Post on 14-May-2023
ABSTRACT
According to Oxford Dictionary, language is a
system of communication in speech and writing used by
people in a particular country. Language is important
because it is used to express the thought, feeling, and
idea. By using the language, people can communicate
each other. The common way to communicate are by
speaking. Speaking is an interactive process of
constructing meaning that involves producing and
receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994;
Burns & Joyce, 1997).
Most people in this world often do communication
by speaking, not writing. Speaking is the simple way to
communicate because people do not need to write.
Although speaking is the simple way to communicate, it
has possibility to create ambiguity. Ambiguity to
Crystal (1988;15) is the reference to a word or
sentence which expresses more than one meaning and this
reference has to do with linguistics. Another
definition of ambiguity is forwarded by Hartmann and
Stork (1976;11) who state that ambiguity is a
construction which admits more than one interpretation.
Thus, ambiguity is the utterance which has more than
one meaning. There are two kinds of ambiguity; lexical
and structural. As a result, there is problem in
communication. There will be misunderstanding between
the speaker and the hearer.
In relation with the explanation of ambiguity,
this study is purposed to to find out how ambiguity
that exist in Mind Your Language video under the title
The Best Thing In Life. Mind Your Language is the video
created by English people that contains joke. The
setting of the video is in London college where the
students are foreigner. They come from different
country which has different language.
The writer made herself as the key instrument that
collected the data of Mind Your Language video. She uses
the script of the video, and also supported by the
video itself. From the study, the writer finds that
there are ambiguity in the video. The next researcher,
especially in the same field should be able to look out
deeper in the object of the study to make a better
perception.
KEY WORDS: Ambiguity, lexical, structural, mind your
language video
People are social creature that need each
other. They communicate each other to have
interaction. When people need a help, they will
communicate to the other people. The tool they
used to communicate is called language. Language
is the institution whereby humans communicate and
interact with other by means habitually-used oral
auditory arbitrary symbols (R.A Hall, 1968).
According to Oxford Dictionary, language is a
system of communication in speech and writing used
by people in a particular country.
From the explanation above, it can be
concluded that language is a mean used to express
what people feel and think in order to interact
each other. Language is not only consist of words,
but it consists of signs. For example, when
someone is sad, s/he does not need to say what
s/he feels. The people can understand what s/he
feels from her/ his face. Sign means the body
language the people use.
There are many kinds of languages around the
world. Every country in the world has their own
language which is different to other. Language is
the important thing in life. People can
communicate to other by using language. It is
impossible to communicate without using language,
because people will not know something we are
thinking and something we want to do. Moreover,
people can express their thought and feeling by
using language. They can express their feeling to
someone they love (parents, children, students,
and so forth) using language. They can express the
idea they have using language. Thus, language
plays the important role in life.
People like interpreting the other people
language. People also expecting the other people
to interpret their own language in a right way.
So, the people who heard the language will have
the same interpretation about the sender of the
message means. It is not that simple to have the
same interpretation because the language the
people used sometimes is ambiguous. It happens
because of some things. It will discussed below.
In this research, the writer uses one of Mind
Your Language videos under the title The Best Thing in
Life. Mind Your Language is a British comedy
television series which premiered on ITV in late-
1977. It is produced by London Weekend Television
and directed by Stuart Allen. The show is set in
adult education college that focuses on the
English as a Foreign Language. It is located in
London. There are some foreign students in the
classroom that is taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown who
is called Brown.
There are two parts of The Best Thing in Life. The
part one talks about Ali Nadim who wins the
football bet, but the fact is he doesn’t win
anything. The part two talks about Jamila who has
been arrested for shoplifting, but it's not
entirely her fault. Because of her poor English,
she has made the mistake of taking, what she
thought to be, "free" items. After Mr. Brown
rescues Jamila from the police station, he learns
that she has stolen more than just a few items.
Knowing that keeping the stolen goods would be
dishonest, he gathers the class and they all set
out to return the items where they belong, without
getting caught.
