AMBIGUITY IN THE IDOMA LANGUAGE

AMBIGUITY IN THE IDOMA LANGUAGE

ABSTRACT

 

This study examines the concept of ambiguity in the Idoma language. Ambiguity impedes effective communication as a signal decodes more than one message leading to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. It is in this regard that this research seeks to investigate the various types of ambiguity, the sources of these ambiguities and the possible ways of disambiguating ambiguous structures in the Idoma language. The data for this study are collected from primary and secondary sources. The study draws its data from Idoma speaking communities that speak the standard dialect in Otukpo Local Government Area and respondents were selected using the purposive sampling technique. The researcher adopts the contextual theory of meaning as the framework for this study. According to this theory, the meaning of an utterance is got from the string of words uttered as well as the particular context the utterance is made. The language used, the people involved, time, place and any other extra information is therefore important in determining the meaning of an utterance. The study reveals that lexical, tonal, dialectal, pragmatic and syntactic ambiguities exist in Idoma. Homonyms and polysemy were identified as sources of lexical ambiguity in Idoma. The study shows that homonyms which could be full or partial and polysemy belong to various word classes while tonal ambiguity occurs at the spoken level as there is more than one way to break up the sound stream in the suprasegmental level. Pragmatic ambiguity arises where utterances have several interpretations in situations. In the case of dialectal ambiguity, a word, phrase or sentence in the standard dialect could mean something else in another dialect and vice versa leading to misunderstanding. Conjuncts and disjoints, metaphoric expressions, expressions with prepositions, wh-expressions, interclausal pronominal reference and imperatives are sources of syntactic ambiguity. Having identified the types and sources of ambiguity in Idoma, the study shows the possible ways of disambiguating these ambiguities: contextualization, prior knowledge, supplying additional information, repetition of words or phrases, restructuring ambiguous structures, use of tree diagrams and use of interrogatives. The study, therefore, recommends that Idoma language users should consider the context of an utterance to get the exact meaning intended as this would go a long way in disambiguating ambiguities that would lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page……………………………………………………………………….                 i

Title page………………………………………………………………………….               ii

Approval …………………………………………………………………………                .iii

Certification ………………………………………………………………………               iv

Dedication…………………………………………………………………………              v

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….               vi

Table of contents ………………………………………………………………….              viii

List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………              xii

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….             xiii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

• Background to the study…………………………………………… 1
• Statement of the problem………………………………………… 8
• Objectives of the study…………………………………………… 9
• Research questions………………………………………………… 10
• Significance of the study……………………………………………… 10
• Scope of the study…………………………………………………… 10
• Limitations of the study………………………………………………… 11

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1. Preamble…………………………………………………………..                                12

2.2. Conceptual framework…………………………………………………                        12

2.2.1. Review of sense relations…………………………………………….                                    12

2.2.2 Review of ambiguity…………………………………………………                          14

2.2.2.1. Phonetic ambiguity………………………………………………..                          21

2.2.2.2. Pragmatic ambiguity……………………………………………..                            21

2.2.2.3. Lexical ambiguity……………………………………………….                             22

2.2.2.4. Syntactic ambiguity………………………………………………                           31

2.3. Theoretical studies………………………………………………………..                     44

2.3.1. Traditional approach………………………………………………………                 45

2.3.1.1. Referential theory………………………………………………………                  46

2.3.1.2. Mentalistic theory……………………………………………………….                 47

2.3.2. Structural approach………………………………………………………                   47

2.3.2.1. Componential theory…………………………………………………..                   47

2.3.2.2. Semantic field theory…………………………………………………..                   48

2.3.2.3. Contextual theory…………………………………………………..                        49

2.3.3. Generative approach………………………………………………                             50

2.3.4. Logical approach……………………………………………………….                     51

2.4. Empirical studies………………………………………………………                         52

2.5. Summary of review……………………………………. ………………                         71

2.6. Theoretical framework…………………………………………………                        71

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD

3.1. Research design………………………………………………………..                         74

3.2. Area of study………………………………………….. ………………                         74

3.3. Population of the study………………………………………………..                          75

3.4. Sample and sampling technique………………………………………..                                    75

3.5. Instrument for data collection………………………………………….                         75

3.7. Method of data collection………………………………………………                         75

3.8. Method of data analysis………………………………………………..                         76

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1. Preamble…………………………………………………………….                             77

4.2. Ambiguity in the Idoma language………………………………………                                    77

4.2.1. Lexical ambiguity……………………………………………………                         77

4.2.1.1. Lexical ambiguity due to homonyms………………………                                    77

4.2.1.2. Lexical ambiguity due to polysemy……………………….. …………….               85

4.2.2. Tonal ambiguity………………………………………………………………             86

4.2.3. Dialectal ambiguity…………………………………………………..                         88

4.2.4. Pragmatic ambiguity…………………………………………………………             89

4.2.5. Syntactic ambiguity…………………………………………………………              90

4.2.5.1. Ambiguity due to conjoints and disjoints………………………………….             90

4.2.5.2. Metaphoric ambiguity……………………………………………………..              92

4.2.5.3. Ambiguity due to the use of prepositions…………………………………              96

4.2.5.4. Ambiguity due to wh- expressions……………………………………….               97

4.2.5.5. Ambiguity due to inter-clausal pronomimal reference…………………….             98

4.3. Disambiguating ambiguous expressions in the Idoma language………………….        99

4.3.1. Disambiguating lexical ambiguity …………………………………………….          99

4.3.2. Disambiguating tonal ambiguity…………………………………………………       101

4.3.3. Disambiguating dialectal ambiguity…………………………………………….        102

4.3.4. Disambiguating pragmatic ambiguity……………………………………………       103

4.3.5. Disambiguating syntactic ambiguity………………………………………………        104

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Preamble……………………………………………………………………..                109

5.2. Summary of findings……………………………………………………………           109

5.3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………           112

5.4. Recommendations……………………………………………………………….          112

References……………………………………………………………………………          114

 

AMBIGUITY IN THE IDOMA LANGUAGE

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