not focus on one meaning. So both interpretations are true to be applied in that sentence above. The unambiguous sentences are:
− Back then, students didn’t have books.if it is books − Back then, students didn’t have small laptops.if it is small
laptops 4
Many stars have Erica’s animals. backpack 4: 56 Sentence above is ambiguous in lexical level since the word
animals has more than one meaning, those are: shape stuffed animals and live animals. The context of that sentence does not focus on one
meaning. The unambiguous sentences are: − Many stars have Erica’s stuffed animals. if it is stuffed animals
− Many stars have Erica’s real animals. if it is real animal
b. Ambiguous word order
In both of the linguistic issues structural ambiguity and lexical ambiguity, the possible ambiguity is caused by word order Mohunen
and Portunen, 2012: 3. Hurford, Heasy and James 2007: 128 also point out that lexical ambiguity is the one which results from the
ambiguity of a word. That means an ambiguous word causes the
sentence to have more than one interpretation.
1 In Thailand, people celebrate Loi Krathong, a festival of
light and water, on the first full moon in November. backpack 4: 76
Sentences above clearly contain homonyms that are in the word light. The word light can be interpreted in two ways, there are:
lamp, or fire. The context of that sentence does not focus on one meaning. So both interpretations are true to be applied in that sentence
above. The unambiguous sentences are: − In Thailand, people celebrate Loi Krathong, a festival of fire and
water, on the first full moon in November. if light means fire − In Thailand, people celebrate Loi Krathong, a festival of lamp
and water, on the first full moon in November. if light means
lamp
2 Festival of light in China backpack 4: 84
The word light also has more than none interpretation as fire and lamp. The unambiguous sentences are:
− Festival of fire in China if light means fire − Festival of lamp in China if light means lamp
3 Festival of light in India backpack 4: 84
The sentence above is also ambiguous in the word light, that is light as fire or light as lamp. The unambiguous sentences are:
− Festival of fire in India if light means fire − Festival of lamp in China if light means lamp
4 Write them and call them once in a while. backpack 4: 9
The italic word above is ambiguous because it has the interpretation as the act of writing a letter; or writing a message by
phone. The word call also has two interpretations, there are: speaking or sharing with your friends in phone; and speaking or sharing with
your friend face to face. No addition context to one clear meaning of the words write and call makes both interpretation becomes true to be
used in this sentence. The unambiguous sentence are: − Write a letter to them and talk with them once in a while. if
write means write a letter, and call means talking or speaking or sharing with your friend face to face
− Write a message to them and call them in a phone once in a while. if write means write a message, and call means speaking
or sharing with your friends in phone
c. Improper or missing punctuation
