Syntactic ambiguity

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For philosophical considerations of ambiguity, see ambiguity.

Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing. Ambiguity may or may not involve one word having two parts of speech or homonyms.

Syntactic ambiguity arises not from the range of meanings of single words, but from the relationship between the words and clauses of a sentence, and the sentence structure implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text is equivocal and meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.

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[edit] Contrast

Syntactic ambiguity can be contrasted with semantic ambiguity. The former represents multiple ways to infer the underlying structure of an entire sentence. The latter represents multiple ways to define individual words within a sentence[1][2].

[edit] Examples

Here are some examples:

Bear left at zoo. (Do you turn left when you get to the zoo, or did someone leave a bear there?)
I'm going to sleep. ("Going" can be a verb with destination "sleep" or an auxiliary indicating near future. So it can mean "I am (now) falling asleep" or "I am (in the future) intending to sleep".)
The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, the prophet. (Which of the three is the prophet?)
British left waffles on Falklands (Did the British leave waffles behind, or was there waffling by the British Left?)
The cow was found by a stream by a farmer. (Did the farmer find the cow near the stream? Or was the cow found near a stream that was near a farmer?)
Monty flies back to front. (Monty returns to the frontline; or Monty flies backwards?)
Flying planes can be dangerous. (Either flying planes is dangerous, or flying planes are dangerous.)
Train on fire, passengers alight. (Either the passengers left the train, or the passengers were on fire.)
The Electric Light Orchestra (An orchestra of electric lights, or a light orchestra that's electric)
The man tried to take a picture of a man with a turban. (Did the man try to take a picture with a turban, or take a picture of a man who is wearing a turban?)
I know whom John knows. (Either I am acquainted with the same people as John is, or I know who John's acquaintances are.)

(The following is actually an example of scope ambiguity -- which operator is logically 'above' the other. Some linguistic theories consider them syntactic ambiguities, while other linguistic theories consider them semantic ambiguities.)

Someone ate every tomato. (Either some one person ate all of the tomatoes, or for each tomato there is some one person who ate it--Sally ate one, John ate one, etc.)

A surgeon general's warning on packs of cigarettes in the United States reads, "Quitting smoking now greatly reduces your risk of cancer." (Quitting smoking today will reduce your risk of cancer; It is now the case (but was not in the past) that quitting smoking reduces the chance of cancer)

A noteworthy example in the field of computer natural language processing is Time flies like an arrow. Although humans unambiguously understand it to mean "Time flies in the same way that an arrow does," it could also mean:

  • measure the speed of flying insects like you would measure that of an arrow (thus interpreted as an imperative) - i.e. (You should) time flies as you would (time) an arrow.;
  • measure the speed of flying insects like an arrow would (this example is also in the imperative mood)- i.e. (You should) time flies in the same way that an arrow would (time them).;
  • measure the speed of flying insects that are like arrows - i.e. Time those flies that are like arrows;
  • all of a type of flying insect, "time-flies," collectively enjoy a single arrow (compare Fruit flies like a banana);
  • each of a type of flying insect, "time-flies," individually enjoys a different arrow (similar comparison applies);

(As Groucho Marx is said to have observed, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.")

In legal disputes, courts may be asked to interpret the meaning of syntactic ambiguities in statutes or contracts. In some instances, arguments asserting highly unlikely interpretations have been deemed frivolous.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Layman E. Allen "Some Uses of Symbolic Logic in Law Practice" 1962J M.U.L.L. 119, at 120;
  2. ^ L.E. Allen & M.E. Caldwell "Modern Logic and Judicial Decision Making: A Sketch of One View" in H.W. Baade (ed.) "Jurimetrics" Basic Books Inc., New York, USA, 1963, 213, at 228

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