Investigating lexical and structural ambiguity in the reader's forum of the Jakarta Post Newspaper.

ABSTRACT

Utami, Mutiara Sekar. (2013). Investigating Lexical and Structural Ambiguity in the Reader’s Forum Section of The Jakarta Post Newspaper. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University.

Language is one aspect that differentiates human and other creatures. Through language, people communicate. When communicating, people transfer ideas, thoughts, and meanings. However, sometimes what is meant is not the same as what is received. Misunderstanding and misinterpretation could be the reasons why it happens, and ambiguity is one of the many factors of misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

The researcher conducted the study to find out ambiguities in mass media. The researcher used The Jakarta Post newspaper as the subject of the study. This study aimed to answer three research questions. The first and second research question aimed to find out words and phrases are lexically and structurally ambiguous in the Reader’s Forum section of The Jakarta Post newspaper, while the third research question was how the tree diagrams enable the researcher to resolve structural ambiguities.

The study was a qualitative study. Therefore, the researcher more focused on the words, phrases, and sentence rather than numerical data. Using content analysis as her method, the researcher took the data from one week’s edition of The Jakarta Post newspaper from July 1st, 2013 to July 6th, 2013. To be precise, the researcher took the data from the Reader’s Forumsection.

From one week data, the researcher found 54 ambiguities, consisting of 47 ambiguous words and 7 ambiguous phrases. From the lexically ambiguous words, the researcher found that 21 words belonged to nouns, 9 of them belonged to verbs, and the rest, 17 words, belonged to adjectives. While in structural ambiguity, all of the structurally ambiguous phrases belong to noun phrases. It was also proved that tree diagrams could be used to resolve the structural ambiguity. Tree diagrams could also reveal the pattern of structurally ambiguous phrases.

Keywords: ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, newspaper, structural ambiguity, tree diagrams.

ABSTRAK

Utami, Mutiara Sekar. (2013). Investigating Lexical and Structural Ambiguity in the Reader’s Forum Section of The Jakarta Post Newspaper. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa merupakan salah satu karakter yang membedakan manusia dengan makhluk hidup lainnya. Manusia berkomunikasi menggunakan bahasa untuk menyalurkan ide, pemikiran, dan arti. Namun, terkadang apa yang dimaksud tidak sama dengan apa yang diterima oleh lawan bicara. Kesalahpahaman dan salah interpretasi menjadi salah satu penyebab hal tersebut terjadi, dan ambiguitas menjadi factor penyebab kesalahpahaman dan salah interpretasi tersebut.

Penulis melakukan penelitian untuk menemukan ambiguitas di media massa. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan artikel yang diambil dari harian The Jakarta Post sebagai subjeknya. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk menjawab 3 (tiga) rumusan masalah. Pertanyaan pertama dan kedua bertujuan untuk menemukan kata dan phrasa yang mana saja yang tergolong ambigu secara leksikal dan struktural. Sedangkan pertanyaan ketiga bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana pohon sintaktis dapat memecahkan permasalahan ambiguitas struktural?

Penelitian ini merupakan studi kulitatif. Makadari itu, penulis lebih menaruh perhatian pada kata, phrasa, dan kalimat daripada data numerik. Dengan menggunakan metode analisis isi, peneliti mengambil data dari harian The Jakarta Post selama satu minggu dimulai dari edisi 1 Juli 2013 sampai 6 Juli 2013. Lebih rinci, penulis mengambil data dari kolom Reader’s Forum.

Dari data selama satu minggu, penulis menemukan 54 ambiguitas yang terdiri dari 47 kata dan 7 phrasa. Pada kata yang ambigu, penulis menemukan bahwa 21 kata merupakan nomina, 9 kata kerja, dan 17 merupakan adjektiva. Sedangkan untuk semua phrasa yang ambigu merupakan phrasa nomina. Dalam penelitian ini, juga terbukti bahwa pohon sintaksis juga dapat digunakan untuk membantu memahami ambiguitas struktural secara lebih baik. Dengan menggunakan pohon sintaktis, penulis juga dapat melihat pola dari phrasa yang ambigu.

Kata Kunci: ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, newspaper, structural ambiguity, tree diagrams.

INVESTIGATING LEXICAL AND STRUCTURAL

AMBIGUITY IN THE

READER’S FORUM

SECTION

OF

THE JAKARTA POST

NEWSPAPER

A SARJANA PENDIDIKANTHESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Mutiara Sekar Utami Student Number: 091214114

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

i

INVESTIGATING LEXICAL AND STRUCTURAL

AMBIGUITY IN THE

READER’S FORUM

SECTION

OF

THE JAKARTA POST

NEWSPAPER

A SARJANA PENDIDIKANTHESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Mutiara Sekar Utami Student Number: 091214114

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

iv

I dedicate this thesis to:

Jesus

,

for the unpredictable yet incredible plan

Bapak & Mamah,

for the love, care, and prayer

Mas Ebi & Mas Ei,

for being the best bodyguard in the world

Raihan, Pia, Tata,

for giving me happiness, free hugs and kisses

Om Yeri,

for the support and the wake-up call

Mas Ape,

for being the one

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

-

_{Psalm 23:1}

vii ABSTRACT

Utami, Mutiara Sekar. (2013). Investigating Lexical and Structural Ambiguity in the Reader’s Forum Section of The Jakarta Post Newspaper.Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University.

Language is one aspect that differentiates human and other creatures. Through language, people communicate. When communicating, people transfer ideas, thoughts, and meanings. However, sometimes what is meant is not the same as what is received. Misunderstanding and misinterpretation could be the reasons why it happens, and ambiguity is one of the many factors of misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

The researcher conducted the study to find out ambiguities in mass media. The researcher used The Jakarta Post newspaper as the subject of the study. This study aimed to answer three research questions. The first and second research question aimed to find out words and phrases are lexically and structurally ambiguous in the Reader’s Forum section ofThe Jakarta Post newspaper, while the third research question was how the tree diagrams enable the researcher to resolve structural ambiguities.

The study was a qualitative study. Therefore, the researcher more focused on the words, phrases, and sentence rather than numerical data. Using content analysis as her method, the researcher took the data from one week’s edition of The Jakarta Post newspaper from July 1st_{, 2013 to July 6}th_{, 2013. To be precise,}

the researcher took the data from theReader’s Forumsection.

From one week data, the researcher found 54 ambiguities, consisting of 47 ambiguous words and 7 ambiguous phrases. From the lexically ambiguous words, the researcher found that 21 words belonged to nouns, 9 of them belonged to verbs, and the rest, 17 words, belonged to adjectives. While in structural ambiguity, all of the structurally ambiguous phrases belong to noun phrases. It was also proved that tree diagrams could be used to resolve the structural ambiguity. Tree diagrams could also reveal the pattern of structurally ambiguous phrases.

Keywords: ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, newspaper, structural ambiguity, tree diagrams.

viii ABSTRAK

Utami, Mutiara Sekar. (2013). Investigating Lexical and Structural Ambiguity in the Reader’s Forum Section of The Jakarta Post Newspaper. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Bahasa merupakan salah satu karakter yang membedakan manusia dengan makhluk hidup lainnya. Manusia berkomunikasi menggunakan bahasa untuk menyalurkan ide, pemikiran, dan arti. Namun, terkadang apa yang dimaksud tidak sama dengan apa yang diterima oleh lawan bicara. Kesalahpahaman dan salah interpretasi menjadi salah satu penyebab hal tersebut terjadi, dan ambiguitas menjadi factor penyebab kesalahpahaman dan salah interpretasi tersebut.

Penulis melakukan penelitian untuk menemukan ambiguitas di media massa. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan artikel yang diambil dari harian The Jakarta Post sebagai subjeknya. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk menjawab 3 (tiga) rumusan masalah. Pertanyaan pertama dan kedua bertujuan untuk menemukan kata dan phrasa yang mana saja yang tergolong ambigu secara leksikal dan struktural. Sedangkan pertanyaan ketiga bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana pohon sintaktis dapat memecahkan permasalahan ambiguitas struktural?

