Ugochukwu, C. N.: Ambiguity in the Igbo Language _ The use of certain words. : Phrases and sent % ymmunication often leads ences in Misunderstanding and Says something and the to s nt, confusion has been against the intent of the Speaker. There are ations at times because the speaker may and the hearer will understand a different thing all er. The researcher embarked on this study owing to the certain Igbo words, phrases and sentences are s and their wrong use can hamper effective mean one iguity as a term is a linguistic condition which d from both Latin and French in the early 16” ie Latin word ambiguus means ‘shifting’ or ity is the quality of an expression having more than ing or interpretation. It seems to be a in language since words and sentences one meaning. Ambiguity in language of a language consciously or peech and writing, expressions that multiple interpretations. e can arise in a variety of ways. include: phonetic, structural jc ambiguity results in speech of expressions since the acoustic reath group, it may happen rent words become 3. Lexical ambiguityin Ugochukwu, C. N.: Ambiguity in the topo Language eir graphic sameness.° For instance, akwa re th) are immediately seen as different Thee their tonal differences. While akwa (cry) has (AH) tone; alova (cloth) has (HL) tone. : Lyons (1977:550) as quoted by Eme and Nk; (2010:2) view homonyms as a "Type of lexical ambiguity whereby the different senses of a lexeme are not obviously related to each other in any way". Some of their illustrative , examples of homonyms in tone languages are used here below. * amigbo ~ ‘cause to sit’, ‘cook’ ‘precede’, ‘watch over' 'go back/return’, ‘again’ Th € examples confirm the fact that homonyms pose a lexical ambiguity in languages. In line with the above, nd Heasly (1983:123) as quoted in Omego (2006:7) of homonyms as mere coincidence because the are not in any way related. ons (1981:43) also draws a distinction between two homonyms. They are homography and homophony. p cording to Ejele (1977:124), is a term used to e a set of lexemes have the same ings and different pronunciations tax and phonology. ets and sentences.y ars ugochukwu, C. N.: Ambiguity in the Igbo Language ete nes oe ar fi Status/rank is a case of homonymy because the different meanings are not related. In other words, we have two different lexemes that accidentally have the same phonetic form and pronunciation. The observation confirms Hurford and Heasly’s (1983:123) assertion that “cases of homonymy seem yery definitely to be matters of mere accident or rear: ents in Igbo are ambiguous in the s ; tat spoken form ‘in the examples that follow: 4 ~~ Ambiguous SOBAUy) Tréré n’élu ? no : Meanings i. ‘Did you decay on top? ii, 'Did you sell wholesale?” iii. Did you sell upstairs? Thu gi di ka ihu mma ib i, Your face looks familiar. ii. Your face looks like the face of a knife/matchet’. the ambiguity in (1) and (2) respectively rests , Which can mean ‘decay’ or 'sell’ and m md which can sd as 'I know’ or 'knife/matchet'. finotathb if is a type of ambiguity where words themselves. In lexical ambiguity, one meaning. Lexical items have ‘and can lead to misunderstanding ¥ , lexical ambiguity emanates ous words. Homonymous m but whose meanings are d. For example, the English| il 1 CL Nut 478 Ugochukwu, C Ambiguity in the tgbo Language From table 1, one will observe that some homonymous nouns have the same tonemic, phonic and graphic tepresentation but differ in meaning. In example (1) for instance, Okpu refers to: i. A medical condition referred to as tumour i, An immature fruit i, A goal (as in football) iv, Rump/shank (a body part) Polysemous nouns incorporate metaphorical extensions which derive meaning from the primary set of words of natural origin. The meaning derived from words of natural origin Portrays human character. Here are some of the polysemous with their related senses. abr Polysemous lexemes and their related senses Central , Metaphorical | Meaning Extensions ‘many’, ‘plenty” “opening”, ‘foresight’ 7 2 ‘book’ ‘school a | |Ugochukwu, C.N.: Ambiguity in the 1gbo Language gu, Mba and Eme, (2001:114 les of ambiguous structure respectively. 23, Old men and women _ Agadi nwoké na nwaanyi Old man and woman Dimviioke nda nwaanyi oma __ Man and woman good Aman and good woman ) Present the following as im English and Igbo om there are two paraphrases that do not mean the same Old man and woman (women unqualified), Old man and old woman (both man and woman) Ice (26a), only the man is indicated as old. It may or true that the woman too is old. But in sentence the man and the woman are old. The possible tions for example (26) are: woké na nwaanyi oma |and good woman ma na nwaanyi oma © od woman daanyi' is specified as having oma) but in paraphrase (27b) ified as bearing the semantic ple of grammatical e ambiguity in theyr 482 nex ample 32, the EWomiptins; wu and Emeka are referred to py the relative clause di-ocha; the relative Clause di ocha refers to Ewu in (32a) and to Emeka in (32b). in 33, the relative ¢lause toro ogologo could mean ‘the long chair or tall Obi’ qhe ambiguity in these sentences is seen in the relative