3 ms·
Labile verbs is a source of ambiguity of natural languages (only western ones?) that we are all accustomed to. The bell rang should become The bell was rung, e
by tsoukase 8mo ago
Labile verbs is a source of ambiguity of natural languages (only western ones?) that we are all accustomed to.
The bell rang should become The bell was rung, either way it means The bell rang another bell.
- GuinansEyebrows 8mo ago"the bell was rung" illustrates a cause (and introduces a question: who rang the bell?) "the bell rang" illustrates an effect (the vibration and sound of the bell as it rings). i think this is more an illustration of the ambiguity of the root word "ring", which can be an action by a subject upon an object, or to describe the behavior of the object itself.
- 1718627440 8mo agoThat ambiguity results from the elimination of cases, other languages still have them (and I perceive English to have as well, I just treat them all as homonym). You wouldn't say that foo(a,b) has ambiguity, because foo(NULL, &b) and foo(&a, NULL) both exist.