Penelitian ini merupakan studi kulitatif. Makadari itu, penulis lebih menaruh perhatian pada kata, phrasa, dan kalimat daripada data numerik. Dengan menggunakan metode analisis isi, peneliti mengambil data dari harian The Jakarta Post selama satu minggu dimulai dari edisi 1 Juli 2013 sampai 6 Juli 2013. Lebih rinci, penulis mengambil data dari kolom Reader’s Forum.

Dari data selama satu minggu, penulis menemukan 54 ambiguitas yang terdiri dari 47 kata dan 7 phrasa. Pada kata yang ambigu, penulis menemukan bahwa 21 kata merupakan nomina, 9 kata kerja, dan 17 merupakan adjektiva. Sedangkan untuk semua phrasa yang ambigu merupakan phrasa nomina. Dalam penelitian ini, juga terbukti bahwa pohon sintaksis juga dapat digunakan untuk membantu memahami ambiguitas struktural secara lebih baik. Dengan menggunakan pohon sintaktis, penulis juga dapat melihat pola dari phrasa yang ambigu.

Kata Kunci_{: ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, newspaper, structural ambiguity, tree} diagrams.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I could not give more thanks toJesusfor His plans which work way much better than mine. Without Him, I would not be able to finish this thesis – I would not start, actually. I’m so glad that on that Sunday, I pushed myself to go to church. I’m so grateful that He spoke to me through the priest that day. I’m sure that it was one of His amazing scenarios. Therefore, I believe in every step I took while writing this thesis, He kept His eyes upon me – as He always does.

I would like to thank my parents for their love and care. I thank my mother so much for her silent prayer every morning where she mentions my name. I also feel grateful for love and care shown in my father eyes with no need to say it. I love you both, so much. I would not be able to finish my study without my brothersandmy uncles. I owe them life.

I also want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my sponsor, Barli Bram, Ph.D.,who has willingly and patiently helped me. I thank him for his care, patience, advice, critical questions, and supports.

I would like to thank all my ELESP lecturers especially Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd, M.Pd, Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd., and Drs. Y. B. Gunawan, M.A. I also would like to thank Mbak Dhaniek andMbak Tari for the guidance and assistance they gave to me during my years in Sanata Dharma University ELESP.

My gratitude also goes to those who have supported me so much in this bittersweet process. My better half, Rizky Aditya Purnomo Putra, who always reminds me to work on my thesis and keep writing every time we have phone calls. I thank him for the love, care, support, and understanding. I thank God that we found each other. I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the member of Kontrakan Ceria_{, Engkit, Karnia and Linna for being the best comedian} ever. I thank them for keeping me smiling when the world seems so cruel.

I also would like to thank my besties, Nana, Wella, Tia, Pita, Ika, Linda for the laughter, discussion, love, jokes, and happy moments we shared. Our memories won’t ever be forgotten. I also thank LAYUNG for the great moments

x

and beautiful journey that we had together. I also feel blessed to be in SPACE, the best teaching team ever. I thank them so much for the process that we went through together.

I would not able to finish this thesis without the masterpiece of Metallica, Michael Bolton, Bread, Michael Learns to Rock, Guns ‘n Roses, Firehouse, The All American Rejects, and Kings of Leon and also all of the god and goddess of 70’s, 80’s, 90’s rock ballads.

Lastly, I also thank all the people who have helped and supported me, especially during the process of pursuing my dreams. I am so glad to have them in my life and I am so blessed to know them all.

xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE... i

APPROVAL PAGE... ii

DEDICATION PAGE... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... v

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI... vi

ABSTRACT... vii

ABSTRAK... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS... xi

LIST OF TABLES... xiv

LIST OF FIGURES... xv

LIST OF APPENDICES... xvi

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background ... 1

B. Research Problems... 5

C. Problem Limitation ... 5

D. Research Objectives ... 6

E. Research Benefits ... 7

xii

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Theoretical Description ... 11

1. Related Studies ... 11

2. Theories of Meaning ... 13

a. Conceptual Meaning ... 14

b. Connotative Meaning... 15

c. Social Meaning ... 16

d. Affective Meaning ... 16

e. Reflected Meaning ... 17

f. Collocative Meaning ... 17

g. Thematic Meaning ... 18

3. Theories of Ambiguity ... 19

a. Vagueness... 20

b. Types of Ambiguity ... 22

4. Theories of Parts of Speech... 29

a. Noun ... 29

b. Determiner ...,... 30

c. Adjective ... 30

d. Verb ... 31

e. Preposition ... 31

f. Adverb ... 31

g. Conjunction ... 32

h. Interjection ... 32

5. Theories of Tree Diagram... 32

B. Theoretical Framework ... 35

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Research Method …... 38

B. Research Setting …... 40

xiii

D. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique ... 42

E. Data Analysis Technique ... 43

F. Research Procedure ... 46

CHAPTER IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Ambiguous Words and Phrases ... 49

1. Ambiguous Words... 50

2. Ambiguous Phrases... 84

B. Tree Diagram Analysis... 88

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusion... 100

B. Recommendations ... 101

REFERENCES ... 103

xiv

LIST OF TABLES

Table

3.1. Data Organizational Table... 44 3.2. Lexical Ambiguity Table... 44 4.2. Structural Ambiguity Table... 88

xv

LIST OF FIGURES Figure

2.1. Tree Diagram... 15

2.2. Tree Diagram of a Sentence ... 34

2.3. Tree Diagram of a Phrase... 35

3.1.The Jakarta PostOfficial Website ... 43

3.2. Tree Form 1.0.3... 45

4.1. Ambiguity Ratio... 50

4.2. The Occurrence of Lexical Ambiguity... 84

4.3. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 1... 89

4.4. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 1... 90

4.5. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 2... 90

4.6. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 2... 91

4.7. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 3... 92

4.8. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 3... 92

4.9. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 4... 93

4.10. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 4... 94

4.11. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 5... 94

4.12. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 5... 95

4.13. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 6... 96

4.14. Second Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 6... 96

4.15. First Tree Diagram of Structural Ambiguity Point 7... 97

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Data Organizational Table... 106

Appendix 2 Lexical Ambiguity Table... 114

Appendix 3The Jakarta PostArticles on July 1st_{, 2013... 116}

Appendix 4The Jakarta PostArticles on July 2nd, 2013... 120

Appendix 5The Jakarta PostArticles on July 3rd, 2013... 125

Appendix 6The Jakarta PostArticles on July 4th, 2013... 135

Appendix 7The Jakarta PostArticles on July 5th, 2013... 140

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This research aims to investigate lexical and grammatical ambiguity found in the Reader’s Forum section in The Jakarta Post newspaper. This chapter discusses the research background, research problems, problem formulation, research objectives, problem limitation, research benefits, and definition of terms.

A. Research Background

Language is one characteristic that differentiates human with any other living creature. It is used by people around the world to express their feeling, thought, ideas, etc. People use language to convey information about entities, and their attributes, actions, and relations. It is not easy to describe what language is since linguists have their own ideas in describing what language is. However, Fasold and Linton (eds.) (2006) state in their book that language can be defined as “a finite system of elements and principles that make it possible for speakers to construct sentences to do particular communicative jobs.” (p. 9). So, it can be concluded that the language itself is seen as a finite unit of elements and rules that work together in order to communicate speakers and the interlocutors.

As it is stated, language is used to communicate with each other. However, when communicating with others, some problems may arise because of miscommunication. The miscommunication will occur if there is misinterpretation or misunderstanding. The problem does not only occur in spoken or oral situation

but also in written. While reading, sometimes the readers would find a sentence that makes them think twice. They may find it confusing because it has more than one meaning. That kind of problem is the characteristic of an ambiguous sentence. Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish (2001) state that an expression is said to be ambiguous when more than one interpretation can be assigned to it (p. 154). The double meanings will force the readers or interpreters to think twice to get the exact meaning while reading or listening to ambiguous sentences or utterances.

