This week I’ve been thinking about ambiguity — about words that are open to interpretation, about the maddening inexactness of our language.
My primary beef is with lexical and structural ambiguity — types that affect spoken and written communications. Yes, there are other types of ambiguity. Four main types and even many more depending on who you ask. It’s gross.
The English language is a minefield of inexactness. When someone sends you an email and says they want to meet bimonthly, is that twice a month or every other month? Is your biweekly project due twice a week or every other week?
THERE’S NO WAY TO KNOW.
Sure, it’s the middle of a pandemic, a time wrought with uncertainty and confusion, and we’re all heavily relying on digital communications for our livelihoods and connections — so, here comes English and all of it’s homonyms and contranyms to add that extra bit of confusing fun. Yay.
Let’s unpack some of this together.
Lexical Ambiguity
Okay, so sometimes homonyms are fun.
But this is crazy town — even the actual DICTIONARY thinks so. If the keepers of our language are apologizing on behalf of our language… well, you know it’s bad.
And, this… this is just horrible. This sentence that consists of just the word buffalo repeated eight times is grammatically correct. Watch the video to learn how that’s possible. Spoiler: English is crazy.
Structural Ambiguity
This type of ambiguity is when we understand the individual words, but the sentence itself can have multiple meanings. Think: text messages. It sucks when it happens to me, but Key & Peele make it hilarious to watch.
Winner and still reigning champion of ambiguity: Emily Dickinson
Dickinson loved ambiguity. She expertly used both lexical and structural ambiguity to imbue her poems with both humor and philosophical depth.
Okay, while I’ve griped about the inexactness and confusion caused by ambiguity in the English language, well, Dickinson’s work just wouldn’t be as fun without it. So, while it’s frustrating at times, I guess maybe ambiguity isn’t all that bad… unless you go to this church.
Until next time,
Ava
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