lexical and structural ambiguity in treasure island by robert louis stevenson = sự mơ hồ nghĩa từ vựng và cấu trúc trong truyện đảo giấu vàng của robert louis stevenson

16 CHAPTER 2: LEXICAL AND STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY IN “TREASURE ISLAND” ..... Therefore, the study aims at analyzing lexical and structural ambiguity in the story as examples to help readers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

ABBREVIATION vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aim of the Study 1

3 Scope and method of the study 2

4 Organization of the study 2

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Basic Concepts of English Ambiguity 4

1.1.1 Definition of Ambiguity 4

1.1.2 Differences between Ambiguity and Vagueness 5

1.2 Cases of Ambiguity 5

1.2.1 Lexical Ambiguity 6

1.2.1.1 Ambiguity caused by Homonymy and Polysemy 7

1.2.1.2 Ambiguity caused by Obscure References 10

1.2.1.3 Ambiguity caused by Intensions and Extensions 11

1.2.2 Structural Ambiguity 12

1.2.3 Semantic scope ambiguity 13

1.2.4 Phonological Ambiguity 14

1.3 Ambiguity and Literature 14

1.4 Summary 16

CHAPTER 2: LEXICAL AND STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY IN “TREASURE ISLAND” 17

2.1 Lexical ambiguity 17

2.1.1 Metaphor 17

2.1.2 Metonymy 22

2.1.3 Idioms 27

2.2 Structural ambiguity 28

2.2.1 Comparative clause 28

2.2.2 Relative clause 29

2.2.3 Modification of adjective 30

2.2.4 Prepositional phrases 31

2.2.4.1 Adjectival phrase 31

2.2.4.2 Adverbial clause 32

2.3 Data analysis and findings 34

2.4 Summary 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 36

1 Summary of the study 36

2 Some implications for teaching foreign languages to Vietnamese learners 36

3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 37

REFERENCES I

ABBREVIATION

R.L Stevenson: Robert Louis Stevenson

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Language can be considered as the most wonderful invention and greatest achievement of human beings which distinguished man and animal Language is not just about word and means of communication, but deep inside is magnificence thanks to the creation of mankind in the process of development and evolution At the center of that development, human being has turned the complicated things into an art, including the art

of using language To be good at using language, people must have a good knowledge of

it Knowing a language is not just knowing its single words, but knowing how to put words together to form sentences and utterances that express ideas and thoughts meaningfully and clearly Language is created to help people communicate However, people from different countries that have different languages and even those from one country can have difficulties in communicating because of misunderstanding in meanings of words and structures Sometimes, people are not sure about the message they receive or they are concerned about getting their own messages across to others Therefore, Semantics was born as one of the tools to meet the demand of investigating and knowing more about meaning According to Kreidler, C.W (1998), Saeed, J.I (2003), Nguyễn, H (2004), what Semantics does is studying meaning systematically One aspect semantics studies is ambiguity which can arise from some sources Reality has shown that ambiguity is one of the reasons why people, especially foreigners, often misunderstand each other Misunderstanding in meaning can lead to the interruption of conversation or a work, especially a literature one cannot be understood totally, hence, it may lost its value

With the personal interest in linguistics, I myself want to find out more about meaning of sentences and utterances In the process of finding the problem, the attraction

of ambiguity caught my eyes and my mind But in such limited time and capacity, I can only devote to analyze ―Treasure Island‖ by Robert Louis Stevenson to address this problem

2 Aims of the study

Lexical and structural ambiguity makes a contribution to create the attraction to a story which often receives great care from readers However, it is the most common form which often cause difficulties for readers ―Treasure Island‖ is an interesting story but

employs language arts which include ambiguity; hence, readers can have difficulties in understanding fully the whole story Therefore, the study aims at analyzing lexical and structural ambiguity in the story as examples to help readers know more about ambiguity

in literature works, documents and real conversation caused by vocabulary and structures Regarding the aim of the study,

Research questions is:

What are the roles of lexical and structural ambiguity in ―Treasure Island‖ by Robert Louis Stevenson?

