Seven Types of Ambiguity [Part 1]
January 22nd 2007 18:17
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Ediition (1911):
AMBIGUITY (Fr. ambiguit y , med. Lat. ambiguitas, from Lat. ambiguus, doubtful; ambi, both ways, agere, to drive), doubtfulness or uncertainty. In law an ambiguity as to the meaning of the words of a written instrument may be of considerable importance. Ambiguity, in law, is of two kinds, patent and latent. (1) Patent ambiguity is that ambiguity which is apparent on the face of an instrument to any one perusing it, even if he be unacquainted with the circumstances of the parties. In the case of a patent ambiguity parole evidence is admissible to explain only what has been written, not what it was intended to write. For example, in Saunderson v. Piper, 18 39, 5 B.N.C. 425, where a bill was drawn in figures for X245 and in words for two hundred pounds, evidence that "and forty-five" had been omitted by mistake was rejected. But where it appears from the general context of the instrument what the parties really meant, the instrument will be construed as if there was no ambiguity, as in Saye and Sele's case, io Mod. 46, where the name of the granter had been omitted in the operative part of a grant, but, as it was clear from another part of the grant who he was, the deed was held to be valid. (2) Latent ambiguity is where the wording of an instrument is on the face of it clear and intelligible, but may, at the same time, apply equally to two different things or subject matters, as where a legacy is given "to my nephew, John," and the testator is shown to have two nephews of that name. A latent ambiguity may be explained by parole evidence, for, as the ambiguity has been brought about by circumstances extraneous to the instrument, the explanation must necessarily be sought for from such circumstances. (See also EVIDENCE.)
From Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006:
am·bi·gu·i·ty
–noun, plural -ties.
1. doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention: to speak with ambiguity; an ambiguity of manner.
2. an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, etc.: a contract free of ambiguities; the ambiguities of modern poetry.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME ambiguite < L ambiguitas, equiv. to ambigu(us) ambiguous -itas -ity]
—Synonyms 1. vagueness, deceptiveness. 2. equivocation.
—Antonyms 1. explicitness, clarity.
From the MSN Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2006:
am·bi·gu·i·ty (plural am·bi·gu·i·ties)
noun
1. doubt about meaning: a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way and it is not clear which meaning is intended
2. statement with more than one meaning: an expression or statement that has more than one meaning
From WordNet® 2.1, © 2005, Princeton University:
ambiguity
noun
1. an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context
2. unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning [ant: unambiguity]
From the American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English language, Fourth Edition, copyright (c) 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company:
am·bi·gu·i·ty (am'bi-gyoo'i-te)
n. pl. am·bi·gu·i·ties
1. Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation: "leading a life of alleged moral ambiguity" (Anatole Broyard).
2. Something of doubtful meaning: a poem full of ambiguities.
From Webster Dictionary, 1913:
Am`bi*gu"i*ty, n.; pl. Ambiguities (#). [L. ambiguitas, fr. ambiguus: cf. F. ambiguité.] The quality or state of being ambiguous; doubtfulness or uncertainty, particularly as to the signification of language, arising from its admitting of more than one meaning; an equivocal word or expression.
No shadow of ambiguity can rest upon the course to be pursued. I. Taylor.
The words are of single signification, without any ambiguity. South.
From the UltraLingual English Dictionary:
ambiguity
n. ambiguities <"ámb&'gyuitE>
1. An expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context. 2. Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning; [ETYM: Latin ambiguitas, from ambiguus: cf. French ambiguité.]
AMBIGUITY (Fr. ambiguit y , med. Lat. ambiguitas, from Lat. ambiguus, doubtful; ambi, both ways, agere, to drive), doubtfulness or uncertainty. In law an ambiguity as to the meaning of the words of a written instrument may be of considerable importance. Ambiguity, in law, is of two kinds, patent and latent. (1) Patent ambiguity is that ambiguity which is apparent on the face of an instrument to any one perusing it, even if he be unacquainted with the circumstances of the parties. In the case of a patent ambiguity parole evidence is admissible to explain only what has been written, not what it was intended to write. For example, in Saunderson v. Piper, 18 39, 5 B.N.C. 425, where a bill was drawn in figures for X245 and in words for two hundred pounds, evidence that "and forty-five" had been omitted by mistake was rejected. But where it appears from the general context of the instrument what the parties really meant, the instrument will be construed as if there was no ambiguity, as in Saye and Sele's case, io Mod. 46, where the name of the granter had been omitted in the operative part of a grant, but, as it was clear from another part of the grant who he was, the deed was held to be valid. (2) Latent ambiguity is where the wording of an instrument is on the face of it clear and intelligible, but may, at the same time, apply equally to two different things or subject matters, as where a legacy is given "to my nephew, John," and the testator is shown to have two nephews of that name. A latent ambiguity may be explained by parole evidence, for, as the ambiguity has been brought about by circumstances extraneous to the instrument, the explanation must necessarily be sought for from such circumstances. (See also EVIDENCE.)
From Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006:
am·bi·gu·i·ty
–noun, plural -ties.
1. doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention: to speak with ambiguity; an ambiguity of manner.
2. an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, etc.: a contract free of ambiguities; the ambiguities of modern poetry.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME ambiguite < L ambiguitas, equiv. to ambigu(us) ambiguous -itas -ity]
—Synonyms 1. vagueness, deceptiveness. 2. equivocation.
—Antonyms 1. explicitness, clarity.
From the MSN Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2006:
am·bi·gu·i·ty (plural am·bi·gu·i·ties)
noun
1. doubt about meaning: a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way and it is not clear which meaning is intended
2. statement with more than one meaning: an expression or statement that has more than one meaning
From WordNet® 2.1, © 2005, Princeton University:
ambiguity
noun
1. an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context
2. unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning [ant: unambiguity]
From the American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English language, Fourth Edition, copyright (c) 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company:
am·bi·gu·i·ty (am'bi-gyoo'i-te)
n. pl. am·bi·gu·i·ties
1. Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation: "leading a life of alleged moral ambiguity" (Anatole Broyard).
2. Something of doubtful meaning: a poem full of ambiguities.
From Webster Dictionary, 1913:
Am`bi*gu"i*ty, n.; pl. Ambiguities (#). [L. ambiguitas, fr. ambiguus: cf. F. ambiguité.] The quality or state of being ambiguous; doubtfulness or uncertainty, particularly as to the signification of language, arising from its admitting of more than one meaning; an equivocal word or expression.
No shadow of ambiguity can rest upon the course to be pursued. I. Taylor.
The words are of single signification, without any ambiguity. South.
From the UltraLingual English Dictionary:
ambiguity
n. ambiguities <"ámb&'gyuitE>
1. An expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context. 2. Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning; [ETYM: Latin ambiguitas, from ambiguus: cf. French ambiguité.]
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Comment by Howard
Real Crash
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
And if you get two different defintions of a thing, does that necessitate that there are two different types?
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
What exactly is 7 anyway! ; )
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
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Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
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Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
This is my first conscious recognition of 'Seven Types of Ambiguity', the book...
Adrian,
What is a definition in the first place?
The prioritisation of one language game over another? Wordplay taken dangerously out of context? Whatever you make of it??
You know what bugs me about dictionaries? They don't specify who was responsible for each definition, contributing to the cloying notion that there's an 'objective' source of information.
[I]f you get two different definitions of a thing, does that necessitate that there are two different types?
Is there any other type other than your own? (More in the next part!)
MelissaA,
Such gorgeous subviirsions you bring to my post, my dear...
Here's seven reasons to enjoy the Kulin's interpretation of seasonal change (a group that lives in the Dandenong Ranges of Australia): Chinook Season --> Muddy Spring --> Green Summer --> Gold Summer (also known as 'Dry Summer') --> 'Indian' Summer --> Late Fall --> Cold Winter --> Chinook Season...
Some info courtesy of the fascinating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_(number):
In the beginning, various Hindus wrote 7 more or less in one stroke as a curve that looks like an uppercase J upside down. The western Ghubar Arabs' main contribution was to make the longer line diagonal rather than straight, though they showed some tendencies to making the character more rectilinear. The eastern Arabs developed the character from a 6-look-alike into an uppercase V-look-alike. Both modern Arab forms influenced the European form, a two-stroke character consisting of a horizontal upper line joined at its right to a line going down to the bottom left corner, a line that is slightly curved in some font variants. As is the case with the European glyph, the Cham and Khmer glyph for 7 also evolved to look like their glyph for 1, though in a different way, so they were also concerned with making their 7 more different. For the Khmer this often involved adding a horizontal line above the glyph. This is analogous to the horizontal stroke through the middle that is sometimes used in handwriting in the Western world but which is almost never used in computer fonts. This horizontal stroke is, however, important to distinguish the glyph for seven from the glyph for one in writings that use a long upstroke in the glyph for one.
On the seven-segment displays of pocket calculators and digital watches, 7 is the number with the most common glyph variation (0, 6 and 9 also have variant glyphs). Most calculators use three line segments, but on Sharp, Casio, and a few other brands of calculators, 7 is written with four line segments. The reason is that 7 is written as in ① in Japan, Korea, and so on.
In fonts with text figures, 7 usually has a descender.
;oD
Cibbi,
Kewl. 8 might be appealing to the Zhong Guo crowd... ;o)
Piffy Boo