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

A. INTRODUCTION

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!