GRK 1808:  Ambiguity: Production and Perception

• Subject Area: Linguistics ; Literary Studies ; Theology
• Term: from 2013 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 198647426

Ambiguity, defined as an expression or utterance that has two or more meanings, is a charac-teristic feature of language and communication. It is as relevant to everyday communication as it is to most complex text productions. Accordingly, ambiguity has been a central research topic in linguistics and in other disciplines concerned with the interpretation of language. These different approaches have been brought together in our RTG in order to understand why communication may be successful in spite of or even because of ambiguity, why ambiguity may also cause its failure and what effects it has. In the second funding period, new findings are to be made by focusing on modelling ambiguity from a cognitive perspective, on investigating interfaces of ambiguity and related phenomena and on exploring its relevance. The programme rests on the assumption that both the production and the perception of ambiguity, as well as its strategic and non-strategic occurrence, can only be understood by exploring how these factors interact when ambiguity is generated and resolved. It remains the aim of the RTG to show that by a collaborative approach of language-oriented disciplines new insights may be gained into the production and perception of ambiguity, i. e. when it comes into being and when it is resolved. The pursuit of this aim is based on the conviction that ambiguity is an excellent paradigm for developing the collaboration between the various language-oriented disciplines. The research programme links investigations into the language system as a field of linguistic research with investigations into the areas of discourse focused upon by the other disciplines. This has led to innovative approaches: From a linguistic perspective, the challenge has been to represent (strategic) ambiguity in a broad range of texts, and from the perspective of the other disciplines, it has meant taking into account the role of linguistic structures for the interpretation of ambiguity.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Bauer
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Martin Butz; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Forster; Professor Dr. Robert Kirstein; Professor Dr. Joachim Knape; Professor Dr. Christof Landmesser; Professor Dr. Jürgen Leonhardt; Professorin Dr. Claudia Maienborn; Professorin Dr. Sandra Richter; Professor Dr. Thomas Sattig; Professorin Dr. Britta Stolterfoht; Professorin Dr. Susanne Winkler; Professorin Dr. Esme Winter-Froemel; Professor Dr. René Ziegler; Professorin Dr. Angelika Zirker