[Corpora-List] Ambiguous words in English and their frequency

[Linda Bawcom]

Subject: Re: [Corpora-List] Ambiguous words in English and their frequency

Dear Karen,

(I had to send this to the corpora list because I get bounced mail for you). 

I would like to help but am unsure what you mean by an ambiguous word.  I can 
understand that a particular word in a sentence might be ambiguous. For 
example,  "Mary's a funny person" could mean that she is comical or that she is 
strange. However, words are used in some kind of context. Therefore, in the 
example, 'funny' is only ambiguous if I have insufficient context to help me 
decide the particular use of that polysemous word. In short, I believe we do not 
think of words themselves as being ambiguous. What may be ambiguous (e.g. in 
need of clarification) is the way a word/phrase is used in a particular context 
or context of situation.   Perhaps you can offer a few examples. Apart from 
that, I can only offer the following  from my small data base where ambiguity is 
discussed:

Aspects of English (2nd) 202,205,262,264,270 etc. Bolinger,D. Harcourt 1975 
Discourse Structure &Anaphora 3,48,50-4,56-7,60,108,123,128,131 Fox, Barbara A. 
CUP 1987 

Computational Analysis of English 21,26,27,39,43,51, etc. 
Garside,R.Leech.G.Sampson, G.. Longman 1987 

Corpora in Applied Ling. 44-5,145,149 Hunston, Susan CUP 2002      
Semantics (2nd edition) 31,38,42-3,48-50,86,105-8etc Palmer, F.R. CUP 1981 
Corpus, Concordance,Col 104-05 Sinclair, John OUP 1991 
Relational Models of the Lexicon 114,117,227 Walton Evens, M. (ed) CUP 1988 
Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 84 Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 7-Sep Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Text and Corpus Analysis 188-9 Stubbs, Michael Blackwell 1996 
Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 139.141 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 145 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 5-6,86,92-4,143,149,157 
Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 4-6,69,112,157,212-13 
Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 11 Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 212 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Relational Models of the Lexicon 291-92,316,319,33,328-29 Walton Evens, M. (ed) 
CUP 1988 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity  Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 
Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 9-12,38,131-152,215 
Hirst,Graeme CUP 1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 131-36 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 150-52 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 

Semantic Interpretation and the Resolution of Ambiguity 134-36 Hirst,Graeme CUP 
1987 



Kindest regards,
Linda Bawcom











Kindest regards,
Linda Bawcom




________________________________
From: "FORT, Karen" <Karen.FORT at inist.fr>
To: "corpora at uib.no" <corpora at uib.no>
Sent: Wed, January 25, 2012 1:33:02 PM
Subject: [Corpora-List] Ambiguous words in English and their frequency

Hi all,

I need to find this information (the proportion of ambiguous words in English 
and their frequency).
For example, we know that in French 8% of the words represent 30% of the 
ambiguity.
Of course, it's very rough, but it's only to have a rough idea.

Can somebody help me with this (of course, I searched for a ref but could not 
find anything precise)?

Thank you in advance,

Regards,


Karën FORT
Ingénieure/Engineer et/and doctorante/PhD student
INIST-CNRS / LIPN
2, allée de Brabois
54500 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy
France
Bureau/Office: H112
+33 (0)3 83 50 46 36

http://www-lipn.univ-paris13.fr/~fort/
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