Analysis of Ambiguities in Riddles.

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ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini ditulis untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat kelulusan program sarjana di Jurusan Sastra Inggris Universitas Kristen Maranatha. Tugas Akhir ini berisikan analisis ketaksaan pada teka-teki. Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, teka-teki yang dianalisis adalah teka-teki yang mengandung ketaksaan. Teka-teki yang dianalisis dalam Tugas Akhir ini adalah teka-teki yang bermakna ganda yang berhubungan dengan Semantik dan Sintaksis. Ketaksaan membuat teka-teki menjadi lebih menarik. Karena itulah saya tertarik untuk menganalisis ketaksaan yang terdapat dalam teka-teki.

Teka-teki adalah sebuah permainan yang mengandung pertanyaan, dapat dijawab menggunakan logika, permainan bunyi ataupun struktur kalimatnya. Ketaksaan dapat muncul karena persamaan bunyi, kata yang mempunyai arti lebih

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CHAP TER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

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Maranatha Chri stian University 2

We sometimes find a sentence construction than can make us confused or curious, or sometimes we can make those kinds of confusing or unusual sentences ourselves. Riddle is “a statement or question that is intentionally worded in a

puzzling or misleading way” (870), according to The Oxford Companion to the

English Language. Riddle is one form of a game, “games can be played with the sense, sounds, construction, or order of words,” (1125). A word can have more

than one meaning. If a word with more than one meaning is applied in a sentence, then a sentence becomes interesting. It is also possible that maybe the arrangement of phrases in the sentence makes the hearer confused about the meaning.

In my thesis, I am going to analyze riddles using semantics and syntax. The reason why I choose to analyze riddles through Semantics and Syntax is because I am personally interested in the study of Semantics and Syntax and I also like reading riddles. And when I read the riddles, I had noticed that there are a lot of riddles that contain ambiguity. I come across riddles containing these linguistics elements. Sometimes I find riddles which cause ambiguity and it causes me to have a response of surprise when I see the answer of the riddle because the answer does not always seem to be directly related at first. The topic of my thesis is analysis of ambiguities in riddles.

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confusion or uncertainty of meaning, or in other words, words or sentences that can be interpreted in more than just one way. By using these theories, I believe I can analyze the riddles competently. I take the data from the Internet, while I take the theory of ambiguity also from the Internet.

I am interested in finding out and analyzing riddles using Sema ntics and Syntax theories in my thesis. “Semantics may be defined as the study of

meaning.” (Crane, Yeager and Whitman 129). “Syntax is the way word is put

together in form phrase or sentences.” (Crane, Yeager and Whitman 102). In

Syntax we study how words are arranged to form a phrase, a clause or a sentence. I have read the other thesis with the same topic but I take from different data. I decided to choose this topic because I think that riddles are quite fun to guess the answers of them. People will wonder why the answer is such a way. Analyzing ambiguity in riddles is important because there are many riddles which contain ambiguity, and it proves that ambiguity is one necessary element in riddles.

The reason why I choose riddles as my source of the da ta is because most riddles contain ambiguity and I am interested to find out the answers, and because communication is necessary. I get riddles from the Internet because it provides unlimited data of riddles. After searching for the data, I will take a note or highlight the riddles that contain the areas of linguistic study.

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Statement of the Proble m

By analyzing ambiguity in riddles, I pose the following problems: 1. What word or statement makes the riddles ambiguous?

2. What kind of ambiguity occurs? 3. Why is the riddle ambiguous?

Purpose of the Study

Having posed the problems above, I make a study which is intended: 1. To show what word or statement makes the riddles ambiguous. 2. To show what kind of ambiguity occurs.

3. To show why the riddle ambiguous.

Method of Research

I gathered riddles which contained ambiguity from the Internet. Then, I read and classified the riddles into some categories, depending on the causes of the ambiguity, based on ambiguity of semantics or syntax. Afterwards, I analyzed the data and I made a conclusion based on the analysis.

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Maranatha Christian University 26

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

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contain semantic ambiguity. In data 1, the word that has more than one meaning and makes the riddle ambiguous is organs. According to the dictionary, organs has more than one meaning and the word has the same part of speech, pronunciation and spelling. Moreover, that reason happens to Pluto, letter, keys, honey, feet, bill, fan and cool. To know which meaning of the word that is appropriate to the riddles, we have to know the relationship of the word with the other word. Therefore, we can know the meaning of that riddles.

In this thesis, the riddles that most often appear are riddles that contain lexical ambiguity. This kind of riddles deals with semantic ambiguity. This kind of riddles often appears because it is simple and interesting. Because of a word that has more than one meaning, it can be produce different interpretations. Usually in lexical ambiguity, there is a relation between the words or a clue that is used to analyze the riddle, so that people can understand which meaning that is appropriate in the riddle. In guessing riddles that contain referential ambiguity, people should have knowledge around the riddle itself. Data 2 is about Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Mickey Mouse is a character in Disney. People who do not know about Disney story would not know the explanation why the answer to find Pluto is. Pluto also is a character in Disney Story, it is Mickey’s dog. Maybe people already knew about Mickey Mouse, but it is possible that people cannot answer this riddle because they do not know Pluto. This kind of riddle cannot interest people who do not know the background of the riddle.

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puzzled in guessing riddles. As my research, the ambiguity often appears in the question. They are data 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12. Usually, for lexical ambiguity, exactly a clue word makes the answer like that. In data 3, there is statement only has one letter makes the answer envelope because envelope consists of 8 letters. Even though at the question there is the statement only has one letter, so logically, the letter in this data will not mean a written or printed sign representing a sound used in speech. In data 10, the word three is not a random number. Three here is about the size of a yard. And if three is replaced by another number, the answer would not be a yard. The statement legs or arms is put in order to mislead people to think that the answer is about a creature, because a creature has feet, legs and arms. husband to wife when he comes home. It could also happen to bees which come home to their hive. According to the dictionary, honey can be meant a sweet sticky yellow substance or a way of addressing somebody that you like or love.

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create a current of air. Or it can be meant that the baseball stadium is attractive because there is someone who enjoys watching the game in every seat. For further research, it is suspected that my analysis of ambiguity can be wider in terms of not only riddles but also jokes or debate etc.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Crane, L. Ben, Edward Yeager, Randal L. Whitman. An Introduction to Linguistics. Canada: Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited, 1981. Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Sixth Edition. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2000.

McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Yule, George. The Study of Language. England: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Inte rnet Websites

“Ambiguity” 23 May, 2009.

<http://www.burstnet.com/ads/ad5/ad5240a-map.cgi/ns/v=1.0j/s2=468x60A/>

“Ambiguity” 30 May, 2008.

<http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/courses/phil1006/ambiguity.php> Bach, Kent. “Ambiguity” 15 June, 2008.

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Inman, Dave. “Ambiguity”. 2005. 30 May, 2008.

<www.scism.lsbu.ac.uk/inmandw/ir/ambiguity/ambiguity.ppt> Inman, Dave. “Ambiguity”. 2005. 30 May, 2008.

<http://www.di.uevora.pt/~pq/miaa/ambiguity.html>

Jokes. 21 March 2009. <http://www.goblinville.com/pages/jokes.htm> Jokes-Riddles. 17 October 2008. <http://iteslj.org/c/jokes-riddles.html> Jokes. 27 October 2008. <http://iteslj.org/c/jokes.html>