B. REVIEW OF RELATED THEORY
Ambiguity to Crystal (1988;15) is the
reference to a word or sentence which expresses
more than one meaning and this reference has to do
with linguistics. Another definition of ambiguity
is forwarded by Hartmann and Stork (1976;11) who
state that ambiguity is a construction which
admits more than one interpretation.
From the explanation above, it can be
concluded that a word or sentence is ambiguous if
it can be understood or interpreted in more than
one way. There are two types of ambiguity; lexical
and structural ambiguity.
Lexical ambiguity is concerned with multiple
interpretations of lexemes. A word is ambiguous if
it involves two lexical items that have identical
forms, but have distinct or unrelated meanings. It
is happened in the homonyms and polysemous words.
Homonyms are different words that are pronounced
the same, but may or may not spelled the same, and
it has different meaning.
For example is to, too, and two. While polysemous
is a word that has several meaning. For example is
word ‘bank’ as a noun. It has more than one
meaning: 1) place where money is kept safely, 2)
place for storing supllies, and 3) land sloping up
beside a river. It can create ambiguity because
the hearer may not know what the speaker mean by
saying the particular word. They do not know which
meaning that is meant by the speaker.
Structural ambiguity is a result of two or
more different syntactic structures that can be
attributed to one string of words. That means that
a sentence is structurally ambiguous not because
it contains a single lexeme that has several
distinct meanings, but because the syntactic
structure of the sentence causes multiple
interpretations.
For example, Flying planes can be dangerous. This
often quoted example of structural (also called
syntactic) ambiguity comes from Noam Chomsky.
Sentences that contain lexemes that change their
word form or even word class depending on the
sentence’s interpretation are part of this
category. Flying planes in this example sentence may
be understood as “to fly planes” as well as
“planes, which fly”. Therefore, the
lexeme flying can be interpreted as the gerund form
of a verb in a verb phrase, or as an attribute of
a noun phrase. Another example is The chicken is ready
to eat. It can mean that the chicken is ready to be
fed or to be fed to someone depending on the
thematic assignment. In current semantic theory,
this is because ‘the chicken’ is assigned agent on
one reading and patient on another.
C. DISCUSSION
As explained above, there are two kinds of
ambiguity. The first is lexical ambiguity and the
second is structural ambiguity.
1. Lexical Ambiguity
The data is taken when Ali Nadim entering the
class and says that he will not join the class
anymore because he has won a football bet. He
has a lot of money already. His friends are
very happy hearing that news. Mr. Brown as
well.
Mr. Brown : “Well, I don’t know what to say
Ali. I mean I’m very
pleased for you of course”.
Ali : “I’m also being very pleased for
me”.
Mr. Brown : “What will you do?”
Ali : “Oh blimey, I’m going to bed”
In the first utterance, Mr. Brown
congratulated Ali. Then, Ali answered that he
is very happy. In the next utterance, Mr. Brown
asks Ali about the next thing he wants to do.
Then, Ali answered the question in the end of
the utterance. In the end of the utterance
performed by Ali ‘I’m going to bed’ indicates a
structural ambiguity. Word ‘bed’ is verb. Based
on dictionary, ‘bad’ here has two meanings; 1)
fix something firmly in something, 2) sleep on
the bed. Mr. Brown does not know what Ali means
by ‘bed’, so he asked Ali again by saying “to
bed?” Then Ali answered the question by saying
“Yes, please. With all that money, I’m not
needing to be working, so I’m going to bed”. It
gives clue for Mr. Brown that what Ali means by
saying ‘bed’ is that he is going to retire. He
doesn’t want to work anymore because he has
much money already. The bold utterance above
include in lexical ambiguity because it has
more than one meaning which is called polysemy.
The second lexical ambiguity is taken when
Mr. Brown asks Ranjeet to pretend as patient
who is sick in which Mr. Brown pretends as a
doctor.
Mr. Brown : “Pretend you have a cold”
Ranjeet : “A cold what?”
Word ‘cold’ here is noun that include in
polysemy. It creates ambiguity because it
causes multiple interpretations of lexemes. The
word ‘cold’ has more than one meaning; 1) lack
of heat or warmth, low temperature; 2) common
illness of the nose or throat.