Normally, the readers will directly interpret the sentence well, and get the content right after reading it. However, the ambiguous sentence will make the reader think twice or even get the wrong interpretation about the sentence. It is important for the readers to know the intended meaning of a sentence. As stated by Sobur (2006), the problem related to meaning of an utterance or sentence is the core problem in a language study. It can be said so because something could be labelled as a language when it has meaning. Moreover, West and Turner (2010) state that understanding meaning is very crucial in our lives (p. 75). We cannot get too far in our conversations unless we understand others and can make ourselves understood.

In the study of language, semantics is the branch which focuses more on the study of meaning. Other than semantics, there is pragmatics which studies meanings based on its situations of the utterances (Leech, 1983, p. 5). The study of those two cannot be separated. The difference of those two can be seen on the scope of the observer absorb the meaning itself. When it comes to semantics, the meaning can be seen directly from the words or the connection between the

words. Fasold and Linton (eds.) (2006) state that semantics deals with literal meaning of words, phrases, and sentences (p. 137). For example, the sentence I want to go home now means that the speaker wishes to do a particular action which is going home at the moment of speaking. While if we see it from the pragmatics point of view, there are a lot of possible meanings that can be derived from that sentence since pragmatics focuses more on the utterance and context than the sentence and words literal meaning. The first meaning maybe the speaker is in the middle of the class and he/she feels bored and wish that he/she could go home while in fact he/she could not. The second meaning maybe the speaker does not want to go to somewhere else and decided to go home. And there are a lot of interpretations that can be derived from the situation which is the sentenceI want to go home nowuttered.

One interesting topic in semantics study is ambiguity. Ambiguity can be found in the written or oral discourses. However, the researcher would only focus on the written discourses. One of the famous written discourses that can be found around us is the printed media. What the researcher meant by media here is newspapers, magazines, and other publication that are aimed to give information to public. Media plays a big role in the society. Galtung (1999), the Norwegian scientist and peace research pioneer, puts the media floating between 3 pillars (p. 4). Those pillars are the State, which representing the government, the Market, which represent the economical phenomena, and the Civil Society, which represent the society which pay attention to the development of the sphere. It means that media may affect and also become the bridge of those three pillars, the

government, economical phenomena, and also society. McKee (2005) stated in his book that public sphere is the metaphor used to describe about the way that information and ideas circulate in the society (p. 4). In brief, it can be said that media affects people’s lives so much. Media can build people’s perceptions about an issue. Therefore, it is important for us to get the true and clear information and news from the media.

In this study, the researcher is going to investigate the lexical and structural ambiguity in Reader’s Forum section in The Jakarta Post newspaper. The researcher is conducting the study because the researcher is curious about finding lexical and structural ambiguity in the mass media. The Jakarta Post is chosen because it is known as the leading English language newspaper in Indonesia. Moreover, it also has its own website that can be easily reached at www.thejakartapost.com. In the website, the content of the printed edition can also be found easily. TheReader’s Forumsection is chosen because of the varied of the writer. The writer of the content or comment is not only professional writer but also layman who wants to speak their mind and thought.

In the discussion, the researcher is going to analyze the lexical and structural ambiguity. After analyzing the ambiguity found in the newspaper section, the researcher is going to classify the lexical items which are ambiguous according to their part of speech. Next, the researcher will analyze the structural ambiguity by investigating its possible interpretation. The researcher would also analyze the structural ambiguity using tree diagram. Tree diagram is used in this study because the researcher believe that it can help us to understand the possible

meaning of ambiguous phrase or sentence. The researcher hopes this study would make the readers aware of the ambiguity. The awareness of ambiguity may trigger the reader to avoid ambiguity itself so that the misunderstanding will not occur.

B. Problem Formulation

This research is conducted to answer three questions.

1. What words are lexically ambiguous in theReader’s Forumsection ofThe Jakarta Postnewspaper?

2. What phrases are structurally ambiguous in theReader’s Forumsection of The Jakarta Postnewspaper?

3. How do the tree diagrams enable the researcher to resolve structural ambiguities?

C. Problem Limitation

In this study, the limitation is needed in order to discuss the particular topic thoroughly. This study is limited to the lexical and structural ambiguity found inThe Jakarta Postnewspaper. The researcher also limits the study only in theReader’s Forumsection. The data are taken from the officialThe Jakarta Post website, www.thejakartapost.com. The interesting thing about the website is that it provides the printed edition ofThe Jakarta Postnewspaper.

Some words, which are considered lexically ambiguous, would appear more than once. Unless the word has different meaning in the interpretation, the researcher would only discuss one sample. Moreover, the researcher will only focus on lexical and structural ambiguity by using semantics approach. Any

ambiguities that are caused by different types of ambiguity such as scope and referential ambiguity will not be taken into account in the study. The researcher will not consider any possibilities caused by the utterance as it is seen in pragmatics. However, in order to decide the intended meaning of the writer, the researcher would depend on the passage or topic discussed. The researcher is going to use the tree diagram in order to investigate the possible interpretations of each sentence or phrase.

D. Research Objectives

The researcher conducts this study in order to meet two main objectives. Firstly, the researcher wants to know if there are any ambiguous words, phrases, or sentences that can be found in the well-known mass media, especially in The Jakarta Postnewspaper. It is so because the researcher is aware of the effects of the misinterpretation that may be derived from a public sphere. Moreover, the researcher will also find out which part of speech is ambiguous based on the data found in The Jakarta Post newspaper. From the data, the researcher could see which part of speech occurs the most and be aware of it. Secondly, the researcher wants to prove whether tree diagram can be used to solve the structurally ambiguous phrases.

E. Research Benefits

By conducting this research, the researcher hopes that English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) students, teachers and lecturers, and also readers can take the benefits. The benefits of the research can be stated as follows. 1. English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) students

The researcher hopes that the research can give the students of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) some benefits. The first benefits is that it can add information about ambiguity, especially lexical and structural ambiguity. That information may raise their awareness of ambiguity. The researcher also hopes that this research can be the reference for the study of semantics and syntax in teaching and learning activity. It may help them to do their assignments or maybe get the deeper knowledge to complete their task. 2. Teachers and lecturers

This research may also bring benefits for the educator, teachers and lecturers, especially for English language teachers and lectures. Having conducted the research, the researcher hopes that the research can be reference for the teachers and lecturers in conducting teaching and learning process. The researcher also hopes that it can trigger the teachers’ and lecturers’ awareness in using language, especially English language. Later on, this awareness can be spread to their students.

3. Future researchers

The researcher hopes that the paper will be useful for the future researchers because they can conduct deeper and further study about ambiguity

especially lexical and grammatical ambiguity in the newspaper. If they are interested in conducting the same research, they can refer to this research and conduct the same research to get some confirmation and also to test the theory.

4. Readers

The researcher also hopes that the thesis can also give its significances to the readers. The researcher hopes that the paper can increase people’s awareness in avoiding ambiguity, so that the interlocutor can understand the intended meaning said by the speakers well, and the misinterpretation will not occur.

F. Definition of Terms

Definition of terms is needed in order to give clear definition about the terms used in this paper. In this section, the writer is going to define some terms which are used in this paper.

1. Meaning

The researcher see it is important to describe meaning in order to get the clear understanding about it. However, there is no exact definition of what it really is. Linguists have their own understanding about it. Cruse (2000) describe it by giving figure in which there are 4 elements. Those are speaker, transmitted signal, received signal, and receiver. Having a message to communicate, the sender processes the message and encoding it, and finally produced the transmitted signal. The transmitted signal then travels through channels which may have obstacles and noise before picked up by the receiver. However, the

receiver only get the received signal which has been modified by the noise and not precisely the same as the speaker’s intended message. The message here is the metaphor of meaning which is transferred and modified from the speaker to the hearer. He also says that there are three aspects of meaning, those are speakers’ meaning, hearers’ meaning and sign meaning.

