Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution

Effective communication is not just about the transmission of ideas/messages from the sender to the receiver. Rather, it is about the dissemination of properly worded meaningful ideas/messages that are comprehensible to both parties and which ultimately can attract the desired response or feedback....

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Main Authors: S.O. Oluga B.A., P.G.D, M.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2010
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/1/1.pdf
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author S.O. Oluga B.A.,
P.G.D,
M.A.,
author_facet S.O. Oluga B.A.,
P.G.D,
M.A.,
author_sort S.O. Oluga B.A.,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Effective communication is not just about the transmission of ideas/messages from the sender to the receiver. Rather, it is about the dissemination of properly worded meaningful ideas/messages that are comprehensible to both parties and which ultimately can attract the desired response or feedback. Semantic clarity therefore, is very essential to the effectiveness of communication which facilitates the attainment of target goals. Ambiguity however, has a way of intruding into communication and subjecting ideas/messages to double or multiple semantic interpretations thereby resulting in semantic complexity and sometimes leading to semantic confusion. Proper disambiguation however, remains the only antidote to the semantic problem of ambiguous communication. This paper therefore, highlights causes of ambiguity in human communication. It analyses its possible consequences. Finally, it explicates appropriate ambiguity resolution techniques as linguistic panacea.
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spelling ukm-2982016-12-14T06:26:58Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/ Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution S.O. Oluga B.A., P.G.D, M.A., Effective communication is not just about the transmission of ideas/messages from the sender to the receiver. Rather, it is about the dissemination of properly worded meaningful ideas/messages that are comprehensible to both parties and which ultimately can attract the desired response or feedback. Semantic clarity therefore, is very essential to the effectiveness of communication which facilitates the attainment of target goals. Ambiguity however, has a way of intruding into communication and subjecting ideas/messages to double or multiple semantic interpretations thereby resulting in semantic complexity and sometimes leading to semantic confusion. Proper disambiguation however, remains the only antidote to the semantic problem of ambiguous communication. This paper therefore, highlights causes of ambiguity in human communication. It analyses its possible consequences. Finally, it explicates appropriate ambiguity resolution techniques as linguistic panacea. 2010 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/1/1.pdf S.O. Oluga B.A., and P.G.D, and M.A., (2010) Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution. Jurnal Komunikasi, 26 (1). pp. 37-46. ISSN 0128-1496 http://www.ukm.my/jkom
spellingShingle S.O. Oluga B.A.,
P.G.D,
M.A.,
Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title_full Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title_fullStr Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title_full_unstemmed Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title_short Ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
title_sort ambiguity in human communication: causes, consequences and resolution
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/298/1/1.pdf