Literary
Terms
Ambiguity
Ambiguity, or fallacy of ambiguity, is a word,
phrase, or statement which contains more than one meaning. It is the opposite
of clarity. Ambiguity can be a good thing in poetry and storytelling. Many
writers use this technique to allow readers to understand their works in a
variety of ways, giving them depth and complexity.
The
risks of ambiguity are quite obvious; the reader can misunderstand the writer and
some readers find it frustrating when they can’t figure out exactly what writers
mean, but ambiguity is sometimes valuable because it gives us more to discuss
or think about. In addition, ambiguity is simply more realistic.
In literature,
Ambiguity serves the purpose of lending a deeper meaning to a literary work. By
introducing ambiguity in their works, writers give liberty to readers to use
their imagination to explore meanings. This active participation of the readers
involves them in the prose or poetry they read.
Types of Ambiguity
There
are many types of ambiguity, but these are a few of the most important:
1.
Semantic Ambiguity, also known as
Polysemy
When
a word has multiple meanings, this is called “polysemy.” Nearly all words in
English are polysemous, meaning that many sentences have semantic ambiguity. We
can usually resolve the ambiguity using context, but sometimes this doesn’t
work.
2.
Syntactic Ambiguity
This
sort of ambiguity comes out of the structure of the sentence rather than the
words. For example, “The murderer killed the student with a book.” We know what
all these words mean individually, but altogether they are ambiguous; was the
book used as a murder weapons? Or was the victim carrying a book during the
attack?
3.
Narrative Ambiguity
This
is when a plotline could mean several things; the storyteller doesn’t let you
know explicitly. For example, a relationship between two characters could be
ambiguous if it’s not clear whether or not they like each other.
Examples:
I
went out in the woods and found a bat.
The end…?
I
rode a black horse in red pajamas.
John
took off his trousers by the bank.
A
good life depends on a liver.
Foreigners
are hunting dogs.
Each
of us saw her duck.
The
passerby helped dog bite victim.
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