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A Non-test for Ambiguity*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Arnold M. Zwicky  and
Jerrold M. Sadock
Arnold M. Zwicky
Affiliation:
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210, U.S.A.
Jerrold M. Sadock
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL60637, U.S.A.
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Extract

In a recent article in this journal, Roberts (1984) suggests a semantic method for distinguishing ambiguity and generality, a method which is intended to avoid the problems that others such as Zwicky and Sadock (1975), Hintikka (1973), and McCawley (1980) have found in making such a decision. Roberts claims that his test derives its validity from the observation that an ambiguous expression has a disjunction of meanings, whereas a general expression has but one meaning (which might be disjunctive).

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 1987 , pp. 185 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1987

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Footnotes

*

This work was done while Sadock was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Spencer Foundation and the University of Chicago.

References

Hintikka, K.J.J. ‘Grammar and Logic: Some Borderline Problems,’ in. Hintikka, K.J.J. Moravcsik, J.M.E. and Suppes, P. eds Approaches to Natural Language: Proceedings of the Stanford Workshop in Grammar and Semantics 1973) (Reidel: Dordrecht 1973), 197–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCawley, James D. Everything that Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know about Logic (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1980).Google Scholar
Roberts, lawrence ‘Ambiguity vs. Generality: Removal of a Logical Confusion,’. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 14 (1984) 295–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold M. and Sadock, Jerrold M. ‘Ambiguity Tests and How to Fail Them,’, Syntax and Semantics 4 (1975) 1–36.Google Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold M. and Sadock, Jerrold M. ‘A Reply to Martin on Ambiguity,’, Journal of Semantics (to appear)Google Scholar