends with voiced phonemes other than /d/, such as 'buzzed' /bʌzd/

Notice the "other than" restrictions above. This is a common fact about allomorphy: if the allomorphy conditions are ordered from most restrictive (in this case, after an alveolar stop) to least restrictive, then the first matching case usually "wins". Thus, the above conditions could be re-written as follows:

• as /əd/ or /ɪd/ when the stem ends with the alveolar stops /t/ or /d/
• as /t/ when the stem ends with voiceless phonemes
• as /d/ elsewhere

The fact that the /t/ allomorph does not appear after stem-final /t/, despite the fact that the latter is voiceless, is then explained by the fact that /əd/ appears in that environment, together with the fact that the environments are ordered. Likewise, the fact that the /d/ allomorph does not appear after stem-final /d/ is because the earlier clause for the /əd/ allomorph takes priority; and the fact that the /d/ allomorph does not appear after stem-final voiceless phonemes is because the preceding clause for the /t/ takes priority.

Irregular past tense forms, such as "broke" or "was/ were", can be seen as still more specific cases (since they are confined to certain lexical items, such as the verb "break"), which therefore take priority over the general cases listed above.

Noun	1.	allomorph - any of several different crystalline forms of the same chemical compound; "calcium carbonate occurs in the allomorphs calcite and aragonite" chemical compound, compound - (chemistry) a substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight
	2.	allomorph - a variant phonological representation of a morpheme; "the final sounds of `bets' and `beds' and `horses' and `oxen' are allomorphs of the English plural morpheme" morpheme - minimal meaningful language unit; it cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allomorph

   

zero allomorph

 In morpheme-based morphology, the term null allomorph or zero allomorph is sometimes used to refer to some kind of null morpheme for which there are also contexts in which the underlying morpheme is manifested in the surface structure. It is therefore also an allomorph. The phenomenon itself is known as null allomorphy, morphological blocking or total morpheme blocking.

A zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in analysis but not realized in speech. Specifically in phonology, it refers to an element that is phonologically null. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "∅", . A common ad hoc solution is to use the Scandinavian capital letter Ø instead.
There are several kind of zeros.

• A zero morph, consisting of no phonetic form, is an allomorph of a morpheme that is otherwise realized in speech. In the phrase two sheep-∅, the plural marker is a zero morph, which is an allomorph of -s as in two cows. In the phrase I like-∅ it, the verb conjugation has a zero affix, as opposed to the third-person singular present -s in he likes it.
• A zero pronoun occurs in some languages. In the English sentence nobody knows ∅ the zero pronoun plays the role of the object of the verb, and in ∅ makes no difference it plays the role of the subject. Likewise, the zero pronoun in the book ∅ I am reading plays the role of the relative pronoun that in the book that I am reading. This is also referred to as PRO. In pronoun-dropping languages, including null subject languages such as most Romance languages, the zero pronoun is a prominent feature.
• A zero subordinate conjunction occurs in English in sentences like I know ∅ he likes me, in which the zero conjunction plays the role of the subordinate conjunction that in I know that he likes me.
• A zero article is an unrealized indefinite or definite article in some languages.
• A zero copula,in which a copula such as the verb to be is implied but absent. For example, in Russian the copula is usually omitted in the present tense, as in "Она красивая" (literally: She beautiful), the same happening with colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, as in "irônicos, aqueles" (literally: ironic, those [guys]), though never with the adjective coming after the subject as usual in Romance languages. In English the copula is sometimes omitted in some nonstandard dialects.

examples

• cat = cat + -Ø = ROOT ("cat") + SINGULAR
• cats = cat + -s = ROOT ("cat") + PLURAL

In addition, there are some cases in English where a null morpheme indicates plurality in nouns that take on irregular plurals.

• sheep = sheep + -Ø = ROOT ("sheep") + SINGULAR
• sheep = sheep + -Ø = ROOT ("sheep") + PLURAL

Also, a null morpheme marks the present tense of verbs in all forms but the third person singular:

• (I) run = run + -Ø = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: Non-3rd-SINGULAR
• (He) runs = run + -s = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: 3rd-SINGULAR

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_%28linguistics%29

Read More

implication

implication

Simple Definition of implication

• : a possible future effect or result
• : something that is suggested without being said directly : something that is implied

: the fact or state of being involved in or connected to something (such as a crime) : the fact or state of being implicated in something