2. Ambiguity

Since the paper mainly discusses about ambiguity, it is necessary to define the term ambiguity first. Ambiguity can be interpreted to a word, sentence, or expressions that are having multiple meaning (Fasold and Linton, 2006). There will be 2 types of ambiguity that are discussed in the study. The first one is lexical ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity is referred to a word which has more than one meaning (Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish, 2001, p. 237). Lexical ambiguity has strong connection with polysemy and homonymy. The second ambiguity is structural ambiguity. Structural ambiguity happens because of the relation of one word to other word or words (Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish, 2001, p. 155). In the structural ambiguity, the phrase or the sentences have more than one interpretation because of its relation to another word. For example the phrasenice man and womancan be interpreted in two ways. The first one explain the man and woman who are nice, and the second one explain the man who is nice and a woman(which might be neutral or not nice).

3. Tree Diagram

Structural ambiguity, however, can be solved and analyzed using tree diagram. Some experts may call it syntax tree or parse tree. However, the

researcher would name it tree diagram. Radford (2001) describes tree diagram as “a way of representing the syntactic structure of a phrase or sentence.” (p. 273). Tree diagram can be used to analyze clause, phrase, or sentence. In the tree diagram, the clause, phrase, or sentence is analyzed based on its categories.

11 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher divides the chapter into two parts namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The first part, which is theoretical description, consists of two sections. It talks about the review of related studies and also literature. The other part, which is theoretical framework, explains the correlation of the theories with the study, and how the theories help the researcher to solve the problem formulations.

A. Theoretical Description

This part consist of two sections. Those sections are Review of Related Studies and Review of Related Literature. From those two sections, the researcher would review other researchers’ works and also linguists’ literature related to the study conducted.

1. Related Studies

Ambiguity is one phenomenon in English and other languages that might attract linguists to study more about it. Studies on ambiguity had been conducted by Bucaria (2004), Grenat and Taher (2008), and Tambunan (2009). Studies on disambiguation, corpora, and semantic interpreter programs have also conducted by Hirst (1983, 1988) and Hansen and Sargen (2012). Bucaria (2004) conducted interesting study about lexical and syntactic ambiguity that causes humor on the newspaper headlines. The data of the study were taken from the online newspaper

headlines. In the study, she found that the lexical ambiguity owned more spaces than syntactical and phonological ambiguity. 52.9% of the data belonged to lexical ambiguity, 46.66% of the data belonged to syntactical ambiguity, while only one sample (0.74%) was in form of phonological ambiguity. From the study, she also found the new configurations for the order of the phrases in the newspaper headlines.

Grenat and Taher (2008) conducted a study related to translation and ambiguity. In the study, they examined structural ambiguity and how the interpreter or translator handled ambiguous structures. Translator and interpreter are responsible to render the same structural meaning in source language into the target language. However, not all ambiguous structures in the source language have the equivalent ambiguous structures in the target language. Most of the ambiguous structures presented in the paper could be rendered into equivalent target language used in the research, which was Arabic. However, there were some sentences which could not be rendered due to the differences of morphological and syntactic factors that English and Arabic have.

Previous study had also been conducted by Tambunan (2009). She conducted the study to complete her bachelor degree in English Letter Department in North Sumatera University. She wrote The Analysis of Lexical and Structural Ambiguity in Your Letters of The Jakarta Post. That study pointed out that there were 50 ambiguous words and phrases found during the study, 51.1% of them was structural ambiguity and the rest was lexical ambiguity. That study also pointed

out that most of the ambiguous words were verbs, while all of the structural ambiguity caused by noun phrases.

In this study, the researcher is going to conduct the study on ambiguity in the newspaper. The purpose of the study is to confirm the previous study that has been done by Tambunan (2009). The researcher is going to analyze the ambiguity in The Jakarta Post newspaper. However, the researcher is going to conduct the research wider than the previous study. The previous study took the data from the section Your Letters, while in this study the data are taken from the section

Reader’s Forum. In the forum, there are a lot of sub-sections. There are Your Letters, Comment, Text Your Say,andIssues of the Day. The researcher decides to widen the scope because the researcher is curious about the way people communicate through written discourse in the mass media. The researcher also finds it interesting in the way people state their ideas through short message service (SMS) which is used in theTest Your Saysection.

The researcher would also apply tree diagram in the research which was not applied in the previous research. The researcher uses tree diagram because the researcher believes that tree diagram can be used to enable the reader to interpret the meaning of the ambiguous phrase or sentence.

2. Theories of Meaning

Linguists describe the term meaning in their own words and opinions. O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller (eds.) (2010) mention that meaning is the message or content from what the speaker utters or says. When people do the

communication, they transfer the message to their interlocutors. This message contains meaning that is speakers intended meaning. Finegan (2004) suggests three types of meaning; linguistics meaning, social meaning, and affective meaning (p. 182). However, Leech (1981) divides types of meaning in wider sense into seven categories (p. 9).

a. Conceptual Meaning

This meaning sometimes known as denotative meaning or cognitive meaning. There are two structural principles that underlie the linguistics patterning. Those are the principle of contractiveness and the principle of structure. In conceptual meaning, those two principles also play their role in revealing the conceptual, denotative, or cognitive meaning of a sentence or expression.

Phonology also uses the contractiveness principle to describe the classification of sounds. Symbol (+) and (-) are used to represent the presence of the attribute. According to the contractiveness principle, componential analysis can determine meaning. Based on the certain attribute, meaning can be derived by giving label positive (+) or negative (-) which refer to the presence of the attribute. The examples are as follows.

i. man : [+human] [+male] [+adult] ii. girl : [+human] [-male] [-adult]

By seeing the example i and ii, people can conclude that the meaning ofmanisan adult male human, while girl is a young female human. To describe the meaning of the words, people only need to see the attributes which are possessed by the

certain word. People can also infer the antonym of the unpossessed attribute as seen on the example.

Another principle used in the approach to conceptual meaning is the structure principle. It is the belief that larger linguistics units such as sentences and phrases are formed from the smaller units such as words, or vice versa. This principle can be easily understood by seeing the tree diagram in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Tree diagram

From Figure 2.1, people can see the smaller unit of the sentence which build a sentence and also vice versa. Besides the tree diagram, bracketing can also be used to analyze the linguistics units:

iii. {(The)(boy)}{[(is)][(a)(student)]}.

The bracket shows the connection of words, and also the order of the connection. The different types of brackets {[()]} shows the order of the connection. However, some might find difficulties in reading bracket and prefer reading tree diagram (Napoli, 1997, p. 307)

b. Connotative Meaning

Different with conceptual meaning, connotative meaning focuses more on the value of an expression has by virtue of what it refers to (p. 12). In order to

understand the meaning, people need to understand the history, culture, and individuals experiences. The example of connotative meaning is idioms. Idioms carry connotative meaning, since it has meanings that can be seen as in conceptual meaning. The idiom break a leg means to wish someone a good luck. To understand the idiom, people need to understand the background of the idiom. Long time ago, it is believed that the Sprites would do something bad to people. Therefore, whenever a person was facing unfortunate events, people would blame the Sprites. The Sprites were known for their mischievousness. If a person pray a good thing they would do the opposite. Therefore, the idiom break a leg was believed to deceive the Sprites to do the opposite.

c. Social Meaning

Social meaning related to the situation in which an utterance takes place. It considers the social circumstances in use. From some words and pronunciation, people can see the social origin of the speaker. People often recognize the relation between the speaker and the hearer through conversation; the status and social relation between the speaker and the hearer can be seen through the style of language.

d. Affective Meaning

As it is named, affective meaning has something to do with feeling and attitudes. To interpret an affective meaning of a sentence, people should consider the personal feelings of the speaker, speaker’s attitudes towards the hearer, and his attitudes and feeling about the topic he is talking about. The example of polite

requests that is provided by Leech (1981, p. 15) might help to understand the explanation better:

iv. I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little’

v. Will you belt up?

