Lexical ambiguity is when a sentence or a word can have more than one sense and can be referred to varies thing. In the English language there is no lexical ambiguity within the words turtle, tortoise, butterfly, moth, melon, honeydew, and cantaloupe all these things refer to different things individually. But not all languages have specific words for certain things for example when taking a closer look into the Spanish language the words like turtle and tortoise have the same sense and denotation and  it is referred to as a “Tortuga”  which means turtle which brings Lexical ambiguity into play. The word” Tortuga” in Spanish refers to both a tortoise and a turtle which makes the word tortuga ambiguous. In English the distinction between turtle and tortoise is a turtle are adapted for life and water and a tortoise is a kind a turtle that is primarily on land than in water thus making them different from one another . In English there is distinctions between many things but how does the those who speak Spanish tell the difference between the lexical ambiguities of the words that share more than one sense. I will be looking at varies Spanish speaking countries to see if there are any distinguishes between the words turtle, tortoise, butterfly, moth, melon, honeydew, and cantaloupe. In order to figure out the distinction between the words turtle, tortoise, butterfly, moth, melon, honeydew, and cantaloupe in different Spanish speaking countries I will be doing a survey asking Spanish speakers to name the picture presented to them in Spanish and see if any of them have different distinctions between the pictures presented to them.

At the thanksgiving dinner table, there is a possibility that a family member or guest of the family can bring up a controversial topic that makes everyone uncomfortable or that family members do not like to give their opinion for many reasons. Given in a situation where in the thanksgiving dinner person A brings the controversial topic about racism that makes everyone uncomfortable. Guest (b)can use Grice maxims in order to change the topic by stating something that everyone at the dinner table can contribute or relate to for example discussing how they feel about the school’s covid restrictions and vaccinations in order to change the topic and ignore the topic of racism.  The relevance/ relation of the unwelcomed contribution is what brings the Grice maxims into play since it breaks the relation/ relevance of the dinner topic.

For my essay topic, I would like to discuss the ambiguity of words within two languages. These two languages would be English and Spanish. For example when we talk about the fruit’s melon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon. In the English language, we differentiate the different types of melons with another name while in Spanish a cantaloupe and honeydew are the same words for either or which makes them ambiguous. But for watermelon, in Spanish, we have the word sandia to refer to a watermelon. Another example of this is also for the animal turtle and tortoise (English) and for Spanish both a turtle and tortoise are Tortuga. For another example, would be the words butterfly and moth, in Spanish, they are both called mariposa.  I would like to go into depth about how English and Spanish differentiate the ambiguous words when talking about something in specific things like some fruit, or animal, etc.

Also, how we identify each one in Spanish. For example, for a lemon or lime, in Spanish, it’s limon for both, but we specify the type of lemon by referring to its color. The way I would go about it is by asking my classmates in my Spanish class or friends who are from other Spanish-speaking countries and asking them what the image is in Spanish and in English.  The challenges that will come up are the number of resources I will have and how to go about it in the essay. Another is the number of words that I can discuss that can be ambiguous in English and not in Spanish.

Simple antonyms

Hard, soft

• This pizza crust is hard.
• This pizza crust is soft.

These are an example of simple antonyms because they can be used as contradictory sentences. The pizza crust is either hard or soft not both or either.

 

Gradable antonym

Hot/ cold

• Lily’s room is hot.
• Lily’s room is cold.

These are an example of gradable antonyms because they can be one true and false or both true.

 

Reverse Pairs

Enter, exit

• Jackie enters, from the front door.
• Jackie exists from the back door.

These are examples of reversible pairs because they denote motion or change in the opposite.

 

Converse Pair.

Husband, wife

• Jimmy is Lizeth’s husband.
• Lizeth is Jimmy’s wife.

These are examples of converse pairs because they entail the relationship between Jimmy and Lizeth.

 

Taxonomic sisters

Amphibian, toads

• Amphibians are all cold-blooded, aquatic gill-larvae stage.
• Toads are amphibians.

These are taxonomic sisters because toads are the hyponym of the hypernym Amphibian.

1a entails 1b

1a. The leopard gecko ate the cricket.

1b. The cricket is dead.

 

2a presupposes 2b

2a. Jesse stopped playing Fortnite.

2b. Jesse once played Fortnite.

2a trigger; stopped.

3a presupposes 3b

3a. Togi used to be the best shaman in his clan.

3b. Togi is no longer the best shaman in his clan.

3a trigger; used to be.

The words grandmother and grandma have the same denotation but different expressive meanings. Both grandmother and grandma mean the same but what makes their expressive meaning different is the way the words are used thus being dependent on the specific situation or expression for the pair of words to be used. For example, grandmother can be used when speaking formally to someone about their grandmother or can also be expressed as one talking to one’s grandmother. Grandmother can also describe one’s feelings about their grandmother many people do not use the word grandmother but the word grandma.  Grandma is a word that shows respect and love for their grandmother. Grandmother seems to be a word that can be used to express respect as well, but the expression is different, someone who has not met or have any specific feelings towards their grandmother can call them grandmother and they’ll never use grandma. As for grandma, the expression is used with more care and feelings towards the word, for example, the way a child expresses grandma is used with more affection compared to grandma. The most common word to call their grandmother is grandma because of the expression behind the word being used. The tone of each of these words changes due to their expressive meanings behind each word.