Hypothesis:

Lexical and structural ambiguity makes a great contribution to the attraction of

―Treasure Island‖ by Robert Louis Stevenson

3 Scope and method of the study

―Treasure Island‖ contains words and structures which can be ambiguous to readers when reading the story However, it cannot be denied that ambiguity makes the story more attractive because readers can stretch their imagination Therefore, the study is confined to analysis of two kinds of ambiguity: lexical and structural ambiguity

In the process of the research writing, first, the content analysis method is employed The study goes deeper into each chapter to find and analyze lexical and structural ambiguity Then, the data are grouped in categories based on the theory After that, possible and adequate interpretations are suggested and finally, analyses of the roles of lexical and structural ambiguity are proposed

4 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A is the Introduction which deals with the reasons for choosing the topic, the aims, the scope, methods and organization of the study

Part B is the Development which includes two chapters Chapter 1 deals with the Literature review which is used as the theoretical background for the author‘s study view

on English ambiguity in general and English lexical and structural ambiguity in particular

In this chapter, the concepts and cases of English ambiguity are taken into consideration Chapter 2 deals with the main purpose of the study The author goes deeper into each chapter of the story to find out and analyze the roles of the lexical and structural ambiguity

Finally, Part C is the Conclusion of the study This closes the study in reviewing the content of the research and gives some suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Basic Concepts of English Ambiguity

1.1.1 Definition of Ambiguity

The investigation into English ambiguity has shown that this issue receives much attention from linguists in different times It has been discussed in many linguistic books Cann, R (1993) shares the same ideas as Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B (1983) about ambiguity Cann, R (1993: 8) states: "A sentence is said to be ambiguous whenever it can associated with two or more different meanings.‖ Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B (1983:121) say: "A word or a sentence is AMBIGUOUS when it has more than one sense A sentence

is ambiguous if it has two (or more) paraphrases which are not themselves paraphrased of each other.‖ In other words, ambiguity is the property of being ambiguous, where a word, term, notation, sign, symbol, phrase, sentence, or any other form used for communication can be interpreted in more than one way For example:

They found hospitals and charitable institutions

(Lyons, J., 1995:56) The word ―found‖ here is ambiguous because it can be the past simple tense of

―find‖ which means ―to discover, to come across‖ or the present simple tense of ―found‖ with the meaning of ―to establish, to set up‖ Therefore, this sentence can be interpreted into:

(a) They found hospitals and charitable institutions, which have brought a lot of benefit to the local residents

vs (b) They found hospitals and charitable institutions on the way they headed to the city center

Another example is:

Flying planes can be dangerous

(Palmer, F R., 1981:107) The structure here permits more than one interpretation ―Flying planes‖ has two possible grammatical structures: ―the act of flying planes‖ and ―planes that are flying‖ In this way, the original sentence can be interpreted into:

(a) Planes that are flying can be dangerous

vs (b) To fly planes can be dangerous

1.1.2 Differences between Ambiguity and Vagueness

Ambiguity is to be distinguished from vagueness Ambiguity is context-dependent: the same linguistic item (be it a word, phrase, or sentence) may be ambiguous in one context and unambiguous in another context For a word, ambiguity typically refers to an unclear choice between different definitions as may be found in a dictionary A sentence may be ambiguous due to different ways of parsing the same sequence of words

According to Quine, W (1960:29), "vague terms are only dubiously applicable to marginal objects, but an ambiguous term such as "light" may be at once clearly true of various objects (such as dark feathers) and clearly false of them." A term is vague if and only if there are cases in which it is unclear whether or not the term applies For example, whether or not a child will be referred as a ―baby‖ depends on criteria such as the age of the child or its development stage What a person consider a baby may differ from others‘ opinion Therefore, the denotation of ―baby‖ has flexible boundaries In the view of Lobner, S (2002:45), ―Vagueness can be observed with all concepts that depend on properties varying on a continuous scale‖ A vague term is not ambiguous as far as it fails

to have two or more distinct meanings, however, many terms are both vague and ambiguous A term is vague just in case there are cases in which it is unclear whether or not the term applies In other case, some term is vague because there are borderline areas in

a continuum, where it is unclear whether or not the term applies For example, ―red‖ has a vague meaning because it is conceived as a continuum with fuzzy transitions Another example is ―mountain‖ and ―hill‖ (Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B., 1983: 123) There is no absolute distinction between ―mountain‖ and ―hill‖ What can be referred as ―mountain‖ in one situation may be considered ―hill‖ in other situations

