Surface structure: the structure of individual sentences in contrast to deep structure. many ways to convey meaning
Example:
Transformed sentence: "The man who is tall is my brother."
Transformation: The relative clause "who is tall" is embedded to modify "the man," forming a single, complex sentence.
Deep structure: the underlying structure of sentences as represented by phrase structure rules.
Example:
Sentence: "The man is tall. The man is my brother."
Structure: Two independent clauses with separate subjects.
Structural ambiguity: a situation in which a single phrase or sentence has two (or more) different underlying structures and interpretations.
=> occurs when a sentence can have more than one possible meaning due to its structure or the way its words are grouped.
Example:
Meaning 1 (The chicken is the food):
The chicken is cooked and ready to be eaten.
Structure: "The chicken [is ready [to eat]]."
(The phrase "to eat" describes what can be done to the chicken, meaning it is ready to be consumed.)
Meaning 2 (The chicken is the eater):
The chicken is prepared and ready to eat something.
Structure: "The chicken [is ready [to eat]]."
(Here, the chicken is the subject that is prepared to perform the action of eating.)