By using different scale of politeness, people can see the speaker’s feeling toward the hearer or the situation she/he is facing. In this case, the tone of the speaker will also affect the meaning.

e. Reflected Meaning

Reflected meaning deals with multiple conceptual meaning. The example of sentences or words that use this type of meaning can be easily found in the poetry. In order to say death, a poet prefers to use ring of the bells of quittance, journey to the immortal¸ and sleep in eternal peace. Albeit conveying the same meaning, those three poetic synonym ofdeathhave different senses.

f. Collocative Meaning

Collocative meaning considers the connection of a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which occurs in its environment. The word

prettyand handsomehave the same meaning of the term good-looking. However, they share different interpretation if some nouns are attached:

girl boy

boy man

woman car

flower vessel

vi. pretty garden vii. handsome overcoat

color airliner

village typewriter

g. Thematic Meaning

In thematic meaning, the writer or the speaker organizes the message by ordering, focusing and emphasizing so that it can fulfil the writer or speaker’s intention. In doing so, the writer often use active or passive sentence to emphasizing the focus. Here are the examples:

viii. My brother owns the largest retail shop in Solo.

ix. The largest retail shop in Solo is owned by my brother.

Although the two sentence have the same meaning, they attract different attention. The first example vii emphasizes the subject or the doermy brother. On the other hand, the second example viii emphasizes the objectthe largest retail shop.

On the other hand, Frawley (1992) also divides meaning into several parts or categories. First, he compares between two types of meaning. They are literal and implicational meaning. He says that literal meaning has something to do with the state of affairs the expression represents. Therefore, he also calls literal meaning as representational meaning. He continues that literal meaning can be inferred without knowing the context of the statement, sentence, or utterance. On the contrary, implicational meaning concerns the background, history, circumstances, and so forth (p. 2). Another way, it can be said that in contrast with the literal meaning, implicational meaning is contextualized. By seeing that explanation from Frawley (1992), what is studied by semantics is the literal meaning. While implication meaning which pay more attention to the context of the utterance is the major study in pragmatics.

Frawley (1992) continues with categorizing meaning into two categories; encoding and grammatical meaning. Encoding and grammatical meaning are placed below the term decontextualized meaning. Analyzing the example ix is necessary in order to understand encoding and grammatical meaning easier:

x. Tom bought some rice.

The example x gives meaning to certain event buying and participants Tom and

rice by putting them together grammatically. The description of the event and its participants can be seen because they have grammatical relevance. The example gives the information about Tomcarried out the event and acted on rice.It can be inferred so because the sentence is in English which usually correlates the doer of the action, which generally continues with the verb, which usually precedes with object, which frequently but not always act as receiver. The other languages may have difference order and forms.

However, the example x does not encode the knowledge of the social status of speaker and participants. Other languages such as Javanese and Japanese have honorifics markers of the social position of the speakers, hearers, and participants.

3. Theories of Ambiguity

In the study of semantics, the ambiguity is described as the condition of having more than one linguistics meanings (Akmajian et.al, 2001, p. 572). It means that when a word, sentence, or utterance is having more than one

linguistics meaning or interpretation that can be categorized as an ambiguous word or sentence.

a. Vagueness

Some experts relate ambiguity with vagueness. Frawley (1992) mentions that when an expression has two meanings, it can be either ambiguous or vague (p.58). The difference between two, as Frawley (1992) has mentioned, is clearly identifiable (p.59). It is ambiguous if there are at least two distinct semantic specifications underlying a single overt form. An expression is vague if it is

unspecified for particular meanings and takes them from context. It also can be said that vague sentence lacks of precise meaning, while ambiguous sentence has two or more precise meanings. The example given by Frawley (1992) is as follows.

xi. I punched the paper.

The example x can be interpreted in two meanings, either like (1) I hit the paper with my fist or (2) I pierced a hole in the paper using hole-punching machine. When it is said to be ambiguous, there are two different sets of properties. If it is vague, then it is only one unspecified word which inherits the rest of definitions.

Cruse (2000) also defines the test of discreteness which the researcher believe can be used to test vagueness suggested by Frawley (1992). In order to understand discreteness, Cruse (2000) considers four criteria in which three of them were previously known as ambiguity tests (p.106). From the test, an expression can be judged whether it is ambiguous or vague.

1) The Identity Test

The first test is named identity test. Consider the example: xii. Mary is wearing a light dress; so is Jane.

Literally, the word light has two different meanings; light in color or light in weight, not heavy. Knowing those two meanings, there are four interpretations which can be assigned to the situation in example xii: (1) they are both lightweight, (2) they are light colored, (3) Mary’s dress is lightweight, and Jane’s dress is light colored, (4) Mary’s dress is light colored, and Jane’s dress is lightweight. However, there are only two conditions which are acceptable, they are (1) and (2). It is because once one has decided the meaning of light, one has to stick with it (Cruse, 2000, p. 106). This is called identity constraint. The identity constraint discussed in xii should be contrasted with the absence in xiii:

xiii. Mary has adopted a child; so has Jane.

This child must be a girl or a boy. However, there are no constraints on the possible readings: Mary’s adopted child should be of the same sex with Jane’s. 2) Independent Truth Condition

Yes/No questions can help the reader to check the second criterion for the discreteness. The second criterion is that they have independent truth conditional properties. Consider the example xii, when someone asks MaryWere you wearing light dress?, Mary can answer it with negative or the negative Yes, I was wearing my green pale dress/ No, I was wearing my heavy wool dress. On the other hand, considering the example xiii, if Mary was askedIs it true that you have adopted a

child?, there are no conceivable situations which she could answer either Yes or

No.

3) Independent Sense Relation

When two readings have the independent sets of sense relation, it can be said that those two readings are distinct. For example, the two readings of light

have their own opposites, darkand heavy. Moreover, those two opposites do not have relation in meaning.

4) Autonomy

The last indicator of discreteness is autonomy. Autonomy is the use of the word in one of the senses when the other is explicitly denied by the reason of anomaly of some such. The worddogcan refer to both senses canine speciesand

male canine species. When a person says I prefer dogs to bitches, the sentence is acceptable and fully normal. However, when a person says I prefer children to girls, the sex specific interpretation ofchildis not autonomous.

b. Types of Ambiguity

Experts divides ambiguity in several types. However, they have their own opinion about it. Akmajian et.al (2001) only mention two kinds of ambiguity. They are lexical and structural ambiguity. On the other hand, Grenat and Taher (2008) argue that there are four types of ambiguity. Those are lexical, structural, scope, and referential ambiguity.

1) Lexical Ambiguity

Akmajian et.al (2001) state that lexical ambiguity is referred to a word which has more than one meaning (p. 237). When a sentence is considered

lexically ambiguous, the sentence contains either homonyms or polysemes. Some researchers point out that only homonyms causes ambiguity. On the other hand, some others argue that both polysemes and homonyms will cause ambiguity (Teodorescu, 2012, p. 3). Akmajian et.al (2001) mention that polysemy causes ambiguity for it has more than one related meaning (p. 237). The polysemous words, which have more than one meaning, will cause more than one interpretation. The example of polysemy is the wordposition:

xiv. Her sleeppositionmight be the cause of her backache. xv. She has to take herpositionon that case.

In the example xiv and xv, the wordpositiondoes exist. However, they have their own meaning. The first position meaning is a way which someone is placed or arrange: a posture. On the other hand, the second meaning is a view or opinion. Although they have different meaning, they are placed under the same entries in the dictionary. Moreover, they have connection between the senses.

Besides polysemy, homonym can also trigger ambiguity. Homonym is divined as two or more different words which have the same phonological or spelling properties (Cruse, 2000, p. 109). To be precise, Akmajian et.al (2001) also describe homophonous. Homophonous are words that have the same pronunciation but different spelling (p. 239). Mary, merry, and marry are the example of homophonous words. The often-cited word bank is an example of homonym. The word bank can represent two entities. The first one is a part of riverside, and the second one isa place to save money. In order to differentiate the polysemy and homonymy, can be seen by looking it up in the dictionary.

