Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1970

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Trammell, Robert L.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the structure of certain types of ambiguous French sentences in standard written and spoken French. There are four levels at which ambiguity can occur: at the lexical, surface-structure, underlying-structure, and phonological levels. The emphasis is on structural ambiguity. This study is done by analyzing cases where adjectives, pronouns , verbs and invariable words are responsible for the ambiguities. Ambiguous sentences at the surface-structure level are represented on tree diagrams whereas those at the underlying-structure level have to be explained by deriving the different interpretations from the deep structures underlying different sentences. Clues or methods to eliminate or explain ambiguity are proposed. There is a brief discussion of psychological implications involved in sentence ambiguities and of the relationship between surface and underlying structure in linguistics and psychology. The analysis of structural ambiguity also reveals some pedagogical applications in the teaching of foreign languages. Examples are given to show how teachers could make use of ambiguous sentences to improve the students' comprehension of the target language. This analysis shows native speakers or students of French how the language functions when it manifests certain patterns which are conducive to ambiguity.

Extent

75 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1970.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FA00000916

Format

pdf

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