dominantly is referential ambiguity since the writer found 74 from 175 ambiguous sentences or 42,29 . In detail, the dominant referential
ambiguity is Anaphora because the writer found 37 data from 175 referential ambiguity or about 21,14 .
4. Causes of Ambiguity
In this part of study, the writer presents the analysis of the cause of ambiguity, that is: 1 without context, 2 ambiguous word order, 3
improper or missing punctuation, 4 implication, 5 dangling participles, 6 ambiguous words, and 7 faulty pronoun reference.
a. Without context
Reed clarified in his book that ambiguity is statements with more than one meaning that, without context, may be interpreted
inaccurately 2005: 189. The writer presents some ambiguous sentences
1 Backpack Song backpack 4: 1
The sentence above is lexically ambiguous because the word Backpack has more than one interpretation. The first interpretation is a
bag with shoulder straps that allows it to be carried on students back. The word Backpack in this interpretation is also known as school
bag, book bag, knapsack, and rucksack. The second interpretation is an English textbook entitled Backpack. The reason of its ambiguity is
in the context that is not related with one of the interpretations. The unambiguous sentences are:
− School bag Song if it is a bag with shoulder straps that allows it to be carried on students back or,
− Backpack Textbook Song if it is an English textbook entitled Backpack.
2 It’s time to open Backpack and see what we can see.
backpack 4: 1 Sentence above clearly contains homonym that is in the word
see. The word see has more than one meaning, there are: look; notice; catch with the eyes; discern visually; understand the information; and
learn the knowledge. The reason of its ambiguity is on the context that is not related with one of the interpretations. The unambiguous
sentences are: − It’s time to open Backpack and see what we can notice. if see
means notice. − It’s time to open Backpack and see what we can understand. if
see means understand. − It’s time to open Backpack and see what we can learn. if see
means learn. 3
Back then, students didn’t have notebooks. backpack 4: 67
That sentence clearly contains lexical ambiguity that is in the word notebooks. The word notebooks can be interpreted in two ways,
there are: books or kind of laptops. 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:
− 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