Other term is vague because there are several criteria for application of the term with

no standard of how many of the criteria need be fulfilled and to what degree

E.g philosophy, religious (person), resident, adult and tree

Hence, vagueness is not the same things as ambiguity

1.2 Cases of Ambiguity

There are many ways to categorize ambiguity Some linguists share the same ideas as others about the causes of ambiguity and some have different ideas

Stageberg, N.C (1964: 111) looks at ambiguity as an issue caused by obscure references and sentence structures

In the viewpoint of Palmer, F R (1981: 102, 192), English ambiguity may result from polysemy and homonymy, from intension and extension

According to Cann, R (1993: 8), there are three reasons which cause ambiguity It can arise if a single word has multiple meanings, a sentence has different syntactic structures or certain expressions have different semantic scope

Roach, P (1983:109) discusses ambiguity as the problem caused by sound links Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B (1983: 129) agree with Palmer, F R (1981) and Cann,

R (1993) that ambiguity may arise from polysemy and homonymy and structures

1.2.1 Lexical Ambiguity

―Any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of a word is as LEXICAL AMBIGUITY.‖ (Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B., 1983:128) Cann, R.‘s (1993) definition of lexical ambiguity seems to be clearer than that of Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B (1983) He says that lexical ambiguity can occur when "an expression is associated with two or more unrelated meaning.‖ (Cann, R., 1993:8)

Lexical ambiguity, as mentioned above, arises when a word or a phrase could, in the context of a particular sentence, refer to two or more properties or things, typically caused

by homonymy and polysemy Take the example below:

Guy struck the match

vs The match was a draw

(Curse, D.A., 1986:55) These two sentences are ambiguous because of Polysemy of the word ―match‖ However, one might suggest ―lucifer‖ as a synonym of ―match‖ in the first sentence, and

―contest‖ as a synonym in the second sentence

Egyptian cotton shirt

Ambiguity may arise in this sentence because of modification The proper noun

―Egyptian‖ may modifies the compound noun ―cotton shirt‖ or the compound noun

―Egyptian cotton‖ may modify ―shirt‖ Therefore, this sentence can be interpreted into:

(a) A cotton shirt made in Egypt

vs (b) A shirt made of Egyptian cotton

In the view of Kreidler, C.W (1998), a longer linguistic form which has a literal sense and a figurative sense can cause ambiguity For example:

There‘s a skeleton in our closet

―Skeleton in the closet‖ can mean ―an uncomfortable event that is kept a family secret‖ With this meaning, ―skeleton in the closet‖ is a single lexeme; with its ―literal‖ meaning, it is a phrase composed of several lexemes Lexical ambiguity in this case can cause lots of difficulties for readers, especially foreigners because if they lack background knowledge, they cannot understand the hidden meaning

There are some sources of lexical ambiguity They will be discussed more below

1.2.1.1 Ambiguity caused by Homonymy and Polysemy

a Homonymy

Definition of Homonymy

Nguyễn, H (2004: 68) says that if different words accidentally have the same forms, they are homonymous Take the following example of homonymy:

―Mine is a long and sad tale‖ said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and singing

―It is a long tail, certainly,‖ said Alice looking down with wonder at the Mouse‘s tail,

―But why do you call it sad?‖

(Quoted from Nguyễn, H., 2004:69)

The ambiguity here is caused by ―tale‖ and ―tail‖ In the story, /teil- tale/ can be both long and sad, but as /teil- tail/ it is hard to imagine it as ―sad‖ The ambiguity arises from the homonymy of ―tale‖ and ―tail‖

Kinds of Homonymy

Homonymy can be classified into absolute and partial homonym

Absolute homonyms should satisfy three conditions:

i They will be unrelated in meaning

ii All their form will be identical

iii The identical forms will be grammatically equivalent

bank (n): a financial institution vs bank (n): the bank of the river

(Nguyễn, H., 2004:70)

