What is Ambiguity:
Ambiguity is the quality of ambiguous, that is, it is a term that expresses the quality of that which is susceptible to several interpretations, all of them coherent, which gives rise to doubt, imprecision, confusion or ambivalence.
For example: “The artist managed to capture the essence of the royal family in photography.” The phrase can be interpreted as a portrait of a royal family or it can be interpreted as a realistic portrait of an ordinary family.
Unlike moments in which the context only admits one interpretation, be it literal or figurative, ambiguity occurs when all interpretations make sense.
It is a condition for perceiving ambiguity that the recipient of the message does not know the referent at all or has several referents between which to decide.
The ambiguity may also refer to a behavior or attitude that generates inaccuracy, doubt or mistrust. For example: “José constantly repeats that he misses his wife, but he showed no signs of joy upon learning that he would return this week.” In that sense, it can be concluded that: “Joseph’s attitude reflects ambiguity.”
Some synonyms and/or related terms are ambivalence, confusion, indeterminacy, and imprecision.
Linguistic ambiguity
When ambiguity occurs in speech acts, it is grammatically called linguistic ambiguity. This type of ambiguity occurs when an expression, sentence or phrase can be interpreted in more than one sense.
Thus, at least two major types of linguistic ambiguity are recognized. Namely:
Structural ambiguity: produced by the order or structure of the discourse. For example: “Men’s leather wallets for sale.”
Lexical ambiguity: produced when words are used that have more than one meaning and both are admissible. For example: “They met on the bench on the avenue.” In the example, it is not clear whether it is a sitting bench or a financial institution, since both make sense.
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Ambiguity and amphibology
We speak of amphibology when, due to an unconscious vice in the use of language, ambiguity of meaning is favored, which is one of the characteristics of amphibology.
For example: “John met Peter at his house.” At whose house? From Peter or from John? If it is Juan’s house, the grammatical solution would be in the following options: “John received Pedro in his house” or “Peter visited Juan in his house.”
Amphibology can also function as a Figure of speech if the individual deliberately seeks double meanings. In fact, amphibology is a humorous resource frequent. For example:
-What’s your wife name?
-Lucía Fernanda. But, out of affection, I call her Lucifer.
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Visual ambiguity
Like language, an image can be ambiguous, which is related to the perception. We are talking about images that create more than one reading in the brain.
As in language, the possibilities of interpretation will depend on whether the recipient knows the specific referent or has several possible referents from which to decide. Hence the perception process is linked to the unconscious.
Typically, visual ambiguity is produced deliberately. This is the case of images used in psychology (Gestalt). This is also the case, for example, of kinetic art (optical art), which decontextualizes geometry and eliminates reference points to create visual ambiguity, resulting in an optical illusion.
Example of the images used in Gestalt. Are they two faces or one cup?
Work of Víctor Vasarely, 1968, optical art. The brain cannot decide where spatial depth occurs and which volume overlaps the other.
However, it may happen that in the process of creating a certain image (for example, when taking a photograph), an oversight in the composition of the shot generates an ambiguity.
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