83 Using those two meanings, the sentence can be interpreted as follows 1
Authority never likes to be questioned; those in power more than appreciate that freedom for the people would signal the end of their reign, and 2 Authority never
likes to be tested; those in power more than appreciate that freedom for the people would signal the end of their reign.
48. Any sensible person will agree that development of this park along with
several similar ones like the establishment of a knowledge city in Rakhdera Chal, the establishment of seven universities, the technology university in
Sialkot and the women’s university campus in Kala Shah Kaku are praiseworthy plans by the government to educate and enlighten people.
Your Letter: Pakistani embassy responds on July 6, 2013
The last ambiguous word found in the research was sensible. The word sensible can be interpreted in two ways:
a. having the ability to make a good judgment
b. aware
Using those two meanings, the noun phrase sensible person can be interpreted as 1 a person who is able to make good judgment, and 2 a person
who is aware of the related issue. Both meaning could be assigned to the sentence. Therefore, it became ambiguous.
In order to analyze the lexical ambiguity data deeper, the researcher wanted to see which class of word occurs most frequently in the research. The
table of the ambiguous words is presented in Appendix 2.
84 Based on the data, there were 47 ambiguous words. The ambiguous words
that belonged to noun class were 21 words, while 9 of them belonged to verb class, and the rest, 17 words, belonged to adjective. The researcher did not find
any lexical ambiguity that belonged to pronoun, adverbs, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The diagram showing the occurrence of lexical ambiguity could
be seen in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2. The Occurrence of Lexical Ambiguity
The occurrence of the ambiguity was not necessary to judge which part of speech was the most ambiguous. It was only to see the phenomenon that happened
in mass media that people must be aware in their diction.
2. Ambiguous Phrases
Beside the lexical ambiguity, the researcher also found structural ambiguity which dealt with phrases. However, it was not as many as the lexical ambiguity
Ambiguity Found
21
9 17
Pronoun Noun
Verb Adjective
Adverbs Preposition
Conjuction Interjection
Participle
85 found in the passages. There were only 7 structural ambiguities that could be
found from the passages. 1.
The corrupt practices of several current leaders and government officials have already cost Indonesia much more. Text your say: Haj pilgrimage
postponement on July 1, 2013
The phrase typed in bold and italicized is the one which is considered to be ambiguous. The researcher finds it ambiguous because the attribute ‘several
current’ can be attached to the noun ‘government officials’ or not. 2.
He is joining his sister and brother in law’s party Text your say: Yet, another General joins Dems on July 3, 2013
This sentence is ambiguous since it has a phrase that conveys more than one meaning. The problem lies on the expression his sister and brother in law
party. It carries two interpretations. In the first interpretation, we would see the phrase his sister and brother in law party separately. It can be inferred that the
party belongs to his brother in law. On the other hand, the second interpretation would refer his sister and his brother in law’s party. It means that his sister and
his brother in law are in the same party. 3.
The visible cost of haze at least includes increased healthcare and living expenditure, working productivity losses, commercial losses from certain
industries especially tourism. Your letter: Compensation for the haze? On July 3, 2013
Most of the structural ambiguities found in the research are in noun phrases. This sentence is also ambiguous because of its noun phrase. The noun
86 phrase increased healthcare and living expenditure is ambiguous. The placement
of adjective increase triggers the ambiguity since it can be attached or not to the noun living expenditure.
4. But at the same time made “safe house arrangements” for Osama bin Laden
right next to the PMA in Abbottabad. Your letter: Indian problem with Pakistan on July 5, 2013
Lexical ambiguity is found in the letter commenting the problem between Indian and Pakistan. The noun phrase safe house arrangements is ambiguous
since it can be interpreted in two meanings. The word safe can be attached to noun house and make a noun phrase safe house. However, it can also be attached to the
noun phrase that is made from the combination of house and arrangements. 5.
Having numerous island and seas makes Indonesia very rich. Issue of the day: Geothermal dream may never be a reality on July 6, 2013
This sentence, which is taken from Issue of the day section, is also having noun phrase which triggers the structural ambiguity. The noun phrase numerous
island and seas is structurally ambiguous. Like what happens in the previous cases, the adjective numerous not only can be attached to only word island but
also to the noun phrase island and seas. The deeper explanation about the structure of the noun phrase will be discussed in the next section.
6. At a time when there was a possibility of a meeting between PM Nawaz
Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September and while
unveiling Pakistan’s foreign policy roadmap, Prime Minister Nawas Sharif
has vowed to “progressively pursue” normalcy in ties with India while
87 actively seeking solutions to outstanding issues, including Kashmir, such
propaganda could blemish the efforts being made in good faith by both sides.
Your letter: Pakistani embassy respond on July, 6 2013
Such a long sentence which comes from a letter from the reader of Jakarta Post newspaper. However, in this long sentence, there is an ambiguous noun
phrase. It is foreign policy roadmap. This structural ambiguity has the same pattern with what has been discussed in point 47.
7. We must give our governments a chance and the confidence to bury the
acrimonious past and endeavor to live in peace and amity and encourage
relations based on mutual respect and understanding. Your letter: Pakistani embassy respond on July, 6 2013
From the same letter as what we have in point 47, the researcher found another structurally ambiguous sentence. The letter is written by spokesperson
Embassy of Pakistan who comments on the letter about Pakistan and Indian problem on July 5, 2013. The noun phrase is considered ambiguous since there
are two meanings that can be interpreted from it. The adjective mutual can be attached to the noun respect and not connected to the noun understanding as well
as it can be attached to modify the noun phrase respect and understanding. To understand the explanation better, the researcher will discuss it using tree diagram
in the next section. While the lexical ambiguity consisted of varied parts of speech, in
structural ambiguity, all of the data found were in form of noun phrase. In Table 4.2, the researcher provided the data of the structural ambiguity.
88
Table 4.2. Structural Ambiguity Table
No Word
Parts of Speech NP
VP AdjP
AdvP PP
1. several current leaders and government
officials v
2. his sister and brother’s in law’s party
v 3.
increased healthcare and living expenditure
v 4.
safe house arrangements v
5. numerous seas and islands
v 6.
foreign policy roadmap v
7. mutual respect and understanding
v
From data served in Table 4.2, it could be seen that 100 of the structural ambiguity phrases are in form of noun phrase. Seen from the two categories,
lexical and structural ambiguity, noun possessed great proportions of the data. While 100 of the data in structural ambiguity is in noun phrase, in lexical
ambiguity it also dominated the data 86.
B. Tree Diagram Analysis