According to Nguyễn, H (2004: 70, 71), partial homonyms can be classified into three smaller groups based on the sameness of forms which include pronunciation and spelling:

a) Full homonyms are ones identical in pronunciation and spelling:

bark (n): outer covering of a tree and bark (v): noise made by a dog

b) Homophones are ones identical in pronunciation

air and heir

c) Homographs are one identical in spelling

wind /wind/ (n): a current of air and wind /wind/ (v): to empower a clock

Sources of homonymy

In the viewpoint of Nguyễn, H (2004:70), homonyms can arise from three sources:

i Disintegration or split of polysemy The Latin ―buxus‖ results in some English words: box (a kind of small evergreen bus), box (a receptacle made of wood), box (v, to put in a box), box (a slap with the hand on the ear), box (a port tem)

ii Convergent sound development: ―sound- healthy‖ from zesund (healthy) and ―sound- strait‖ from sund (swimming)

iii Borrowing: race vs race, sound (from French- sonus- to measure the depth)

b Polysemy

Definition of Polysemy

Polysemy refers to a word that has two or more meanings For example:

on the similarity of:

i Shape: head of a cabbage, crane bulb, the teeth of the saw

ii Position: the tail of the procession, the foot of the mountain

iii Movement: caterpillar of a tank, to worm

iv Function: finger of instrument, the key to the mystery

v Color: orange, rose

vi Size: midget, elephantine

According to him, metaphor may be:

a Living metaphor is a word used in unusual, novel meaning and metaphor is felt as such For example: Peace is our fortress

b Faded metaphor is the one which has lost its freshness because of long use and became habitual For example: golden youth, to fall in love…

c Dead metaphor is the word which has lost its metaphoric meaning and is used only figuratively For example: to ponder, capital…

Metonymy

In the viewpoint of Nguyễn, H (2004:110), metonymy occurs when one word can substitute for another with which it is associated In other words, instead of the name of one object or notion, we use the name of another because these objects are associated and closely related For example:

The White House announced a press conference for four o‘clock today

―The White House‖ here is used instead of the US government

Nguyễn, H (2004:111) states that the basis of the transference is Material, causal or

conceptual relation:

i Place can be used for the institution:

E.g The White House objected to the plan

ii Thing can be used for perception:

E.g There goes my knees (pain in the knee)

iii Object can be used for possessor:

E.g The Crown was angry with the PM‘s proposal

iv Part can be used for whole:

E.g We don‘t hire long hairs

v Place can be used for event

E.g Watergate strikes at the heart of the American political system

Cases of metonymy

In classic tradition, the following cases of metonymy are often presented:

i The name of the container is used instead of the thing contained

E.g to drink a glass

ii Parts of human body can be used as symbols

E.g kind heart, clever head

iii The concrete is used instead of the abstract

E.g from the cradle to the grave

iv Materials can be used instead of the things made of the materials

E.g glass, iron, gold, bronze

v Name of the author is used instead of his works

E.g Picasso, Dickens

vi Part can be used for the whole and vice versa

E.g living in the same roof, wearing a fox

1.2.1.2 Ambiguity caused by Obscure References

Ambiguity often occurs when the pronoun ―he, she, it‖ is employed to refer to either

of two nouns in a sentence For example:

Donald told Edward that he really ought to go

In this sentence, it can be confused to identify whether the pronoun ―he‖ refers to Donald or Edward To address the problem, the author can use a direct quotation:

Donald told Edward: ―I really ought to go‖

Or Mary said to Anne that she thought she was in love

Ambiguity appears in this sentence because the word ―she‖ can refer to either Mary

or Anne This sentence can be corrected as:

Mary said to Anne: ―I think you are in love‖

The relative pronouns ―who, which‖ sometimes can cause ambiguity For example:

―He held a flag over his head which he shook defiantly‖

This sentence can be clarified by placing the relative clause next to the noun it modifies: ―Over his head he held a flag which he shook defiantly.‖ (Stageberg,N.C., 1964:111)

It is clear that pronouns can be used to avoid repetition However, in some situation like the examples mentioned above, they can cause ambiguity; thus, users should know when and where it is appropriate to use pronouns as obscure references to avoid ambiguity

1.2.1.3 Ambiguity caused by Intensions and Extensions

Other sources of lexical ambiguity are extension and intension The extension of an expression is the set of entities that expression denotes while the intension is the set of properties shared by all members of the extension An example to illustrate is that the extension of ―cow‖ is the set of all the cows in the world, but its intension is the property that is described as ―bovine‖ (Palmer, F R., 1981: 190)

