英语论文On the Functions of Ambiguity in English.docx

英语论文On the Functions of Ambiguity in English.docx

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英语论文OntheFunctionsofAmbiguityinEnglish

黄冈师范学院

本科生毕业论文

论文题目：

OntheFunctionsofAmbiguityinEnglish

作者：

专业班级：

指导教师：

学号：

200813140323

2012年3月28日

郑重声明

本人的毕业论文（设计）是在指导教师向先兰的指导下独立撰写完成的。

毕业论文（设计）没有剽窃、抄袭、造假等违反学术道德、学术规范的侵权行为，本人愿意承担由此产生的各种后果，甚至法律责任；并可以通过网络接受公众的质疑。

特此郑重声明。

毕业论文作者：

魏然

2012年43月28日

Abstract

Inthecourseofusinglanguage,peopleoftenrequesttheprecision,payingattentiontotheconcisenessandcomprehensivenessoflanguage.However,languagephenomenonarecomplex.Sometimes,whatcommunicatorssayisnotreallywhattheymean,whichwillcausesomemisunderstanding.Ambiguityisafeatureofanylanguage.Englishexistswiththisfeature-ambiguity.Whenawordhasmorethanonemeaning,astructuremanifestsmorethanonestructurerelationandanutteranceshowsdifferentintentions,ambiguitywilloccur.

Traditionallypeopleregardambiguityasmisuseoflanguage,however,itisnotreallythecase.Onthecontrary,ithaspositivefunctions.FirstthisarticlegivesabriefdefinitionofEnglishambiguity.ThenthisarticlemainlydiscussesthepositiveandnegativefunctionsofEnglishambiguity.inseveralaspects.Thepositivefunctionsincludethediscoursefunction,rhetoricfunction,andtheaestheticfunction.（Indiscoursefunction,incommunication,ambiguityservesasreconcilingconflict,transferringtopics,providinginformation,indirectrequirementandself-protecting.Inrhetoricfunction,asinliteraryworks,writersusuallyusepun;inadvertisement,advertisersfocusonambiguitytoattractcustomers;incomplexdiplomaticaffairsforacountry,sometimesdiplomatmakesfulluseofambiguoussentencedeliberately.Inaestheticfunction,therearebeautyfromsituation,rhymeandthyme,reservationandirony.）Thenegativefunctionsincludecommunicationfailureandunderstanding.Finally,thisarticlepresentssomesuggestionstousethepositivefunctionsofambiguitytocommunicatefreelytocreateaparticulareffectandtoavoidthenegativefunctionsofambiguityinEnglishinmyparticularexperience.

Keywords:

ambiguity,positivefunctionsofambiguity,negativefunctionsofambiguity,avoidanceofnegativeambiguity

摘要

人们运用语言时常要求“准确”，讲究言简意赅。

但是语言显示错综复杂，交际双方往往会有言不达意或误解的状况发生。

歧义是语言多义的属性，任何一种语言都具有歧义现象。

英语也不例外。

当一个词表达诸多意义，一个结构形式体现多种结构层次关系，一个言语表现不同意图时，便产生了歧义。

传统上人们将歧义看成是一种语言误用，然而歧义并非如此一无是处，相反，它有其积极的功能。

本文首先对歧义的定义进行了解释，然后着重对歧义的积极和消极功能进行了研究分析。

歧义的积极功能主要是从话语功能，修辞功能，和美学功能这三个方面来分析的。

（其中，话语功能主要指歧义可以用来避免冲突，间接提出要求和自我保护的作用，修辞功能是指歧义可在不同的文体需要时产生双关和幽默修辞的效果，美学功能是指歧义可以创造意境美，音韵美，含蓄美和讽刺美来达到一定的美的效果。