2. Structural Ambiguity
The data is taken when Mr. Brown asks Taro to
pretend as a customer of one bank which Mr.
Brown as a clerk.
Mr. Brown : “Now, you are going to the bank”
Taro : [Walking away leaving the class]
Mr. Brown : “Where are you going?”
Taro : “Banko”
The utterance performed by Mr. Brown ‘Now,
you are going to the bank’ contains ambiguity.
The syntactic structure of the sentence causes
multiple interpretations; a) asks Taro to go to
the bank, b) asks Taro to pretend as a customer
who is going to the bank. In that utterance,
what Taro understand is that Mr. Brown asks him
to go to the bank in that moment. To make the
sentence not to be ambiguous, there should be
additional context. Mr. Brown may say ‘Taro,
now I want you to pretend as a customer of the
bank who is going to cash the cheque’. It will
be more understandable and it will not cause
ambiguity.
D. CONCLUSION
In accordance with previous chapter, the
conclusion of this research can be drawn based on
the formulated research question. Ambiguity is a
word or sentence that has more than one meaning or
can create differenet interpretation. There are
two kinds of ambiguity. They are lexical and
structural ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity concerned
with multiple interpretations of lexemes. Homonyms
and polysemy include in this type of ambiguity.
While structural ambiguity happens because the
syntactic structure of the sentence causes
multiple interpretations.
Form the analysis in Mind Your Language video
under the title The Best Thing in Life, there are some
utterance that ambiguous. The utterance that
include in lexical ambiguity is the word performed
by Ali Nadim ‘bed’, it can be interpreted as fix
something firmly in something or sleep on the bed.
For the structural ambiguity, the sentence
performed by Mr. Brown ‘Now, you are going to the
bank’ creates ambiguity because it can be
interpreted as asking Taro to go to the bank or
asking Taro to pretend as a customer who is going
to the bank. As a result, Taro understand it as
asking him to go to the bank at the moment.
Analyzing ambiguity of Mind Your Language
under the title The Best Thing in Life, it gives several
significant improvement and knowledge. The most
significant contribution that the writer gets is,
she can improve the ability in interpreting an
utterance. Moreover, the extremely importance for
the writer is she can choose the appropriate word
or sentence in certain context to disambiguate the
sentence.
E. REFERENCES
Oxford University. 2008. Oxford Learner’s Pocket
Dictionary: Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Fromkin Victoria. 2003. Introduction to language:
Seventh Edition. Massachusets, USA: Thomas
Cooperation
http://online.sfsu.edu/kbach/ambguity.html,
accessed on June 20th 2015
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ambiguity/#Types, accessed on June 11th
http://www.glottopedia.org/index.php/
Ambiguity,_Polysemy_and_Vagueness, accessed on
June 28th 2015
APPENDIX: THE SCRIPT OF MIND YOUR LANGUAGE VIDEO “THE
BEST THING IN LIFE”
Mr. Brown : Good evening everyone. Alright, sit down.
Students : Good evening
Ranjeet : Good evening
Mr. Brown : Good heaven Ranjeet. You're actually here on time
Ranjeet : Yes
Mr. Brown : Well done
Juan : Su maletín
Mr. Brown : Yes, thank you Juan and thank you for carrying it
Juan : De nada, hombre. Permítame que le quite el abrigo,
por favor
Mr. Brown : Yes, thank you very much
Juan : Ya sabe usted que aquí estoy yo para servirle, señor
Italian : You spanish creeper
Juan : You ltalian
Mr. Brown : All right, settle down everybody! We've got a lot of
work to do tonight
Ali : Excuse please
Mr. Brown : Just sit down a minute Ali, will you?
Ali : No thank you l am only coming to tell you l am not
coming
Mr. Brown : Not coming?
Ali : Yes please
Mr. Brown : You can't leave in the middle of a term. l mean you
were doing quite well! Why
do you want to leave?
Ali : Oh blimey, l am coming up on the puddles
Mr. Brown : Coming up on the puddles?