Knowing the meaning of an expression, however, cannot be equivalent to knowing its extension For example, two expressions ―the morning star‖ and ―the evening star‖ have the same extension but different intensions Lacking of knowing the correct extension, people may not know that the two expressions are the same which is ―Venus‖

In other cases, the extension can change while the intension remains the same (Kreidler, C.W., 1998: 133) The extension of the referring expression ―the Prime Minister

of Great Britain‖ is a single person The intension of the same expression is ―is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom ‖ If the present Prime Minister will be another person in the future, the extension changes but the intension remains the same With different readings, it is the extension and intension of an expression that cause the ambiguity For example, in the sentence:

John believes that Smith’s murderer is insane

(Palmer, F R., 1981: 192) the extension of ‗Smith‘s murderer‘ is either someone, a certain person e.g., Jones, who actually murdered Smith, or to someone else, e.g., Black, who is believed to have murdered Smith The intension is, meanwhile, the person who murdered Smith, whoever

he might be (and it may not be known who he is) There is also ambiguity in:

Bill is looking for the Dean

(Palmer, F R., 1981: 192)

Since this means either that Bill is looking for Professor Green who is actually the Dean, or that he is looking for the person, whoever it might be, who is the Dean It would appear that this is a matter of the extension and intension of the expression ‗the Dean‘ Nevertheless, it may not be irrelevant that ‗look for‘ also seems to provide opaque contexts With expressions like ‗look for‘ there is a very similar ambiguity when we have indefinite rather than definite expressions Therefore, the sentence:

I am looking for a pencil

(Palmer, F R., 1981: 192) may mean either ―I am looking for a particular pencil‖ or that ―any pencil will do‖ The difference here is usually treated in linguistics in terms of specific and non-specific/ generic use of the indefinite expressions, of which grammatical words – those in the closed-item class – are a component Obviously, the extensional and intensional meanings

of expressions are the origin of ambiguity in communication

To sum up, there are different sources of lexical ambiguity in English: homonymy, polysemy, obscure references, and extension and intension In order to communicate well

in English, learners or communicators should master these sources and avoid creating ambiguity which may result in misunderstanding or communication breakdown

1.2.2 Structural Ambiguity

Structural ambiguity is another source which causes ambiguity Matthews, P (2000), Cann, R (1993), Hughes, W & Lavery, J (2004) share the same idea that different interpretations of a sentence in syntax lead to structural ambiguity In the viewpoint of Cann, R (1993:9), if a single grammatical string of words can be interpreted into at least two syntactic structures, structural ambiguity will occur In other words, if listeners or readers can interpret and understand one sentence into at least two different ways because its structure is not clear, this sentence is ambiguous For example:

The strike was called by radical lecturers and students

(Cann, R., 1993:8)

 (a) The strike was called by lecturers who are radical and by students

vs (b) The strike was called by lecturers who are radical and by students who are radical

In the above example, what is at issue is the scope of the adjective ―radical‖ In the first interpretation, ―radical‖ modifies and has scope over the noun ―lecturers‖ while in the second interpretation, its scope is the nominal phrase ―lecturers and students‖

I read the book on the floor

(Matthews, P., 2000:165)

 A book was on the floor and that was the one I read

vs I was on the floor while reading the book

Hughes, W & Lavery, J (2004:126) use a sentence from news report in England to illustrate:

Lord Denning spoke against the artificial insemination of women in the House of Lord

 In the speech presented in the House of Lord, Lord Denning spoke against the artificial insemination of women

vs Lord Denning spoke against the artificial insemination of women occurring in the House of Lord

More specifically, Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B (1983:128) mentions about individual words, not just about structures: ―A sentence which is ambiguous because its words relate

to each other in different ways, even though none of the individual words are ambiguous,

is STRUCTURALLY (or GRAMMATICALLY) AMBIGUOUS.‖ For example:

Visiting relatives can be boring

(Hurford, J.R & Heasley, B., 1983 :121)

