later lang - ambiguity & sarcasm

ambiguity: multiple meanings

Able to provide multiple definitions for words with several similar meanings Difficulty understanding secondary meanings of words that bear little or no relation to the primary meaning Requires lexical knowledge and metalinguistic knowledge

the ambiguity paradox

Almost all words and sentences are ambiguous, if they are not seen or heard in the larger context. However, the larger context (both linguistic and non-linguistic) resolves almost all of the ambiguities... Except when the speaker is intentionally trying to be ambiguous...

ambiguity vs vaugeness

Ambiguity: In this case, the context will select one of the meanings/senses We often don't even notice ambiguity, because context clarifies the intended meaning. Vagueness: Context adds information to the sense. Therefore the sense of the word itself doesn't contain all the information. It is underspecified.

metalinguistic awareness

For example, in order to recognize and resolve the ambiguity in the sentence, "At night, she practices at becoming the best knight in the land," One first has to notice that night and knight sound identical. Further reflection yields an appreciation of the phonological ambiguity in relation to other aspects of semantic meaning. For example, it allows one to appreciate the dependency between the preposition at and the appropriate interpretation of night.

why is language ambiguous?

Having a unique linguistic expression for every possible conceptualization that could be conveyed would make language overly complex and linguistic expressions unnecessarily long. Allowing resolvable ambiguity permits shorter linguistic expressions, data compression. Language relies on people's ability to use their knowledge and inference abilities to properly resolve ambiguities.

linguistic ambiguity

Linguistic ambiguity can occur both at the lexical level (e.g., homonyms such as bear and bare; night and knight) and at the sentence level (e.g., idiomatic expressions such as, "A cult is not a religion. A cult is a different kettle of fish entirely.") A metalinguistic task: both require close attention to the form and content of language

lexical ambiguity

Occurs for words and phrases with multiple meanings Homophones: Sound alike but have different meanings; if spelled differently, they are called heterographs Homographs: Spelled the same but have different meanings; if they sound different, they are heteronyms or heterophones Homonyms: Differ only in meaning

ambiguity

The property of having two or more meanings. Lexical ambiguity Structural ambiguity

precision

To communicate clearly To defend one's claims without room for confusion or misinterpretation To assess the truth of premises presented to us in the arguments of others

imprecise language

Vague - Vague words have meanings that are fuzzy and inexact, and thus have debatable applications. Overgeneral - Overgenerality occurs when language is too broad and unspecific. Ambiguous - Ambiguity involves words ('semantic ambiguity') or sentences ('syntactic ambiguity') that have two or more distinct meanings in a particular context.

word sense disambiguation

Words in natural language usually have a fair number of different possible meanings. Ellen has a strong interest in computational linguistics. Ellen pays a large amount of interest on her credit card. For many tasks (question answering, translation), the proper sense of each ambiguous word in a sentence must be determined.

parody

- A parody is an imitation of an author or his/her work with the idea of ridiculing the author, his/her ideas, or the work itself. - A parodist exploits the peculiarities of an author's expression—the propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, or other elements of the author's style.

syntactic ambiguity

- Ambiguity within components of sentences Phonological ambiguity: When a listener confuses the boundaries between words (I can't wait for the weekend versus. I can't wait for the weak end) Surface-structure ambiguity: When words within a sentence can be grouped in two different ways, conveying different interpretations (I fed her bird seed versus. I fed her bird seed) He fed her dog//biscuits He fed her // dog biscuits Syntactic ambiguities can be spoke with different intonational patterns that will correspond to different interpretations

elements of satire

- Irony: Verbal, Dramatic, Situational - Hyperbole: Exaggeration to make a point. - Understatement: the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is. - Caricature: description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. - Ridicule: the subjection of someone or something to contemptuous and dismissive language or behavior. - Parody: an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect

irony

- a stylistic device of speech in which the real meaning of the words is different from (and opposite to) the literal meaning. - Irony, unlike sarcasm, tends to be ambiguous, bringing two contrasting meanings into play. Often, irony works by an incongruity between an action or a proposal and the moral words used to describe it. - Irony becomes satiric when the real meaning appears to contradict the surface meaning.

why satire

Now that you know the elements of satire, what do you think makes satire effective? Why do writers use satire instead of criticizing the person, group or institution directly?

characteristics of satire

SATIRE IS NOT COMEDY, which just seeks to entertain or amuse. Satire, while implicitly humorous, has a moral purpose. Moral lesson Funny Shared community standard of correct behavior (which begets the humor!) **The goal of satire is not just to abuse, but rather, to provoke change or reform.

persuasive definition

definition meant to persuade, often slanted

lexical definition

definition of the way the term is standardly used in the language.

stipulative definition

definition that articulates what it is you mean

precising definition

definition to make a vague word more precise

lexical ambiguity

when a word has more than one meaning is used in jokes, riddles, comic strips, newspaper headlines, bumper stickers, advertisements Example: The lady wiped the glasses Drinking/Accessory Students with weak oral language skills are less able to notice lexical ambiguities and less likely to seek clarification, leading to communication breakdown