）而歧义的消极作用主要是指歧义会造成交际中的失败和误解。

最后本文根据歧义产生的原因提出了一些发扬歧义积极功能和避免歧义消极作用的建议和方法。

歧义不仅只有消极的作用，也具有积极的功能。

我们应该全面辩证地去分析英语歧义的功能。

只有这样，我们才能够在最大限度上避免其消极影响，利用歧义的积极作用，达到一定的交际目的。

关键词：

歧义，歧义的积极功能，歧义的消极功能，消极歧义的消除

Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1

.ThedefinitionofEnglishambiguity……………………………………………2

.ThepositivefunctionsofEnglishambiguity…………………………………2

2.1Discoursefunctions………………………………………………………………2

2.1.1Reconcilingconflict……………………………………………………………………2

2.1.2Indirectrequirement……………………………………………………………3

2.1.3Self-protecting…………………………………………………………………3

2.2Rhetoricfunctions…………………………………………………………………3

2.2.1Useofambiguityinliteraryworkstocreatehumor……………………………3

2.2.2UseofAmbiguityinAdvertisementtoAttractCustomers’Attention…………3

2.2.3UseofAmbiguityinDiplomaticAffairstoAvoidEmbarrassment……………4

2.3aestheticfunctions…………………………………………………………………4

2.3.1Beautyfromsituation…………………………………………………………4

2.3.2Beautyfromrhymeandrhythm………………………………………………4

2.3.3Beautyfromreservation………………………………………………………4

2.3.4Beautyfromirony……………………………………………………………5

.NegativefunctionsofEnglishambiguity……………………………………5

3.1Leadingtocommunicationfailure……………………………………………………5

3.2Leadingtomisunderstanding……………………………………………………5

3.3UseofAmbiguityinDiplomaticAffairstoAvoidEmbarrassment……………5

.AvoidanceofnegativeEnglishambiguity……………………………………5

4.1FactorsthatresultinthephenomenonofEnglishambiguity…………………5

4.1.1Cognitiveability………………………………………………………………5

4.1.2Culturaldifference……………………………………………………………6

4.2AvoidanceofnegativeEnglishambiguity…………………………………………6

4.2.1Byusingculturalknowledge…………………………………………………6

4.2.2Byusingsharedknowledge…………………………………………………6

4.2.3Byusingsituationalknowledge………………………………………………6

4.2.4Bychangingtheorderofwords………………………………………………7

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………7

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………8

Acknowledgment…………………………………………………………………………9

.Introduction

Languageisasocialphenomenonestablishedbypopularusage,notcreatedaccordingtoascientificlaw.Therefore,sentencesandmeaningsdonothavenecessarycorrespondingrelationship.Differentsentencesusuallycanexpressthesamemeaningswhilethesamewordsandsentencesmayexpressdifferentmeanings.Soinlanguagethereexistmanyphenomenonsuchas:

onewordhastwoormoremeaning,thatis,wealwayscall"ambiguityphenomenon".Hipkiss（1995）pointsoutthatitisthedifferentrelationshipbetweenonewordandotherwordsthatleadtoambiguity.QianGechuaninthe"Translation"（1980:

55）said,"Englishisakindofambiguouslanguage".

Forcenturies,mostlinguistsbelievethatambiguityisnegative,anditshouldbeavoided,becauseitiseasytocausemisunderstanding,tothecommunicationobstacle.

BritishlinguistWilliomEmpson（1978）says,"ambiguityistheenemythatwemustbevigilantto."AncientGreekArisstotlethought,"ambiguityisanabsurdreasoning（fallaciousreasoning）."ContemporaryAmericanlinguistH.P.Grece（1975）inits"CooperationTheory"hasspecialreferencetoavoidambiguity.

Nevertheless,alsoalargenumberofexpertsbelievethatambiguityisapositivephenomenon.InancientRometherhetoricianQintilianthought,"ambiguityistheverypowerfulweaponsincourtdebate,andasuperiorcharacteristicsofthelanguageitself."ModernlinguistsJesperson（1985）thought,"ambiguityisanaturalhumanlanguagefeatures,whichweshouldnotexaggerateonthelanguagebarriersandignoreitspositivefunction."Kooij（1974:

4）saidthat,"incontextorinthegeneralsocialoccasions,mostpeoplewilleliminateambiguity."LinguistZhaoYuanren（1983）inhismonograph"LanguageandSignLanguage"pointsout,"noambiguityiscertainlyabigadvantage,forGodinYuZhong,ambiguityisalsogood."Agreatdealofambiguityadvantagescanbeapplicabletomanyoccasions,althoughambiguitysometimeshindercommunication.

