Ⅰ.Introduction

“Ambiguity is a common phenomenon of language. In everyday usage, ambiguity usually refers to the property of sentences that they may be interpreted in more than one way and that insufficient clues are available for the intended or the optimal interpretation.”(Kooij,1971:1) “Many linguists and schoars define ambiguity simply as a sentence with two or more distinctly different meanings.”(senses or references) Just as Kooij and Soon Peng Su describes,ambiguity is a special feature of languange.

Ⅱ.English Ambiguity and Its Usage in Humor Language

As a phenomenon of language, english ambiguity includes several parts: lexical ambiguity, syntactic ambiguity and semantic ambiguity. It also has a popular widely use. It is used in many different fileds, such as literature, humor, advertisement and so on. This passage mainly talks about its use in humor.

1. Types of English Ambiguity

1.1  Lexical Ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity happens when context cannot determine the real meaning of a single word which has more than one meaning.

For example, the word “key” has several distinct definitions, including “a tool for lock” and “the answer”, but if someone say “I know the key to the problem,” most people would not think you can use a tool for a lock to solve the problem. Many people think this kind of words should be avoided, since the user has to waste time to understand which one is the real meaning. The use of these multi-defined words requires the author to make their context clear enough to understand .

1.2  Syntactic Ambiguity

Syntactic ambiguity arises when a sentence has several meanings when is analyzed in grammar. Syntactic ambiguity in english is the largest and most frequent type of ambiguity. It also includes many subcategories.

For example, “I did not go because I am afraid” could mean that I did not go because I am afraid to go, or it could mean that I went but it was not because I am afraid. Also, spoken languange has many this type of ambiguity, such as “ice cream” and “I scream”. Only in particular context can solve this problem.

1.3  Semantic Ambiguity

Semantic ambiguity arises when a word or concept has an inherently diffuse meaning based on widespread or informal usage.( http://en.wikipedia.org)

This is often the case, for example, with idiomatic expressions whose definitions are rarely or never well-defined, and are presented in the context of a larger argument that invites a conclusion.

For example, “They fed her dog biscuits.” The clause means they fed biscuits to her dog, or means they fed dog biscuits to her. 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.

2.English Ambiguity in Humor Language

Humor languange is the product of the art of language and human wisdom, and is something vague in understanding. The humorous effect comes from the different semantic understanding between the speaker and the listener. Humor language succeeds in adding ambiguity to the context.

2.1 Lexical Ambiguity in Humor Languang

Polysemy is the most common phenomenon in the use of lexical in humor language. Almost every word has more than one meaning. The best way to eliminate ambiguity is the context.

Example 1:

“Your application says you left your last job because of sickness. Could you explain that , please ?”

“Certainly. My boss got sick of me. ”

Example 2 :

One day a student was taking a very difficult essay exam. At the end of the test , the professor asked all the student s to put their pens down and immediately hand in their tests. The young man kept writing furiously , although he was warned that if he did not stop immediately he would be disqualified. He ignored the warning , finished the test 10 minutes later , and went to hand the test to his instructor . The instructor told him he would not take the test .

The student asked , “Do you know who I am ?”

The professor said , “No and I don’t care.”

The student asked again , “Are you sure you don’t know who I am ?”

The professor again said no . So the student walked over to the pile of tests , placed his in the middle , and then threw the papers in the air .

“Good. ” The student said , and walked out .

He passed.

In example 1, the humor exists “Ill health” and “filled with disgust” are two means of sick, in the example, the interviewer and the interviewee caught the different means. Example 2, the word “passed” arises the humor, it means “go away” and “through the exam”. Both are caused by a single word.

2.2 Syntactic Ambiguity in Humor Languange

Syntactic ambiguity mainly happens in the sentences which have several meanings when are anazyled in grammar. Punctuation, as an important part in syntactic plays an unreplacable role in humor languange.

Example 3:

A lady went into a clothing store and asked, “May I try on that dress in the window?”

“Well,” replied the sales clerk doubtfully, “don’t you think it would be better to use the dressing room?”

In example 3, the humor occurs on the phrase “in the window”. Here Chomsky’s thorey about syntactic maybe explain it. The useage can be defined as Figure 1 as follows.

 

 

 

S                    OR                   S

                           

NP      VP                              NP          VP

                             

        V   NP   PP                                  V       NP

 

                                                            NP    PP

Figure 1   Chomsky’s Thorey

 

It is clear that when “in the window” plays the adverbial of place, humor appearances.

Example 4:

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is all about.  You are generous, kind, thoughtful.  People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior.  You have ruined me for other men.  I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart.  I can be forever happy --will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is .  All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless  and inferior. You have ruined me.  For other men, I yearn.  For you, I have no feelings whatsoever,  When we're apart, I can be forever happy.  Will you let me be?  yours,  

Gloria

From this example, the punctuation’s use produces the humor. Different punctuations can totally change the passage’s meaning.

2.3 Semantic Ambiguity in Humor Language

Semantic ambiguity in humor languange most happens when the meaning of the sentence or passage could be misunderstood. Context maybe the best way to solve it.

Example 5:

An excited man calls the fire department and says, "Help me, my house is on fire!!"

The fireman says, "Where do you live?"

The man replies, "I am too excited, I can't tell you the exact address."

The fireman asks, "How do you expect us to get there?"

The man replies, "What do you mean 'how'? The big red truck."

Example 6:

A secretary was leaving the office one Friday evening when she encountered Mr. Jones, the Human Resources manager, standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said Mr. Jones, "this is important, and my secretary has already left. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly," said the secreatry. She turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

"Excellent, excellent!" said Mr. Jones as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."

Both of the two examples are caused by the misunderstanding between the speakers. It is the misunderstanding that makes the humor out. Attending to the context, the audience can feel the humor’s existence.

Conclusion

English ambiguity has been popular studied in lingustics, its use in humor is common. It can not be avoided in language even it maybe an obstacle in a successful communation, however,  humor language is a natural language, ambiguity used in humor is a type of humorr’s existence. Ambiguity adds more fun to humor.

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Jin Jing, 1988, Ambiguity in English. 大连外国语学院　

Kooij, Jan G. 1971, Ambiguity in Natural Language. Amsterdem: North-Holland.

Soon Peng Su.1994, Lexical Ambiguity in Poetry. Longman Group UK Limited.

戴炜栋，何兆熊  2002，新编简明英语语言学教程，上海外语教育出版社

穆连涛，甘平  2007, “笑话语篇中的歧义现象”, 苏州教育学院学报

杨维琴, 2005,“英语词汇歧义及幽默”,遵义师范学院学报

张冬梅, 2007,“论幽默语言的模糊性”,成都理工大学学报（社会科学版）