On Ambiguity In Business Contract And Disambiguation Strategies

Ambiguity exists in language communication, to some extent that many linguists, ancient and modern, home and abroad, have paid much attention to it and spoken out themselves. Especially in Greek era, the developing stage of linguistic, not only those philosophers but also those linguists have formed their explanations on ambiguity. Up till now, an American linguist, well known as Chomsky, applied the theory of ambiguity into his study of syntax, in which those loose theories of ambiguity have been systemized. In China, such many linguists as Zhao Yuanren, Qiu Shude and Zhu Dexi have endeavored to combine the theory with the Chinese language. In their efforts, the theory of ambiguity has stepped out of a single language and into the nonstructural analysis of Chinese, as is considered as a great pioneering undertaking.In recent years, the research and the application of the theories in ambiguity have been fully launched out of the domain of pure linguistic study. Such territories as culture, economy, science, or technology are benefiting these fruitful findings of ambiguity. The thesis is going to rely on various theories of ambiguity put forth by different linguists to analyze ambiguous words or sentences in the business contract as in the process of drafting. Through the qualitative analysis of some of examples, the author conceivably aims to unveil the deep causes of ambiguity existing in the contract and, meanwhile, introduces some disambiguation strategies in relation to the causes. Primarily based on Chomsky's and Leech's theory of ambiguity, the thesis firstly examines the background and the causes of ambiguity on the linguistic ground; secondly, throws light on the language features of the contract and the functions from historical perspectives. Those two literature reviews provides the authors with the tools of analyzing ambiguity as drafting a contract. Due to a wide variety of business contracts available and dramatic diversities of ambiguities in the contract, the way to classifying these ambiguities seems significant. Last but not the least; the author relates different disambiguation strategies to different ambiguities for the purpose of the legality of the contract and for fear of breaching the contract entrapped in economic risks.