Translation ambiguity

Consequences for learning and processing

Natasha Tokowicz | University of Pittsburgh

Tamar Degani | University of Pittsburgh

Translation ambiguity occurs when a word in one language can be translated in more than one way into another language. This cross-language phenomenon comes from several sources of within-language ambiguity including lexical ambiguity, polysemy, and near-synonymy. We review the existing research on translation ambiguity, including its consequences for vocabulary learning, for lexical processing (e.g., translation performance), and for meaning representation. When possible, we discuss how the impact of translation ambiguity is affected by or interacts with the source of the ambiguity (i.e., near-synonymy vs. lexical ambiguity) and L2 proficiency level.

Published online: 15 December 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.53.12tok

Cited by

Cited by 8 other publications

BRACKEN, JENNIFER, TAMAR DEGANI, CHELSEA EDDINGTON & NATASHA TOKOWICZ

2017. Translation semantic variability: How semantic relatedness affects learning of translation-ambiguous words. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20:4 ► pp. 783 ff.

Degani, Tamar & Miri Goldberg

2019. How Individual Differences Affect Learning of Translation‐Ambiguous Vocabulary. Language Learning 69:3 ► pp. 600 ff.

Degani, Tamar, Anat Prior, Chelsea M. Eddington, Ana B. Arêas da Luz Fontes & Natasha Tokowicz

2016. Determinants of translation ambiguity. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 6:3 ► pp. 290 ff.

EDDINGTON, CHELSEA M. & NATASHA TOKOWICZ

2013. Examining English–German translation ambiguity using primed translation recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 16:2 ► pp. 442 ff.

Jouravlev, Olessia & Debra Jared

2020. Native language processing is influenced by L2-to-L1 translation ambiguity. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 35:3 ► pp. 310 ff.

PRIOR, ANAT, JUDITH F. KROLL & BRIAN MACWHINNEY

2013. Translation ambiguity but not word class predicts translation performance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 16:2 ► pp. 458 ff.

Schwieter, John W. & Anat Prior

2020. In Bilingual Lexical Ambiguity Resolution, ► pp. 96 ff.

Zhou, Guowei, Yao Chen, Yin Feng & Rong Zhou

2019. Processing of Translation-Ambiguous Words by Chinese–English Bilinguals in Sentence Context. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 48:5 ► pp. 1133 ff.

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