Fromtheabove,wefindthoughambiguityhasbeendiscussedinvariouslinguisticfields,itsstudyisnotenough.Somanypapersfocusonhowtoavoidambiguityinlanguageuse.Therefore,someonemayhaveamisunderstandingthatambiguityistotallyanegativelanguagephenomenonandevenalanguagemistakesothattheyshouldalwaysavoidit.However,everycoinhastwosides,sinceambiguityexistsinlanguage,naturally,ithasvalues.Ononehand,negativeambiguityshouldbeavoidedandeliminated;ontheotherhand,positiveambiguitycanproduceunexpectedeffects.Sometimes,peopleoftenmakeaconscioususeofambiguityinordertoachieveaparticularrhetoricalandpragmaticpurposes.Indeed,ambiguitycansometimesbemisleading,buttheambiguityakindofinherentphenomenonofanylanguage.Soweshouldnotbeexcessivelyexaggeratedaboutthenegativeroleofambiguity.Weshouldseethat,iftheambiguityusedproperly,itcanalsoplayaveryactiveroleinthelanguage.

ThepurposeofthisarticleistoexploreEnglishambiguityfrompositiveandnegativefunctions.Toletpeoplehaveacomprehensiveunderstandingoffunctionsofambiguity,sothatpeoplecanuseambiguityfreelyandcometoasuccessfulcommunicationorcreateparticulareffects.Thisarticleconsistofsevenparts.Thefirstpatisanintroduction,itpresentthepreviousstudiesonEnglishambiguity.ThesecondpartgivesdefinitionofthefunctionsofEnglishambiguity.ThethirdpartmainlydiscussesthepositivefunctionsofEnglishambiguityinthediscourse,rhetoricandaestheticaspects.TheforthpartpresentsthenegativefunctionsofEnglishambiguity.AndthesixthpartpresentssomesuggestionsabouthowtoavoidthenegativeEnglishambiguity.Finally,thisarticlegivesthebibliography.

.ThedefinitionofEnglishambiguity

Lyons（1977）givesadefinitionthat:

anyform（Thisfromcanmeanaword,aphrase,asentenceoradiscourse.）,whichcanmakemorethanoneparing,isambiguous.Withthebirthanddevelopmentofpragmatics,somescholarsinvestigateambiguityfromthepragmaticperspective.J.Thomas（1995）andYuDongming（1997）definethatpragmaticambiguityoccurswhenthespeakerdoesnotmakeclearprecisely.

Ifwetakespeakers’intentionandspeecheffectsintoaccount,wecanclassifyambiguityintotwocategories:

intentionalambiguityandunintentionalambiguity.Theformerisalsocalledmotivatedorpurposeambiguityandthelatterisaccidentalambiguity.

Awifesawherhusbandlyingatthebottomofthestairsandexclaimed,

“Didyoumissastep,dear?

”

“No,”groanedthehusband,“Ihiteveryoneofthem.”

（ShiJing,1999）

Inthedialogue,thewifeasksherhusbandwhetherhehadanaccidentandmissed

hisstep.Butthehusbandchoosestoplayajokeandtakesanothermeaningof“step”,i.e.,apartofastaircase.Sohesaysthathedidnotomitanystepofthestaircaseandthattheveryreasonwhyheissoexhausted..

Sometimesthespeakersplantoprovideinformationbuttheyuseambiguousexpressionsunconsciously.Suchkindofambiguityisaccidental.Accordingtotheresultsoreffectscreatedbyaccidentalambiguity,wecansubdivideitintotwocateg