Linguistics Prepared by CHO, HYUNGSOO

Ambiguity &

Deep Structure and Surface Structure

(in TGG)

Professor : Ms. Cecilia Teodoro

Date : Aug/9/2016

Submitter : CHO, HYUNGSOO

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Linguistics Prepared by CHO, HYUNGSOO

Ambiguity & Deep Structure and Surface Structure (in TGG).......................................................................... 1

1. Ambiguity .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Lexical Ambiguity ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

1.2 The examples of Ambiguity .................................................................................................................................. 4

1.2.1 HEADLINES in the Newspapers .............................................................................................................. 4

1.2.2 From Ads ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 Structural Ambiguity ................................................................................................................................................. 5

1.4 Another type of structural ambiguity – Garden Path ............................................................................... 6

2. Deep Structure and Surface Structure ..................................................................................................................... 8

2.1 Examples of Deep Structures & Surface Structure ..................................................................................... 9

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1. Ambiguity

It is the property of having two or more meanings. A word or sentence is ambiguous if it can be

interpreted in more than one way.

Two types of ambiguity in micro linguistics

- Lexical ambiguity

- Structural (or Grammatical) ambiguity

1.1 Lexical Ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity results in multiple meanings of a sentence or a phrase due to words which have

multiple meanings, as in “This will make you smart.”

The table shows distinct features of each term.

Term Meaning Spelling Pronunciation

Homophone Different Different (heterography) Same
(same sound) Same (homonym)
Homograph Different Same Same (homonym)
(same writing) Different (heteronym)
Heteronym Different Same Different
(different name)
Homonym Different Same Same
(same name)
%The terms above have all different meaning in common. ‘Homo’ indicates the words having the

same pronunciation and Hetero means the words having different sound.

The terms are various and complex, so I want to simplify those thing into three terms.

- Heteronym is the same spelling and the different sound

- Homonym is the same spelling and the same sound.

- Homophone is the different spelling and the same sound.

The table below shows several types invoking lexical ambiguity.

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Words Characteristics relating to Lexical Ambiguity

Homophone Definition : a lexical relation where ‘two or more different forms’ have
the same pronunciation
/sel/ - Cell and Sell, /bi:n/ - been and bean, /sent/ - scent, sent, cent

More on
http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/multinyms.html
Homograph Definition : a lexical relation where words of like spelling but with
more than one meaning
Bar :
1) a solid object of metal or wood.
2) a cube-shaped object.
3) ’-‘
4) the counter in a premises.
5) an official order or pronouncement.
6) a vertical line.
More on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_homographs
Heteronym Definition : subset of homographs and words that are written
identically but have different pronunciations and meanings.
1) Don’t desert me here in the desert.
2) They were too close to the door to close it.
3) We must polish the Polish furniture.
4) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
Homonym Definition : subset of homographs and a group of words that share
the same pronunciation but have different meanings.
1) Bank (the financial organ / the side of the river)
2) Like (similar to / enjoy)
3) Plain (ordinary looking / flat country)
4) Skip (to jump / to miss out)
5) Fair (appearance / reasonable)
6) Blue (the color / the feeling of sadness)

1.2 The examples of Ambiguity

1.2.1 HEADLINES in the Newspapers

- PROSTITUES APPEAL TO POPE (homonym)

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- IRAQI HEAD SEEKS ARMS (homonym)

- STOLEN PAINTING FOUND BY TREE (homonym)

- CHILD’S STOOL IS GREAT FOR USE IN GARDEN (homonym)

1.2.2 From Ads

- Take your mother-in-law out back and shoot her. (Kodak)

- Are you up in the air about the future? (Air Force)
- Most parents and doctors trust Tylenol.
Lexical Ambiguity is used in Ads to make customers to think deeply and longer about what they
intend to convey with confusing. Processing resolution of underlying ambiguity could result in

great cognitive engagement invoking positive or negative feedback.

1.3 Structural Ambiguity

Some phrases and sentences exhibit when their (constituent) syntactic structure can be interpreted

in more than one way so that the same sequence of words has two or more meanings by

different structure analysis. The intended meaning of a syntactically ambiguous sentence can often

be determined by context.

- Dr. Ruth talked about sex with a newspaper editor.

talked about [sex with a newspaper editor]

[talked about sex] with a newspaper editor

- Enraged farmer fought a robber with ax.

- The professor said on Monday he would give an exam.

The prof. said that on Monday he would give an exam.

The prof. said on Monday that he would give an exam.

- Visiting strangers can be dangerous.

- Moving sidewalks can be useful.

- Juvenile court to try shooting defendants.

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[to try] shooting defendants

[to try shooting] defendants

- John put the apple in the bowl.

In sentence A, ‘in the bowl’ is PP (prepositional phrase) of NP (noun phrase).

In sentence B, ‘in the bowl’ is PP of VP (verb phrase).

1.4 Another type of structural ambiguity – Garden Path

A garden-path sentence is a sentence that is temporarily ambiguous or confusing because it

contains a word group which appears to be compatible with more than one structural analysis.

