ambiguity and vagueness

"ambiguity" and "vagueness" are two important concepts for the theory of interpretation.  Some legal texts are ambiguous--they can have two or more distinct meanings.  And some legal texts are vague--they use concepts that have indefinite application to particular cases.  And some legal texts are both vague and ambiguous--they have multiple meanings, some (or all) of which have indefinite applications.  Therefore knowing "vagueness" and "ambiguity" are basic concepts in the theory of interpretation.

—  A word is ambiguous if it has several distinct senses.

—  Example 1 (English):

1.      I built a run for my chickens.

2.      I go for a run before work.

3.      I hit a home run during the cricket match.

Note: - 2 & 3 both involve the physical act of running.

-      Example 1 has a specialised meaning

—  In context, a word can seem to have several distinct senses. Some may appear more related than others.

...and for another example:

—  There’s a mole in my garden

—  mole₁ = small, furry animal living underground

—  There’s a mole in the CIA

—  mole₂ = a spy

-      We can say that mole is 2-ways ambiguous

-      So run is 2-ways ambiguous (2 senses)

-              Ambiguity:

o        In this case, the context will select one of the meanings/senses

o        We often don’t even notice ambiguity, because context clarifies the intended meaning.

-              Vagueness:

o        Context adds information to the sense.

o        Therefore the sense of the word itself doesn’t contain all the information.

o        It is underspecified.

Tests for ambiguity and vagueness

—  There are some tests to decide whether meaning distinctions involve ambiguity or vagueness.

—  The do-so test of meaning identity

—  The synonymy or sense-relations test

—  The do-so test:

-       I ate a sandwich and Mary

—  The do-so construction is interpreted as identical to the preceding verb phrase

-      I made a run and so did Priscilla

—  If “I made a run” = “I ran”, then Priscilla cannot have made a run for her chickens...

—  So, again, these are two distinct senses of run.

—  ambiguity (several word senses) and vagueness (single sense, with slight variations in context)

The sense relations test

—  Basic principle:

—  Words exhibit synonymy or similarity of meaning to other words.

—  Therefore, if a word is ambiguous, we can substitute it for a similar word in the same context, and see if the meaning stays roughly  the same.

Sense relations examples

i.e:

- I go for a run every morning.

—  - I go for a jog every morning.

run₁ = physical act of running (similar word: jog)

However it cannot be :

·         I go for an enclosure every morning.

run₂ = a closed space for animals (similar word: enclosure)

We can’t substitute one set of words for another and still keep the same meaning.