Ali : Yes please, the football puddles?
Mr. Brown : The football pools
Ali : Yes please! l am getting eight scoring draws
Max : How many draws on the coupons?
Ali : Only the eight l am getting
Giovanni : Hey how much you win?
Ali : Oh blimey, it could be half a million pounds
Giovanni : Santa Maria l'm very happy for you! Because you're
my best friend
Max : He's also my friend
Juan : And mine
Ranjeet : l am the true friend of Ali
Mr. Brown : You?
Ranjeet : But of course! We are practically bloody
brothers!
Mr. Brown : l thought you didn't like Muslims
Ranjeet : l love Muslims Especially when they are having
half a million pounds!
Mr. Brown : Well, l don't know what to say Ali l mean l'm very
pleased for you of course.
Ali : l am also being very pleased for me
Mr. Brown : What will you do?
Ali : Oh blimey, l am going to bed
Mr. Brown : To bed?
Ali : Yes please. With all that money, l'm not needing to
be working,
Mr. Brown : You mean you're going to retire
Ali : Most definitely
Mr. Brown : You're quite sure you've got eight score draws?
Ali : Oh yes, l got the copy. Here please, the ones l'm
ticking off
Mr. Brown : Ali, l don't think you're going to retire just yet
Giovanni : He's not gotta eight draws?
Mr. Brown : Oh yes. He's gotta eight... He's got eight draws
Ranjeet : Good
Mr. Brown : But they're not all on the same line!
Ali : What difference is that making?
Mr. Brown : lt means you haven't won anything
Ali : Notting at all?
Mr. Brown : Notting at all
Max : Hah! Bellos!
Juan : Loco!
Ranjeet : That is typical of that Muslim twit! No brains
whatsoever
Ali : Oh blimey, you are changing tune. When you are
thinking that l am very wealthy
you are being my bloody brother .
Ranjeet : That is before I am finding out you are bloody
stupid
Ali : Don't you call me stupid you bearded baboon!
Ranjeet : Quiet the pair of you and sit down l presume
you're staying now Ali
Ali : l'm staying now, yes
Mr. Brown : Good. Now this evening l thought we'd try some
practical use of the English
language By acting out various situations that you
might come across in real life.
Now, we'll start with you Taro.
Taro : ''Aso''
Mr. Brown : Now, you are going to the bank
Taro : Banko, yes
Mr. Brown : Where are you going?
Taro : Banko
Mr. Brown : No, it's only a pretend bank.
Taro : Pletendo? Yeso!
Mr. Brown : We'll imagine this table is the bank counter and l
am the bank clerk And
you are a customer and you're coming to cash a
cheque. All right?
Taro : Ok.
Mr. Brown : Good morning Sir
Taro : lt is not good morning time. lt is good night time
Mr. Brown : Yes, it is now! But we are just pretending
Taro : Aso, Cally on.
Mr. Borwn : Thank you. Good morning Sir
Taro : One moment
Mr. Brown : What is it now?
Taro : Are you Barclays or Midlando?
Mr. Brown : lt doesn't really matter! Midland if you like. Good
morning Sir
Taro : Goodbye
Mr. Brown : Goodbye?
Taro : Midlando not my banko! Barclays my banko
Mr. Brown : All right, it's Barclays
Mr. Brown : Good morning, Sir
Taro : Good morning
Mr. Brown : You wish to cash a cheque?
Taro : Yes pleaso
Mr. Brown : Good! How much? Ten pounds? Twenty? Thirty?
Taro : Thirty
Mr. Brown : And how do you want it?
Taro : ln money please.
Mr. Brown : Yes but do you want thirty in tens, ones or fives or
what?
Taro : Can l have thirty fives?
Mr. Brown : No, that would be 150 pounds
Taro : Solly for mistako
Mr. Brown : Not to worry. Thank you Taro! That wasn't too bad.
Now, who should we have
next? Ah, Danielle.