This would not happen if the interpretation of a sentence is deferred until it had been heard or
read in its entirety, but we try to process the sentences as we perceive them word by word and
then, we are ‘led down the garden path’ (Mary Smith).

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A garden-path sentence is often brought by tricking readers into reading noun or verb as

adjectives and vice versa, and leaving out definite or indefinite articles (Frederick Luis Aldama).

Comprehension is better when relative pronouns (e.g., that, which, whom) are used to signal the
start of a phrase than when they are omitted.

1. The man pushed through the door fell.

2. The cotton clothing is made of grows in Mississippi.

3. The president believed the report about the attack had been forged.

But, in some cases, the relative pronouns make the reading or the speaking slow or
comprehended less. Proper usage of present or past Participles makes the sentence simple.

- The man who whistled tunes piano.  The whistling man tunes piano.

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2. Deep Structure and Surface Structure

The syntactic structure has two categories, Deep Structure and Surface Structure.

Deep Structure is the underlying meaning of the sentence and the basic structure of sentences

and is specified by the phrase structure rules, which create initial syntactic trees.

Surface Structure is the outward of a sentence that can be spoken or heard. In transformational

grammar, it is derived from Deep Structures by a series of transformations: Tense, Dative

movement, Passive, Substitution/Reflexivisation, Affix hopping.

Chomsky’s aims in Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965) became more ambitious in order to
explain all of the linguistic relationships between the sound system and the meaning system of

the language: syntactic, semantic, and phonological.

The syntactic component falls into two major sub-parts: a base containing phrase-structure rules

and a lexicon, and transformational rules. Phrase-structure rules state what basic combinations of
syntactic categories are permissible within the sentence and make the trees into which words are

to be inserted from the lexicon. The resulting of the trees are the Deep Structures of English.

The second major type of syntactic component is the transformation, which converts trees or

Deep Structures produced by the phrase-structure rules into other trees, which is a derived

structure or a Surface Structure.

Thus, the syntactic component produces two outputs for each sentence: a Deep Structure, and a

Surface Structure. According to Chomsky, the syntactic Surface Structure is relevant to the
phonological rules, while the syntactic Deep Structure is relevant to the semantic interpretation of

sentences.

Eg>

“I like her cooking”

The sentence has different meanings because it has different deep structures though only one
surface structure.
Though the meaning is such that “I like that she cooks in a certain way”, we can simply say, “I like
her cooking”. Transformations made ambiguity, but they do not hamper communication because
when we talk the context usually resolves the ambiguities.
“the boy will read the book” and “the book will be read by the boy”
The sentences have different surface structures but one and the same deep structure.
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This theory of the relation of syntax to semantics and phonology can be shown graphically as
follows: The Deep Structure of a sentence is submitted to the semantic component for semantic
interpretation, and its Surface Structure enters the phonological component and undergoes
phonetic interpretation. The final effect of a grammar, then, is to relate a semantic interpretation

to a phonetic representation

Table 1

Base Component

PSR lexicon

Deep Structures

Transformational Component Semantic Component

()

Surface Structures Semantic representation

of sentences

Phonological Component

Phonological representation of sentences

2.1 Examples of Deep Structures & Surface Structure

Deep Structures have following characteristics.

1. Deep Structure is the output of phrase structure rules.

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2. Deep Structure is the input of transformation rules to derive Surface Structures.

3. It is the level of grammar that can explain the concept of subject, direct object, and

indirect object.

4. Deep Structure is the level which can solve the problem of ambiguity.

This is the example for transformational structures.

(1) You close the door.

(2) The door is closed by you.

(3) Close the door!

The first sentence is active, second is passive, and the last is imperative. However, if you take a
look those closely, you will find that those three are very closely related, even identical. They
seem to be identical, since they have the same underlying abstract representation that is called
deep structure. Deep structure is the level which can solve the problem of ambiguity. If you want
to analyze the relation of those three sentences, the first you have to know about the deep
structure of them, since deep structure is the input of transformation rules. Transformation rules
are sets of rules which will change or move constituents in the structures derived from the phrase
structure rules.

e.g1>
(1) The DS (deep structure)

(2) The passive transformation rule is applied.

SD (structure Description) : 1234
SC (structural change) : 3 4 + be 2 + en 1
SS (Surface structure) : The door is closed by you.
(3) The deletion rule is applied.
SD : 1234
SC : o234
SS : Close the door!

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Eg2> Surface Structure gives the proper phonological information to express the situation.

Deep Structure Boy kiss Girl.

[It gives the semantic components of a sentence.]
[It does not help distinguish among ambiguous sentences.]
Surface Structure The boy kissed the girl.
He kissed the girl.
The boy was kissing the girl.
The girl was kissed by the boy.
The girl was kissed.

References

1. Definition of Ambiguity :

https://www.scribd.com/doc/94384413/Lexical-and-Structural-Ambiguity

2. Garden path : http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/gardenpathterm.htm

3. Examples of deep structure and surface structure :

http://awinlanguage.blogspot.com/2012/04/deep-structure-vs-surface-structure.html

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