It can be boring to visit relatives

vs Relatives who are visiting can be boring

1.2.3 Semantic scope ambiguity

If structural ambiguity depends directly on the syntactic structure of a sentence, semantic scope ambiguity depends indirectly on it (Cann, R., 1993) Such ambiguity usually involves negation (not), quantification (every, some) and other elements like tense, which do not vary their syntactic position according to the reading of the sentence For example:

Every good politician loves a cause

 Every politician loves a cause and that is their own career

vs Every good politician loves a cause and each one loves a cause that everyone else loathes

(Cann, R., 1993:9)

There is a difference between the two interpretations above In the first one, there is only one cause that every good politician loves while in the second interpretation, each politician may love different cause The original sentence is usually only assigned a single surface constituent structure, so that this ambiguity cannot be directly attributed to a syntactic source and is referred to as a semantic scope ambiguity

1.2.4 Phonological Ambiguity

Phonological ambiguity can arise from sound links or juncture This phenomenon often happens in real conversation Interlocutors, especially foreigners, have to cope with a lot of difficulties in understanding linking words, hence, they often misunderstand other people For example:

I scream /ai skri:m/ and Ice cream /ais kri:m/

(Cook, G.,1989: 132)

Other examples are:

He lies /hi : laiz/ and heal eyes /hi : laiz/

Keep sticking /ki : p stiking/ and keeps ticking /ki : ps tiking/

Of course, ambiguity in such situations can be addressed by its context However, there is a number of difficulties in understanding connected speech or sound link of speech because the way words are pronounced in isolation is different from that in the context of connected speech Therefore, to overcome this problem, English learners should bear in mind the problem and practice phonetics including rhythm and sound links

1.3 Ambiguity and Literature

People often think of language as a clear and literal vehicle for accurately communicating ideas However, sometimes, even when language is used literally, misunderstanding can arise and meanings can shift and thus, have bad effects on communication People can be intentionally or unintentionally ambiguous when using language Some authors share the same idea that ambiguity is very curial in language, especially in academic language

When analyzing the roles of grammatical structures which include those causing ambiguity through some literature works, Eagleson, R.D & Kramer, L (1977:52) asserts that this language device can enable authors ―to pack a vivid image into a small space‖

Genette‘s (1988) sense of the ambiguity of literature is similar to Jakobson‘s (1960),

in which essay he writes "Ambiguity is an intrinsic, inalienable character of any focused message, briefly a corollary feature of poetry‖ (cited in Lodge, D., 1988: 49-50) Therefore, Jakobson (1960) certifies that at the heart of the poetic function is ambiguity Quiroga-Clare, C (2010) states ―ambiguity in language is an essential part of language‖, hence ―Ambiguity is a poetic vehicle‖

self-According to Bartoloni, P & Stephens, A (2010), ambiguity in literature has been positively marked and striven for periods It is worth to note that ambiguity is still expected and esteemed until now because the legacy of European Symbolism, originated in late nineteenth- century in France, ―is still the dominant influence of Western literary values‖ Ambiguity is especially highly appreciated in literature due to the fact that it can work alternatively to entertain, evoke, and stimulate thought or to distract and mystify More specifically than these two authors, Harrison, M (2010) mentions the role and usefulness of ambiguity in language In his viewpoint, along with irony, paradox, ambiguity is a ―part and parcel of those means which characterize the poet as a creative artificer and not just as a communicator or edifier — characteristics such as the preference for symbol over abstraction, the preference for suggestion rather than explicit statement, the preference for metaphor over judgment.‖ Moreover, ambiguity in its own way ―brings about a type of definiteness in the play of forces in poetic language, ensuring that poetic utterance is never seen transparently or understood in an unconsciously direct way‖ From the opinions of these authors, it can be realized that language has its own mysteries and ambiguity makes a great contribution into the mysteries Ambiguity can be

an instrument for an author to show his talents and it is also a tool to attract readers‘ minds

It brings a new wind to a literature work and a new way for readers to perceive the creation However, Harrison, M (2010) does not only share the same idea as other authors about ambiguity in literature, he also suggests a different thought about ambiguity In his point of view, the necessarily multiple relationships between perceiving subject and thing which is a feature of cognition creates complexity and such complexity can be simplified linguistically and reductively by some tools including ambiguity It is doubtful whether ambiguity can fulfill such a duty when it normally creates complexity This viewpoint itself is contrary to Harrison, M.‘s (2010) previous opinion when he says ambiguity

ensures ―that poetic utterance is never seen transparently or understood in an unconsciously direct way‖