Polysemy is known having single lexeme, while homonymy has two different lexeme. When a word has polysemy meanings, it is usually grouped together under one dictionary entry. On the other hand, homonyms will have different entries. In the example, the word position, which is polysemous, has only one entry in the dictionary. On the other hand, the word bank is given two main entries, bank1and bank2. The example of lexical ambiguity can be found in the example xvi and xvii:

xvi. She couldn’tbearchildren.

The wordbearis homonymy; it has more than one meaning. In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, it has 7 verb meanings and 2 noun meanings. However, in the context, there are only 2 meanings which are the most suitable meaning which can be interpreted from the sentence. The first one is to give birthand the second isto put up with. Therefore, the sentence is either abouta woman who is not able to give birth to childrenora woman who is not able to put up with children.

xvii. He went to thebankyesterday.

As stated previously, the word bank is homonymous. In the dictionary, it has different entries with different meaning. Considering the sentence, the meaning of the wordbankis eithera part of riversideora place to save money.

2) Structural Ambiguity

Structural ambiguity is closely related to syntax. Syntax is “the way words are arranged together” (Jurafsky and Martin, 2008, p. 385). Talking about structural ambiguity will always lead the discussion into syntax because as it has been stated in advance, structural ambiguity refers to ambiguity caused by word

order and syntax is the study of the word order. Hurford and Heasley (1983) states “structural ambiguity happens because its words relate to each other, even though none of the individual words are ambiguous.” (p. 128). In brief, it can be said that word order and word combination are the cause of the structural ambiguity. The examples of the structural ambiguity are the sentences below:

xviii. Josh saw the man with the telescope.

The sentence is ambiguous. It can be said so because the sentence has more than one meaning. The first meaning isJosh saw a person (the man) using a telescope as his tool, he might be looking at the man from a distance and needed telescope to see the man clearly, while the second meaning is Josh saw the man who was bringing a telescope. From this example we can see that the problem caused because of the relation of words which construct the noun phrase the man with telescope.

xix. Jenny likes the book on the table that she bought yesterday.

The sentence looks fine. However, with deeper analysis, it will bring confusion to the reader. This example also has the same problem with noun phrase. The modifier that she bought yesterday makes the sentence become ambiguous. The clause that she bought yesterday can be attached to both nouns

bookand table. So, if we see the meaning of the first interpretation is Jenny likes the book that she bought yesterday, and the book is now on the table. The second interpretation is Jenny likes the book which is now on the new table that she bought yesterday.

As it is seen, the sentence is ambiguous because there is more than one meaning which can be assigned to it. The ambiguity is related to the order of the words in the subject. The noun phrasethe mother of the boy and the girlcan refers to the boy’s and the girl’s mother. On the other hand, the noun phrase the mother of the boy and the girlcan indicate two or plural subject. For better understanding, please take a look at the example:

xxi. The mother of the boy and the girl is a happy. xxii. The mother of the boy and the girl are happy.

Comparing to the two examples xvi and xvii, the ambiguous sentence presented in xvi can be understood easily. In xvi and xvii, the subjectthe mother of the boy and the girlcan be easily differentiated, since we can easily refer to the verbisorare. However, in xv, when modalwillis used, the grouping of the words the mother of the boy and the girlbecomes ambiguous.

Mihalicek and Wilson (2011) discuss three types of structural ambiguity in sentence processing. They are temporary ambiguity, the garden path effect and global ambiguity.

a) Temporary Ambiguity

The word recognition process start after people hear the first word and so does the syntactic structure building process (Mihalicek & Wilson, 2011, p. 387). The example of the temporary ambiguity can be seen in xxiii:

xxiii. The rich woman went away.

As soon as we saw or hear the word the which is a determiner, people directly expect noun. But as soon as the word rich, people would encounter the

ambiguity since the word rich has two meaning. Moreover, the compound noun

the rich has its own meaning as a noun, while the word rich could also be noun. Therefore, people would expect two possibilities whether the word rich will be followed with noun or verb. The ambiguity is resolved when people hear the word

woman. It means that the word rich acts as an adjective. Therefore, it can be concluded that the sentenceThe rich woman went awayis ambiguous temporarily; until people hear the wordwoman.

b) Garden Path Effect

In sentence processing, when people are facing temporary ambiguity sentences, they at the beginning get a meaning that was not intended by the speaker. Those kind of mistakes in syntactic parsing are known as garden path effect. It is called garden path because the syntax of the sentence makes the reader or listener “down the garden path” (p. 388.) The example is given in xxiv:

xxiv. While Mary was mending the sock fell off her lap.

When people read the sock in xxiv, people would consider it as the direct object of the verb mending. However, after finding out the word fell, people would need to reanalyze the sentence again. Then people would conclude thatthe sock is not the direct object of the verb mending, but the subject of the sentence

the sock fell off her lap.

c) Global Ambiguity

Some structural ambiguous sentences are not temporary, they are not resolved at the end of the utterance. In that case, the sentences are globally ambiguous. Without the additional information about the situation, intonation, and

preceding or following sentences, it is impossible to understand the intended meaning of the speaker or the writer. The examples of global ambiguity are provided in xviii, xix, and xx.

3) Scope Ambiguity

When there are two or more constituent in a sentence, and one of them is determined by the others, it can be said that the constituent is in the scope of the others that affect its reference (Grenat & Taher, 2008, p. 10). Poesio (1995) mentions scope ambiguity as scopal ambiguity. He explains that scopal ambiguity happens when a sentence has more than one meaning because of the relation between operators. Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen, and Spencer (1999) also mention scope ambiguity in their work. The example of scope ambiguity can be seen in example xxv:

xxv. Some students voted for every candidate.

The sentence in the example xxv has two interpretations. The first one is there is some particular student that voted for all candidate, while the second is for each candidate, it is possible to find a student who voted for that candidate.

4) Referential Ambiguity

This kind of ambiguity arise because of the different reference of a referring expression that the speaker and addressee have in mind. The easiest example is the sentence Callista is a good girl. The addressee might have the reference of someone named Callistawho is not the speaker intended to mention. Teodorescu (2012) mentions that unclear reference of anaphoric and cataphoric pronouns is the trigger of referential ambiguity. The example is:

xxvi. John told Jack that Mary was waiting for him.

In the example xxvi, the pronoun him might refer to John or Jack. Therefore, the sentence becomes referential ambiguous.

4. Theories of Parts of Speech

The term parts of speech is also known as word classes. They refer to a system of word classification (Aarts, 1997, p. 24). Finch (2000) states that in the language acquisition, parts of speech are important since they enable the language user to construct sentences with maximum economy (p. 133). For example, people who learn English would understand that the incomplete sentence I _____ dogs

can only be completed by a verb. Aarts (1997) suggests the classification of words as follows.

a. Noun

Traditional grammar defines nouns as words that represent people, animals, things, or places. Based on the traditional grammar definition, the word

baby, chair, dog, hospital, and soon are nouns. However, in modern linguistics, such definition is regarded as too weak since there are a lot of unaccounted words. Such words as death and advices that show the abstract idea, love and happiness that denote feelings, and others are not taken into account. Therefore, in order to label a word based on its parts of speech, people need to understand the word behaviour (Finch, 2000, p. 109). Crystal (1988, p. 92) lists three criteria to recognize a noun. The first criteria is that the words meaning and use are decided by the existence of determiners. The second one is that the word is functioning as

the head of the noun phrase. The last factor is that the word changes form to express singular and plural, or the genitive case.

b. Determiner

Previously, it is stated that determiner could be an indication of nouns. Determiners such asthe, a, that, those,and soon precedes nouns. Its function is to specify more precisely the meaning of the noun they precede.

xxvii. I saw a dog on my way home. I felt pity so I brought that dog home.