clauses. The above sentence can be disambi the relative clause nearer to the subject of th Example- Ewu ocha Emeka anwiola ‘Emeka’s white goat died’. In this case, there is no more confusion whether di ocha refers to ‘Eww’ or to ‘Emeka’. Many figures of speech in Igbo also pose the problem of ambiguity. They are prone to multiple interpretations (ie. They have the potential of being ambiguous. For instance, these Igbo idiom-are ambiguous. ugechukwu, C. N.: Ambiguity in the Igbo Language guated by bringing © sentence. Table 3: Igbo Idioms and. their unrelated senses aka abud bands vo ahi oma body good b. pregnancy af wr belly big egbe na Okuko Kite and fowl 'b. two sworn enemies big b. ‘greed’ aka iké a. ‘stinginess miserly’ hand stren p. ‘strong hand’, ‘rough hand! = a. ‘double tongue b. ‘lying’ g ne I rJMEL Vol. 3, September, 2014 183 a. ‘good leg! p. ‘good luck" [a [ohovoma | [iu ma | a. 2000 fee Fi goa anol VO eels a bas obi mints "watery heart wer hear aan hekiovater Tf brcompassoc™ Euphemistic expressions are also ambiguous. Euphemism is g polite word and expression that is used instead of a more direct one to avoid shocking or upsetting someone. Euphemistc ambiguity is used so that the feelings of individuals will not be injured. This is because there are situations where certain expressions are forbidden in all cultures. In some parts of Igbo land, snake is not called by its name at night. It is believed that mentioning the name at night will attract a snake into one’s house. Euphemistic ambiguity in Igbo language include: - kam gaa kélee nwaanyi akpi gbara (dialectical variant) ~~ Let Isg go-ovs gre 0 Scorpion sh r Let me go and s) ze with a woman stung by aEe a ugochukwu, C. N.: Ambiguity in the Igbo Language 4 Janguage by which there is in general il the form of a simple lexical wi denotes. For instance, there is nothin: es ed and meaning to explain why ‘¢: and not for a dog or a pencil, or why c fo as a dog instead. Thus Fromki ambiguity as an inherent property of Ambiguity can arise through the ascription of multiple meanings to single words, This is the case of homonymous and polysemous words. The assignment of different syntactic structure to a sentence also ives rise to ambiguity. This is where a sentence could be interpreted In Several ways. Scope ler primary source of ambiguity. It involves not only adjectives but also conjunctions like na (and), mDbu (or) and quantifiers like obula (every), niflé (all) and wfody (some). _ Ambiguity also occurs because thought is complicated, For the fact that thought has to do with the mind, it is not Possible to read what is exactly in one’s mind. This is often Seen both in written text and spoken language. Generally when ‘one uses ambiguous words Or sentences, one does not : iously entertain their. unintended meanings; although Psycholinguistic evidence that when one hears Ous words, one momentarily accesses and then rules nO natural telationship nit and the thing that it i in the nature of the ‘at’ is the wo; at should not mM and Rod: words, rd for a cat be referred man regard than one interpretation iter has in mind. ThusEg igochvkwrs, CN! Ambiguity in the Igbo Language ¥ 66 fe who attended the meeting included Prof, Goddy PF ove, Head of department, Sir G.B. Onwudiwe, Prof. Br Anizoba and other scholars also', The Wrong punctuation A above sentence makes. it difficult to ascertain whether i ead of department (onye ask ngalaba) is different from Sir, GE Onwudiwe or mvbetber he is the head of department. The correct punctuation of 49 will be; 0. 50.” Nai biara ogbako ahu gunyere: Prof. G.O. Onyekonwu, one isi ngalaba; Sir G.E. Onwudiwe, Prof. O.M. Anizoba, nakwa ndi 920. ‘Also, lack of proper tone marking of Igbo words or statements bring about ambiguity. For instance: 51. Obi amaka : Without proper tone marking, this statement could have up to three different interpretations as follows: a ‘Obi is handsome! i b. "Heart is beautiful’ ‘ ¢. "Personal name' (Obi Amaka) etc. With proper tone marking, the meaning will be limited to what the speaker or writer has in mind. 4 Rafie: i t ‘ Implications of Ambiguity ‘ ite the problems a mbiguity pose to the study of Igbo , it is still helpful in some areas: wai, 1989:21)468 Ugochukwu, C. N.: ‘Ambiguity in the Igbo Language photiological properties (Production of i aiid: ) of the €xpressions ' Ambiguity as a linguistic effect through a genuine ii f | Itc an serve as a soure, device can be i used for comic ntension to con: fuse.” € of embarrassment * especially when used out of context ad anger g. Some idiomatic €xpressions in Igbo are ambi Eten 1A alg ambiguity in Igbo language has not pant subjected to. extensions, " ri Conclusion _ Ue! eas were also examined . and the Sutcome of the research work were outlined in the research findings, ‘ It is true that the existence of ambiguity in Igbo sage serves some purposes as mentioned in the research ings, yet it is evident that as a linguistic device, it poses a er of problems to the study of Igbo language. The major Purpose of language is communication which can only take /S8ce: when. the me , conveyed by the speaker is fullyeee GUAGES