KOL/JMORF: Morpho-Syntax

Problem Set One

Give one example each of lexical and structural ambiguity in a language other than English, with enough explanation that a non-speaker of the language can understand the ambiguity.

Example (lexical)

kore	-wa	nan	desu	ka
DET	CM	DEM/NOUN	VERB	SFP
this	TOP	what/naan	COP	Q
‘What is this?’
‘Is this naan (bread)?’

In Japanese nan is ambiguous when spoken between an interrogative (何 "what") and Naan (ナン "Indian Bread"), and many other things. The ambiguity is normally resolved when written.

Return to course page