1.4 Summary

To sum up, this chapter has reviewed the basic concepts of English ambiguity and sources which can cause ambiguity This language device can be resulted from lexical, structural, semantic scope or phonological ambiguity Moreover, the theoretical part also reviews some authors‘ opinions about the relationship between ambiguity and literature There is an agreement that ambiguity plays important roles in literature The following chapter will analyze lexical and structural ambiguity to illustrate this point of view

CHAPTER 2: LEXICAL AND STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY IN “TREASURE ISLAND”

In chapter 2 ―Black Dog appears and disappears‖, some lexical ambiguity has appeared

The first attention is paid to ―brown‖ in ―all the brown had gone out of his face‖

―Brown‖ here is not about the color, but it is the scare So is ―blue‖ in ―his nose was blue‖ All the colors in these two sentences were used to show the captain‘s scare

Another ambiguity is ―keyholes‖ in ―none of your keyholes for me‖ Here,

―keyholes‖ is not the plural form of ―keyhole‖ which means ―the hole in a lock into which

a key fits‖ but the speaker does not need the hearer to do anything else

In chapter 4 ―The sea- chest‖, as the story goes on, ―The more we told of our troubles, the more- man, woman and child- they clung to the shelter of their house‖ also has its hidden meaning ―Clung to the shelter of their house‖ implies that everyone was very scared when they heard about the story

In chapter 6 ―The captain‘s papers‖, lexical ambiguity can be found in the sentence

―This lad Hawkins is a trump‖ Here, Stevenson uses metaphor to express that Hawkins is

an amazing and good boy

In chapter 7 ―I go to Bristol‖, in the sentence ―…she is a woman of colour…‖, the author employs metaphor to imply that the woman or Silver‘s wife is a thoughtful woman, she understands his dreams and let him go

Chapter 8 ―At the sign of the Spy- glass‖ has some lexical ambiguity The first one is the word ―swab‖ in ―One of those swabs‖ and ―I‘ve seen the swab‖ Here, the word ―swab‖

is the metaphor of the buccaneers The speaker considers the buccaneers cheap and little- used things as swabs

The sentence ―The man‘s a perfect trump‖ also has a metaphor in it The speaker wants to compare ―the man‖ or Silver as a surprising and helpful person

In chapter 9, in the sentence ―It was something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and propped against it,…‖, ―the foot of the crutch‖ is the position- a basic transference of metaphor

Other metaphor lies in ―…,and always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone to help himself that had a fancy.‖ ―Waist‖ here is one side of the ship Chapter 11 ―What I heard in the apple barrel‖ has seen lexical ambiguity The first one is ―the flower of the flock‖ which lies in ―He was the flower of the flock, was Flint.‖ The purpose of this sentence is to honor Flint as a good, skilled and experienced pirate The second one is ―lambs‖ in ―LAMBS wasn‘t the word for Flint‘s old buccaneers.‖

―Lambs‖ here does not mean a kind of animal but the timid and inexperienced

In chapter 12 ―Council of war‖, the meaning of the sentence ―If I risk another order, the whole ship‘ll come about our ears by the run‖ is quite difficult to understand ―The whole ship‖ here represents for all sailors on boat, therefore, the meaning of this sentence

is all pirates on board will cause a mutiny if the captain risk another order

In chapter 14 ―The first blow‖, ―gold dust‖ in ―it‘s because I thinks gold dust of you…‖ does not have its usual meaning as the particles and flakes (and sometimes small nuggets) of gold obtained in placer mining In this sentence, it implies that the speaker highly appreciates the listener

The phrase ―lent me wings‖ in ―…this sound of danger lent me wings‖ is a living metaphor It shows that seeing the danger, the speaker runs fast as if he had wings

One of the basic transference of metaphor is position and it appears in ―I had drawn near to the foot of the little hill…‖

In chapter 15 ―The man of the island‖, the sentence ―I was within an ace of calling for help‖ is difficult to understand ―An ace‖ here does not have the meaning of a playing card In this sentence, it means the speaker is in a very dangerous situation and needs help