From the example xxvii, the changes of determiner that precedes the noundogcan be seen. In the first sentence, the speaker uses determinerato show that there was one dog. In the second sentence, the speaker uses determiner that in order to specify more precisely the particular dog the speaker refers to.

c. Adjective

Adjectives are used to specify the attributes of nouns, such as a beautiful dress, some naughty kids, and soon. The words beautiful and naughty are the examples of adjectives. Some adjectives can be identified by the occurrence of adjectival affixes such as –full, -less, -ive, and un-. Most of adjectives are gradable, and can be preceded by very, more, extremely, and soon. However, the adjectives that denote material and nationality are the exceptions. Some adjectives can also have comparative and superlative endings, such as long-longer-longest. Adjectives occupy two positions in English: the attributive and the predicative position. The example given previously is the example of attributive position,

which means that adjective precedes nouns. The example of adjectives in predicative position can be seen in a sentence which uses linking verb or copula. d. Verb

Verb is a grammatical classification of words to show an action, process, or state of being. Inflection such as –edand–sare sometimes attached to verbs to show the grammatical properties. The –edending shows that the action or process happened in past event, hence the – ed ending is known as past tense inflection. On the other hand, the –sending encode the present action or process, hence it is known as present tense inflection. The –sending can also indicate the subject of a sentence. It is also called the third person singular ending of the present tense. It means that the –s ending occurs when the subject of the sentence is the third person and the situation in the sentence happens in the present time.

e. Preposition

Preposition is used to relate two parts of a sentence together and shows the relationship of the parts. The relationship meant is about time, place, or logic. The example of preposition is the word on. In the sentenceThe book is on the table, preposition on denote the relationship between the book and its location. Preposition can be simple and consist of one word such as on, in, by or it can be complex and consists of more than one word such as by means of, in front of,and so on.

f. Adverb

Adverbs used to modify verb by giving information about time, place, and manner in which the action, event, or process takes place. However, adverbs can

also modify adjectives and other adverbs (Aarts, 1997, p. 42). The example of an adverb that is used to modify adjectives isextremely. The sentenceI am extremely happy today is acceptable. In the example, the word extremely modifies the adjectives happy. The word very is the example of an adverb that can modify other adverbs. Considering the example She works very hard, the word very

modifies the other adverbhard.

g. Conjunction

Conjunction is class of words that is functioning to link two sentences, phrases, or words. There are two types of conjunctions, they are subordinating conjunction and coordinating conjunctions. The examples of conjunctions are

and, or, that, if, for,etc. h. Interjection

Interjections refers to words that express emotion, physical state, agreement, disagreement and so on. The example of interjections are the expressions such asoh, erh, hmm, ah, nah, yuck, euw,etc.

5. Theories of Tree Diagram

Napoli (1996) states that every part of grammar, morphology and syntax, makes use of tree diagram (p. 307). In morphology, the use of tree diagram can show the building of some words. For example the construction of the word

reconstruction. Tree diagram is also known as phrase makers. It shows the visual representation of hierarchical linguistics system or structure (Aarts, 1997, p. 60). In line with Aarts (1997), Poole (2002) mentions that tree diagrams “are used to

graphically illustrate the structure of a sentence.” (p. 23). Other than tree diagram, people can also use bracketing. However, the same information that people get from bracketing is often more easily seen using tree diagram (Napoli, 1997, p. 307). Aarts (1997) also mentions that the system of labelled bracketing is almost impossible to read due to the wealth of details. For example, the sentence The people in the room will move the desk into the hall would have the sentence bracketed as follows.

[S [NP [art The] [n people] [PP [prep in [NP [art the] [n room]]]] [aux will] [VP[v move][NP[art the][n desk] [PP [prep into [NP [art the] [n hall]]]]]]]

The confusing pattern of bracketing makes the experts (Napoli (1997) and Aarts (1997)) recommend tree diagrams to see the sentence structure. Moreover, tree diagram will show the three important aspects of sentence (Akmajian et.al, 2001, p. 207). The three important aspects of a sentence are:

a) The linear order of words in the sentence

b) The categorization of words into parts of speech

c) The grouping of words into structural constituents of the sentence

Figure 2.2 will show the linear order, categorization, and grouping of words which are the important aspects of a sentence.

Figure 2.2. Tree Diagram of a Sentence

Symbol used in the diagram: S – sentence

NP – noun phrase Aux – auxiliary verb VP – verb phrase

PP – prepositional phrase

Art – article N – noun V – verb Prep – preposition

Studying Figure 2.2, every part of the sentence The people in the room will move the desk into the hall is connected to particular symbol according to its lexical categories. Therefore, the word the is connected to symbol Art which means article. It indicates that the word thebelongs to article. The words and also lexical categories are all served in linear order. Figure 2.2 also shows the grouping of words into structural constituents of the sentence. The subject phrase, the people in the room, is the combination of several lexical categories. Figure 2.2 shows the connection of word by word in the making of single constituent. Figure 2.3 would visualize the subject phrasethe people in the room.

Figure 2.3 Tree Diagram of a Phrase

From Figure 2.3, it can be seen thatArt and Nare connected to the same symbol

NP which makes them to form a single constituent. As well as, NP and Prepare connected to the same symbol PP. The last example is that Art, N, and PP are connected to the same symbolNPand make a single constituent.

To be precise, constructing tree diagram as seen in Figure 2.2 needs evidence whether it is true and represented the way it should or not. Akmajian et.al (2001) mentioned that the tree diagrams shows the theories of syntax and also has empirical evidence (p. 188).

B. Theoretical Framework

This part is aimed to provide the theories used in order to answer the research questions. Three research questions arise regarding the study of lexical and grammatical ambiguity in Reader’s Forum section in The Jakarta Post

newspaper. The research questions are:

1. What words are lexically ambiguous in theReader’s Forumsection ofThe Jakarta Postnewspaper?

2. What phrases are structurally ambiguous in theReader’s Forumsection of

The Jakarta Postnewspaper?

3. How do the tree diagrams enable the researcher to resolve structural ambiguities?

In order to answer those three research questions, the researcher reviews theories related to ambiguity and also tree diagrams. However, there are only some particular theories used as the main theories, while others will support the major theories.

The first research question is about finding the possible ambiguous word or sentence. Of course, the researcher only focuses on the lexical and structural ambiguity. Therefore, the researcher uses the theories of types of ambiguity especially lexical and structural ambiguity. In analysing the data, the researcher would like to apply Grenat and Taher’s (2008) theories on lexical and structural ambiguity. However, before applying Grenat and Taher’s (2008) theories, the researcher would first apply Leech’s (1981) theory of meaning. In the study, the researcher would like to understand the conceptual meaning which is also known as denotative meaning. After knowing the denotative meaning of the sentences, the researcher continues with applying Grenat and Taher’s (2008) theories. They state that lexical ambiguity deals with homonym and also polysemy which make a sentence or expression has more than one meaning. In structural ambiguity case, the one that triggers the ambiguity is the connection or the relation of the words. After answering the first research question, the researcher will focus on the lexical ambiguity more. The lexical ambiguity data would consist of words which are

ambiguous. The researcher would like to categorize the lexically ambiguous words based on their part of speech. In doing so, the researcher would use table to help the researcher to categorize the data. The data categorization is based on Aarts (1997) theory on parts of speeches or word classes. Aarts (1997) mentions that there are 7 parts of speech. Those classification are nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections. The answer of the first research question is aimed to show the frequency of the lexical ambiguous part of speech. Then, the researcher would also analyze the structurally ambiguous phrases in order to complete the answer of the second research question. In doing so, the researcher would categorize the structurally ambiguous phrases based on their types of phrases.

The third research question is aimed to show the function of tree diagram in solving the confusion of structural ambiguous phrases. In answering the research question the researcher would refer to the theories of tree diagram and also structural ambiguity proposed by the linguists (Akmajian et.al (2001), Grenat and Taher (2008), and Mihalicek and Wilson (2011)).

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

In this section, the researcher presents the method used in the study. The methodology used aims to answer the three research questions as stated in Chapter I: what words are lexically ambiguous inReader’s Forum section of The Jakarta Post newspaper? What phrases are structurally ambiguous in Reader’s Forum

section of The Jakarta Post newspaper? How do the tree diagrams enable the researcher to visualize the possible interpretations of each structural ambiguous sentence/phrase? The researcher formulated those research questions because the researcher would like to find and analyze the ambiguity found in the newspaper. In this research, the researcher usesThe Jakarta Post newspaper as the source of data. In doing the study, the researcher uses particular methodology to make the research systematic. Therefore, in this chapter, the researcher provides research method, research setting, research participant/subject, instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.

