The communicative function of ambiguity in language by Steven T. Piantadosi, Harry Tily and Edward Gibson. (Cognition, 2011) (PDF file)
Abstract:
We present a general information-theoretic argument that all efficient communication systems will be ambiguous, assuming that context is informative about meaning. We also argue that ambiguity allows for greater ease of processing by permitting efficient linguistic units to be re-used. We test predictions of this theory in English, German, and Dutch. Our results and theoretical analysis suggest that ambiguity is a functional property of language that allows for greater communicative efficiency. This provides theoretical and empirical arguments against recent suggestions that core features of linguistic systems are not designed for communication.
This is a must read paper if you are interesting in ambiguity and similar issues.
At page 289, the authors report:
These findings suggest that ambiguity is not enough of a problem to real-world communication that speakers would make much effort to avoid it. This may well be because actual language in context provides other information that resolves the ambiguities most of the time.
I don’t know if our communication systems are efficient or not but I think the phrase “in context” is covering up a very important point.
Our communication systems came about in very high-bandwidth circumstances. We were in the immediate presence of a person speaking. With all the context that provides.
Even if we accept an origin of language of say 200,000 years ago, written language, which provides the basis for communication without the presence of another person, emerges only in the last five or six thousand years. Just to keep it simple, 5 thousand years would be 2.5% of the entire history of language.
So for 97.5% of the history of language, it has been used in a high bandwidth situation. No wonder it has yet to adapt to narrow bandwidth situations.
If writing puts us into a narrow bandwidth situation and ambiguity, where does that leave our computers?
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