Home Chapter 5. Ambiguity in discourse
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 5. Ambiguity in discourse

The Tübingen Interdisciplinary Corpus of Ambiguity Phenomena
  • Asya Achimova , Maren Ebert-Rohleder , Lorenz Geiger , Joel Klenk , Michael Reid , Thalia Vollstedt and Angelika Zirker
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Vagueness, Ambiguity, and All the Rest
This chapter is in the book Vagueness, Ambiguity, and All the Rest

Abstract

Ambiguity in language and communication has recently come under increasing attention in a number of disciplines, such as linguistics, literary science, psychology, theology, and law. In this paper, we focus on ambiguity in discourse and present an online corpus which contains rich annotations for a variety of examples of ambiguity from different text genres and periods. The corpus features an annotation schema that allows users to specify the multiple attributes of an ambiguity, as well as its interaction with related but distinct phenomena, such as vagueness and underspecification. We discuss how this corpus might foster and enable the interdisciplinary study of ambiguity.

Abstract

Ambiguity in language and communication has recently come under increasing attention in a number of disciplines, such as linguistics, literary science, psychology, theology, and law. In this paper, we focus on ambiguity in discourse and present an online corpus which contains rich annotations for a variety of examples of ambiguity from different text genres and periods. The corpus features an annotation schema that allows users to specify the multiple attributes of an ambiguity, as well as its interaction with related but distinct phenomena, such as vagueness and underspecification. We discuss how this corpus might foster and enable the interdisciplinary study of ambiguity.

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Vagueness and ambiguity
  5. Chapter 2. The role of ambiguity and vagueness in language change 10
  6. Chapter 3. The role of ambiguity in intentional vagueness 29
  7. Chapter 4. Vagueness and ambiguity are very different (persuasion devices) 51
  8. Chapter 5. Ambiguity in discourse 84
  9. Part II. Vagueness and ambiguity in language change and use
  10. Chapter 6. Underspecification and ambiguity of voice markers 110
  11. Chapter 7. Vague stuff 148
  12. Chapter 8. Vagueness explored 177
  13. Chapter 9. Using ambiguity and vagueness to avoid problematic answers 208
  14. Chapter 10. Vagueness and ambiguity of perlocutionary effects in Prime Minister’s Question time sessions 234
  15. Chapter 11. Place names in legal texts 259
  16. Index 281
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.347.05ach

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Vagueness and ambiguity
  5. Chapter 2. The role of ambiguity and vagueness in language change 10
  6. Chapter 3. The role of ambiguity in intentional vagueness 29
  7. Chapter 4. Vagueness and ambiguity are very different (persuasion devices) 51
  8. Chapter 5. Ambiguity in discourse 84
  9. Part II. Vagueness and ambiguity in language change and use
  10. Chapter 6. Underspecification and ambiguity of voice markers 110
  11. Chapter 7. Vague stuff 148
  12. Chapter 8. Vagueness explored 177
  13. Chapter 9. Using ambiguity and vagueness to avoid problematic answers 208
  14. Chapter 10. Vagueness and ambiguity of perlocutionary effects in Prime Minister’s Question time sessions 234
  15. Chapter 11. Place names in legal texts 259
  16. Index 281
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 18.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/pbns.347.05ach/html
Scroll to top button