A New Look at Ambiguity in Persian Rhetoric

Document Type : scientific-research

Author

Assistant Professor, Shahid Beheshti University

Abstract

Ambiguity is one of very important techniques in Persian rhetoric, but in spite of its importance, it seems there is not enough accuracy in its definition and types.  The present essay tries to redefine the concept of ambiguity. We will begin by analyzing the definitions of ambiguity and amphiboly according to the old and new Persian sources; then we presents a new definition and review and analyze various types of this technique. Based on Linguistics, new types of ambiguity in Persian rhetoric will be discussed; these include, for example, lexical ambiguity, syntactic ambiguity, structural ambiguity, elimination ambiguity, reading ambiguity, and supra segmental ambiguity. This article presents a new method for analyzing ambiguity in literary works, especially poetry.

Keywords