1_AMBIGUITY

1_AMBIGUITY

1. what is ambiguity?

   • is one reason why computers do not understand natural language.
     • for some reason
       • we have found it valuable to use a highly ambiguous form of natural communication between us.

2. LOCAL AMBIGUITY

   • Means that part of sentence can have more than 1 interpretation.
     • but not the whole sentence
       • EXAMPLE
         • ''although she knows quite a lot''

3. GLOBAL AMBIGUITY

   • Means that the whole sentence
     • can have nore than 1 interpretation

4. TYPES AMBIGUITY

   • CATEGORIAL AMBIGUITY
     • are more than one terminal symbol for a word
       • an exercise
         • write 3 senteces using the word TIME as a noun
           • verb and adjective
             • NOUN: ''time is money''
               • VERD: ''time me on the last lap''
                 • Syntactic analysis can help to identify the correct terminal noun, verd and adjective
                   • ''time flies like an arrow''
   • WORD SENSE AMBIGUITY
     • word has one terminal symbol but can refer to different concepts
       • An exercise
         • write 3 senteces using the word CHARGED with different meanings
           • Electrical: ''the batttery was charged with jump leads''
             • Legal: ''thief was charged by PC smith''
               • Semantic analysis can help
                 • ''jump leads'' and ''student recruitment''
                   • are not offerences (yet)
   • STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY
     • more than parse for a sentece
       • An exercise
         • what can you eat if you are told in the rfectory '' you can have peas and beans or carrots with th set meal''
           • (peas) and (beans or carrots)
             • (peas nad beans) or (carrots)
   • REFERENTIAL AMBIGUITY
     • More than one object is being referred to by a noun phrase
       • An exercise
         • what can THEY refer to in : ''after THEY finished the exam the students and lecturers left
           • students only
           • lecturers only
           • EXAMPLE
             • ''The director fired the worker. He was known to be aggressive''.
               • syntax can identify the head (main) noun phrase. 
               • close reference is preferred
                 • ''sue gave Lisa a coat because she was cold''
                   • but what about
                     • ''Sue and Lisa gave John and Mark some grotesque horror face masks because they liked them

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