Full Definition of implication

1. 1 a :  the act of implicating (see implicate):  the state of being implicated b :  close connection; especially :  an incriminating involvement
2. 2 a :  the act of implying :  the state of being implied b (1) :  a logical relation between two propositions that fails to hold only if the first is true and the second is false — see truth table table (2) :  a logical relationship between two propositions in which if the first is true the second is true (3) :  a statement exhibiting a relation of implication
3. 3 :  something implied: as a :  suggestion b :  a possible significance <the book has political implications>

im·pli·ca·tive play \ˈim-plə-ˌkā-tiv, im-ˈpli-kə-\ adjective

im·pli·ca·tive·ly adverb

im·pli·ca·tive·ness noun

See implication defined for English-language learners
See implication defined for kids

Examples of implication in a sentence

1. … but whereas Updike and Roth work to establish connection and coherence in the face of time's chaos, DeLillo is an artist of diffusion and dispersal, of implication and missing information. —A. O. Scott, New York Times Book Review, 21 May 2006
2. … the power of ideas to transform the world is itself accelerating. Although people readily agree with this observation when simply stated, very few people truly appreciate its profound implications. —Ray Kurzweil, Curious Minds, (2004) 2005
3. … the astronomer Edwin Hubble found that the universe is expanding, and by implication must have originated a finite time ago in an explosion popularly called the big bang. —Paul Davies, The New Physics, 1989
4. I'm offended by his implication that women can't be good at mathematics.
5. He condemned the court and, by implication, the entire legal system.
6. He was shocked by the implication of his partner in the theft.

Read More

denotation and connotation

The meaning of denotation and connotation

• In media-studies terminology, denotation is the first level of analysis: What the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor. Here it is usually coupled with connotation, which is the second level of analysis, being what the denotation represents.

• In logic, linguistics, and semiotics, a denotation of a word or phrase is a part of its meaning; however, several parts of meaning may take this name, depending on the contrast being drawn:
• Denotation and connotation are either
  • in basic semantics and literary theory, the literal and figurative meanings of a word, or,
  • in philosophy, logic and parts of linguistics, the extension and intension of a word

• Denotation can be synonymous with reference, and connotation with sense, in the sense and reference distinction in philosophy of language.

• In Computer science, denotational semantics is contrasted with operational semantics.

• In Semiotics, denotation also has its own meaning.

In logic and semantics, denotational always attracts the extension, meaning "in the pair," but the other element genuinely varies.
The distinction between connotation and denotation corresponds roughly to Gottlob Frege's ground-breaking and much-studied distinction between Sinn (sense) and Bedeutung (reference).
Bertrand Russell, in 1905, published a seminal article on the topic of denotation, entitled "On Denoting."
Denotation often links with symbolism, as the denotation of a particular media text often represents something further; a hidden meaning (or an enigma code) is often hidden in a media text.

Denotation is a translation of a sign to its meaning, precisely to its literal meaning, more or less like dictionaries try to define it. Denotation is sometimes contrasted to connotation, which translates a sign to meanings associated with it.

Denotation Examples in Literature

Let us analyze a few examples from literature:
1. An example of denotation literary term can be found in the poetic work of Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”:

“And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.”

In the above lines, the word “wall” is used to suggest a physical boundary which is its denotative meaning but it also implies the idea of “emotional barrier”.
2. William Wordsworth in his poem “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal” says:

“A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears–
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Roll’d round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks, and stones, and trees.”

Wordsworth makes a contrast between a living girl and a dead girl in the first and second stanza respectively. We are familiar to the meanings of the words used in the last line of the second stanza; rock, stone and tree but the poet uses them connotatively where rock and stone imply cold and inanimate object and the tree suggests dirt and thus the burial of that dead girl.
3. Look at the following lines from Shakespeare’s play “As you Like It”:

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,”

Shakespeare moves away from the denotative meanings of words in the above lines in order to give a symbolic sense to a few words. “a stage” symbolizes the world, “players” suggests human beings and “parts” implies different stages of their lives.
4. Sara Teasdale in her poem “Wild Asters” develops a number of striking symbols by deviating from the denotative meanings of the words:

“In the spring, I asked the daisies
If his words were true,
And the clever, clear-eyed daisies
Always knew.
Now the fields are brown and barren,
Bitter autumn blows,
And of all the stupid asters
Not one knows.”

In the above lines, “spring” and “daisies” are symbol of youth. “Brown and barren” are a symbol of transition from the youth to the old age. Moreover, “Bitter Autumn” symbolizes death.