Danielle : You are the nicest banker l've seen
Mr. Brown : Yes, well we're not in the bank now! l want you to
imagine something different
Danielle : l have a very good imagination
Mr. Brown : l'm sure you have. Now you are going into a post
office and l am the assistant
Danielle : Excuse me, can you help me?
Mr. Brown : Certainly Madam! What is it you wish?
Danielle : How much is it a letter to post?
Mr. Brown : ls it someone in England?
Danielle : No, no it's a Swiss letter
Mr. Brown : A Swiss letter?
Danielle : Yes, l write to my boyfriend in Switzerland
Mr. Brown : Well, it's more correct to say you want to send a
letter to Switzerland not a Swiss
letter. lt could be very embarrassing if you were
writing to
somebody in France
Danielle : Excuse me? lt doesn't matter l am thinking l
need some extra English lessons
Maybe l could stay here with you after the class l
don't think we
could do that Well l come home with you and you could
teach me a lot.
Mr. Brown : Yes l'm sure l could! But l think you know quite
sufficient already. Now, is there
anything else you want?
Danielle : Yes but l cannot tell you here
Mr. Brown : From the post office
Danielle : No, nothing .
Mr. Brown : Well alright, thank you Danielle, that will do. Now,
Juan
Juan : Sí señor
Mr. Brown : You're going to the Employment Exchange
Juan : Por favor
Mr. Brown : You are going to get a job
Juan : No, l already have a job
Mr. Brown : Yes l know that, we're assuming you don't And you're
going to the
Employment Exchange to get one. As l explained to
Taro, we're pretending
Juan : lt's alright
Mr. Brown : Now, what is your name?
Juan : You already know my name
Mr. Brown : l do but the clerk at the job desk doesn't
Juan : Ah, si! Juan Cervantes para servirle
Mr. Brown : Are you married?
Juan : Sí l married to Gina Lollabrigida
Mr. Brown : Don't be ridiculous
Juan : Pretending Touché, alright!
Mr. Brown : What sort of a job are you looking for?
Juan : Plenty money job
Mr. Brown : l see and what is the work you want to do in order
to earn this plenty
money?
Juan : Plenty little!
Mr. Brown : Alright Juan! Thank you! That will be sufficient
Pity, l like it!
Juan : A very good game! Thank you!
Mr. Brown : Now, Ranjeet
Ranjeet : What is it you are wanting me to do?
Mr. Brown : You are going to the Doctor's
Ranjeet : What is the nature of my complaint?
Mr. Brown : Let's just say you don't feel well
Ranjeet : But l'm never feeling better
Mr. Brown : Pretend you have a cold
Ranjeet : A cold what?
Mr. Brown : Alright, let's forget about the cold. Just imagine
you have a pain
Ranjeet : Very well sir
Mr.Brown : Well go on
Ranjeet : A thousand apologies! l am waiting for you to
say 'Next please'. Doctor always
say 'Next please'
Mr. Brown : Next please
Ranjeet : Good morning Doctor
Mr. Brown : Good morning. And what seems to be the trouble?
Ranjeet : l have a terrible pain
Mr. Brown : Where?
Ranjeet : In my imagination
Mr. Brown : You're supposed to be pretending it's a real pain
Ranjeet : A thousand apologies again! l have a real
terrible pain
Mr. Brown : Good. Where is this pain?
Ranjeet : ln my foot
Ali : His brains are hurting
Ranjeet : Your backside will be hurting in a moment
Ali : Blimey you can't even crack a pompadom
Ranjeet : l give you bunches of fivers
Ali : l give you bunches of tenners
Miss Courtney : What on earth is going on in here?
Mr. Brown : We were just having a few practical lessons
Miss Courtney : What in, unarmed combat?
Mr. Brown : lt might come in useful
Miss Courtney : Well l'm afraid your students will have to do
without you for a little
while.You're wanted down at the police station
Mr. Brown : The police station?
Miss Courtney : There's no need to look so guilty! lt's
nothing you've done. lt's about
one of your students! The lndian lady
Mr. Brown : Jamila? Has anything happened to her?
Miss Courtney : Yes She's been arrested for shoplifting!