Ambiguity: concept and examples

THE ambiguity happens when someone says something that appears to have another meaning. These are double meaning sentences. It often creates confusion in interpretations.

Ambiguity: concept and examples

Sometimes it is used due to lack of care by the interlocutor. However, in some cases, the double meaning is used on purpose precisely to leave “in the air” for those who want to interpret in their own way.

Widely used in songs with a more 'spicier' tone that stir the imagination of those who listen.

However, it should not be used in more serious and objective contexts. The idea is not to lead to misinterpretation due to a communication noise that can only be caused by a misused word.

Let's go to the examples?

Examples of Ambiguity

We will separate in these examples the ambiguities that occur due to a communication failure due to the use of an inappropriate term. Then the purposeful ambiguities.

Examples of ambiguities caused by failures:

• “Jorge offered to borrow his car for the neighbor”;
• “Fernanda went to do the work for her sick friend”;
• “Carlos's donkey went bad once again”.

In the first example, the recipient of the message may immediately ask: “my car?”. Or was it the car of the person to whom the speaker addressed the floor? In both cases, the understanding is that Jorge offered to borrow the vehicle that was not his to a neighbor. And there is still a third interpretation: that Jorge lent his own car to the neighbor. These three ways of interpreting the same sentence, which is apparently simple, were caused by the inappropriate use of the possessive pronoun “yours”. How could the phrase have been better crafted? "Jorge offered to borrow his own car for the neighbor."

In the second example, whoever reads or listens to the message can interpret it in two ways: either Fernanda was sick and she went to do the work for her friend or the friend was sick and, therefore, Fernanda went to do the work for Is it over there. What would be the best way to construct this sentence then? “Even sick, Fernanda went to do the work for her friend”. Or “Fernanda went to do the work for her friend who was sick”.

The third example is very ambiguous and widely used in humor productions. Who got it wrong? The donkey, animal belonging to Carlos? Or did the interlocutor attribute a defect related to Carlos' lack of intelligence to justify the frustration he had? How could this narrative be reconstructed? “The donkey that Carlos raises failed once again”. Or “Carlos isn't so smart and, therefore, he failed once again”. Note the richness of the use of figures of speech in all these examples. The euphemism and metaphor mainly.

Now, let's go to an example of intentionally created ambiguity:

• “Put your finger in and give it a spin. Put your finger in and give it a little stir. That's not what you're thinking at all. It's the phone I'm talking about."

An excerpt from a song by the group Aviões do Forró plays with the double meaning by letting the listener think of two meanings for the sentences for a few minutes. But then everything is explained.

We also recommend:

• Metaphor.
• Irony.
• Company or Company.
• Alliteration.

Ambiguity

Still in doubt? THE ambiguity it belongs to the semantic structure of the text, therefore, it is totally related to the aspect of coherence.

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