Function of Denotation

Readers are familiar with denotations of words but denotations are generally restricted meanings. Writers, therefore, deviate from the denotative meanings of words to create fresh ideas and images that add deeper levels of meanings to common and ordinary words. Readers find it convenient to grasp the connotative meanings of words because of the fact that they are familiar to their literal meanings.
If you want to discuss the meaning of a word, it helps to know the difference between denotation and connotation. These two terms are easy to confuse because they describe related concepts. Additionally, both denotation and connotation stem from the Latin word notāre, meaning “to note.”
The denotation of a word or phrase is its explicit or direct meaning. Another way to think of it is as the associations that a word usually elicits for most speakers of a language, as distinguished from those elicited for any individual speaker because of personal experience.
The connotation of a word or phrase is the associated or secondary meaning; it can be something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described.
For example, the words home and house have similar denotations or primary meanings: a home is “a shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household,” and a house is “a building in which people live.” However, for many, these terms carry different associations or secondary meanings, also known as connotations. Many people would agree that home connotes a sense of belonging and comfort, whereas house conveys little more than a structure.
The connotation of a word depends on cultural context and personal associations, but the denotation of a word is its standardized meaning within the English language. One way to remember the difference between the terms is to take a hint from the prefixes: con- comes from Latin and means “together; with,” reminding us that the connotation of a word works with or alongside its more explicit meaning or denotation.



example

• The word "snake" simple denotes a reptile.  But it has the connotation of someone who can not be trusted, someone who cheats, and/or someone who will do harm to you if they can.
• In American English, both "kid" and "child" have the same denotation, but "kid" has a much more playful and affectionate connotation.
• In business/economic terms, the word "outsourcing" denotes having a different firm do some of the work that helps build or create the product that your firm makes.  But the connotation of this word is very negative.  It has the connotation of hiring cheap labor, usually in a foreign country, and destroying American jobs.

http://blog.dictionary.com/denotation-and-connotation/

Read More

ppt . just try , open link guys

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/110dIMDm5Yv598Cd3-SJd9tptL8QGWRB1XkfJF4dni6Y/edit?usp=sharing

Read More

makalah membuat blog .

go to link ya guys



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_9KQKYr96ryRlVfYzg4OHFLLTQ/view?usp=sharing

Read More

free morpheme and bound morpheme

Definition of Morphemes

As scientists have studied the composition of the universe, they've determined that the smallest unit for measuring an element is the atom. If you think of the periodic table of elements, atoms are what comprise elements, such as hydrogen, carbon, silver, gold, calcium, and so on. Scientists utilize this classification system for uniformity, so that they're on the same page in the terminology of their studies.

Similarly, linguists, or those who study language, have devised a category for the smallest unit of grammar:morphemes. Morphemes function as the foundation of language and syntax. Syntax is the arrangement of words and sentences to create meaning. We shouldn't confuse morphemes as only a given word, number of syllables, or only as a prefix or suffix. The term morpheme can apply to a variety of different situations. Let's take a look!

Types of Morphemes

In linguistics, we would further classify morphemes as either as phonemes (the smallest units of grammar recognizable by sound) or graphemes (the smallest units of written language). For our purposes, we will focus on graphemes.

Let's examine the word nonperishable, analyze it, and then discuss terms associated with it.

Nonperishable is comprised of three morphemes: non-, perish, and -able. It actually has five syllables though, which is a good example of why morphemes and syllables are not synonymous.

• non- is an example of a prefix, or a morpheme that precedes a base morpheme
• perish is an example of a base morpheme, as it gives the word its essential meaning
• -able is an example of a suffix, or a morpheme that follows a base morpheme

Both non- and -able are examples of an affix, a morpheme attached prior to or following a base that cannot function independently as a word.

We can also take a look at this chart to see some examples of how morphemes work:

A Morpheme as a Word

When we can take a morpheme independently and use it as a stand-alone word in a sentence, it is known as a base. As the chart indicated, these can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, or determiners. We also classify a morpheme that can function as a stand-alone word as free.

In the sentence:

The bird-like man hardly touched his food at dinner.

There are a total of twelve morphemes, and ten of the twelve are free:

• the (article)
• bird (noun)
• like (adjective)
• man (noun)
• hard (adjective)
• touch (verb)
• his (determiner)
• food (noun)
• at (preposition)
• dinner (noun) 

Free Morphemes and Bound Morphemes

Morphemes that can stand alone to function as words are called free morphemes. They comprise simple words (i.e. words made up of one free morpheme) and compound words (i.e. words made up of two free morphemes).

Examples:

Simple words: the, run, on, well

Compound words: keyboard, greenhouse, bloodshed, smartphone

Morphemes that can only be attached to another part of a word (cannot stand alone) are called bound morphemes.

Examples:

pre-, dis-, in-, un-, -ful, -able, -ment, -ly, -ise

pretest, discontent, intolerable, receive

Complex words are words that are made up of both free morpheme(s) and bound morpheme(s), or two or more bound morphemes.

Roll your mouse over the words below to see how many morphemes are there and whether they are free morphemes or bound morphemes.


http://vlearn.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/wordformation/internalstructure/freemorphemes/ 

Read More