AMU School of English and Center for Speech and Language Processing invite you to a lecture by

Prof. Dafydd Gibbon (Universität Bielefeld)

On Ambiguity, or: Why Communication is Nearly Impossible

Ambiguity in speech and text is, depending on theoretical or practical leaning, either a nuisance and an obstacle to be overcome, or a delight to be enjoyed. In this conspectus of ambiguity and related aspects of semantics in language and speech and in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication, the thesis is maintained that such multiplicities of meaning are essential to the success of communication, and not just annoying by-products or fun decorations. The domains in which it will be shown that ambiguity is pervasive in communication, and not just something extra, range from metaphor and idiom through ambiguity in the core areas of language structure to ambiguities of prosody and the of gesture in multimodal communication.

Tuesday, 6 May 2008, 18:30
Room 601A

Submitted by J Weckwerth