A. Research Method

In this study, the researcher conducted qualitative research. Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen (2010) explain qualitative research as a research that studies social phenomena (p.22). Meanwhile, Fraenkel and Walen (2009) state that qualitative research focuses more on the understanding of situations and phenomena (p.15).

Since this research focuses on linguistics phenomena, which is ambiguity, qualitative research is hence the basic of this study.

The characteristic of qualitative research is that it cares more about quality rather than numerical data or quantity. Therefore, most of qualitative data is in the form of words or pictures (Fraenkel & Walen, 2009, p.423). In this research, the researcher collected the data in form of passages, letters, and comments. The other characteristic qualitative study that appears in this research is that the researcher analyzed the data inductively. It means that the researcher gathered the data not to test hypothesis but to build concepts and theories. As mentioned by Bogdan and Biklen which is cited by Fraenkel and Walen (2009), in the qualitative research, the researchers are not putting together puzzle pieces in order to get the picture but constructing a holistic picture that takes shape as they collect the data and examine it (p.423).

In this research, the researcher gathered the data in form of words, phrases, and sentences. That is also one of qualitative research characteristics (Ary, Jacobs, & Razavieh, 2002, p.425). In qualitative study, the researcher would come to the final product which is richly descriptive (Merriam, 2009, p.16). Moreover, the data were taken in natural setting. It means that the data were taken as they are and the researcher does not have any control to manipulate the data (Ary, Jacobs, & Razavieh, 2002, p.424). Fraenkel and Wallen (2009) also mention that qualitative researcher would go directly observing and collecting the data to the particular setting of interest (p.422).

The geothermal industry should be commended for at least trying to go through the due process, however, fruitless that may be. Another problem will occur after the geothermal concessions are exploited: roads will be cut through pristine corners of the forests and then these will be used by illegal loggers to cut the entire mountain.

Dunder

This country has everything the world needs but we do not know how to manage it.

Ajaib

Indonesia mixes religion with social and political aspects. The result is a backward country with no way of moving forward. Having numerous islands and seas makes Indonesia very rich. But the downside is the extremely difficult logistics. What is the use of having so many riches, but no way of transporting them efficiently?

We need to start to be honest and true to ourselves and each other.

Rameyuk

Meanwhile, entire forests are razed to the ground to make way for coal mines and oil palm plantations. The geothermal industry should be commended for at least trying to go through the due process, however, fruitless.

Another problem altogether comes after the geothermal concessions are exploited, roads will have to be cut through remote corners of pristine forests and these will then be used by illegal loggers to clear the entire mountain.

Your letters: Pakistani embassy responds

The letter “Indian Problems with Pakistan” by KB Kale (The Jakarta Post, June 5) although conveying many positive thoughts, which would be appreciated by us all whether Pakistani, Indian or any other national do carry some unfair criticisms.

The news about showering money on Hafiz Saeed is nothing but mere propaganda carried by the Indian media. Budgetary allocation in a small city should not be misinterpreted as “showering of money to an extremist”. In fact, for your readers, the misleading letter does merit a response.

The factual situation is that a piece of land measuring 800 acres will be available on the Sheikhupura-Muridke-Narowal road for a project for the establishment of a knowledge park. This park will be established to provide a center of excellence in the field of education and research. As Hafiz Saeed has some influence in the area, the news has been twisted to portray it as government aid to the controversial figure. It is totally incorrect to suggest that the Punjab Government led by Mian Shahbaz Sharif has extended money to Hafiz Saeed or his organization. In fact, Hafiz Saeed’s organization continues to be banned in Pakistan.

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. In this manner a way is being prepared for countering extremism, which is one of the top three priorities of the government. It should not be unfairly criticized.

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 actively seeking solutions to outstanding issues, including Kashmir, such propaganda could blemish the efforts being made in good faith by both sides.

New Dehli and Islamabad have decided to resume their high-level composite dialogue, as was expected once Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assumed his office. Whenever Islamabad and New Delhi try to come closer, violent incidents and border aggression become reasons to halt the peace process, pushing both sides miles apart. The composite dialogue has time and again fallen victim to various incidents, like the Mumbai attacks, cross-border aggressions from both sides and firing incidents along the Line of Control (LOC).Such incidents have always contributed to pulling both countries apart at times when they neared some significant breakthrough for peace.

After a long time, the Pakistani government is again trying to improve ties with India, to which the Indian government has responded positively, re-initiating top level contacts between the two neighbors.

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.

Ayesha Tassaduq

Spokesperson Embassy of Pakistan Jakarta

Your letters: Increasing ASEAN’s visibility

I refer to the editorial titled “Who cares about ASEAN?”(The Jakarta Post, July 3). Indeed, it can be assumed that the very recent ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, was not sufficiently covered

by the media in the ten ASEAN’s member states because people do not see ARF’s impact on their lives.

However, beyond this perception, the indifferent attitude of the media toward some important diplomatic events taking place in a geographical area with an estimated population of 650 million, covered and represented by a prestigious regional organization like ASEAN, has to be seriously questioned for a major practical reason. ASEAN’s decisions and recommendations have undeniable connections with people’s daily lives and their genuine relevance for all ASEAN countries: They cannot be ignored or underestimated.

All significant ASEAN activities, including those involving powers like the US, China, Russia, Japan, India, the European Union and Australia deserve exposure by the media.

It can be asserted that visibility is crucial for giving tangibility to ASEAN’s vision as reflected in its Charter and many programmatic documents. Without appropriate awareness of ASEAN action, its actual performance remains unknown and this might have a negative impact on its capacity to put its own decisions into effect. ASEAN’s vision cannot fully materialized without the initiatives promoted and results obtained at the fore.

From a practical perspective, having better visibility into ASEAN’s multilateral diplomacy can make a big difference, irrespective of the venue or duration of its meetings. The outcomes of these meetings can facilitate the task of being able to proactively rather than reactively deal with the recommendations. Providing reliable and rich information about current ASEAN activities in all leading dailies should be a paramount objective of all concerned. In multilateral diplomacy, there is no true credibility without proper visibility. Opacity is a dangerous enemy of success.

Ioan Voicu Bangkok

Your letters: Freedom — What is it?

I often hear the word freedom expressed and, each time, I wonder what people actually mean by it. My interpretation or perception of freedom is likely different to many others who use the word and, in all honesty, I doubt whether freedom is achievable.

If we assume that freedom means to be free to do as you like, then that would result in world chaos, as within no time we would be clubbing one another like people did during the Stone Age.

We are all governed by rules, regulations, restrictions, circumstances, bylaws, obligations, occupations, traffic lights and, of course, let’s not forget our wives. Freedom of speech is steadily being eroded by people who want everyone to be polite, tolerant, reasonable and, thus, by and large ineffective. Perhaps freedom is like democracy, another much-used word that in practice is a myth and doesn’t really exist.

It is like claiming to be “normal” when all of us are clearly different, and no one that I know can define the meaning of the word. Perhaps Eskimos are relatively free as there is no mortgage commitment on an igloo, a great lack of churches and mosques near the North Pole and hardly anyone who can speak Yupik to check on their tax returns.

But, of course, freedom of the individual is very important, but unfortunately in this day and age, everyone is herded down various avenues that stifle freedom through propaganda and brainwashing. Authority never likes to be challenged; those in power more than appreciate that freedom for the people would signal the end of their reign. The only true answer to obtaining freedom and, in turn, justice is for all Indonesians to thoroughly vet all the would-be candidates for the 2014 elections and reject those that fall short of requirements.

Obviously that won’t happen, as the vast majority of people simply can’t be bothered; but if that is the case, you can kiss freedom goodbye.

David Wallis Medan