Question

A reader comes across the ambiguous word "bark" when reading a sentence, yet she has absolutely no difficulty understanding its intended meaning. Based on the research on lexical ambiguity, her ability to disambiguate the word most likely resulted from

Answer 1

Contextual information.

Step-by-step explanation:

• Contextual information is the information that provides contextual knowledge and understanding of a particular subject. It helps in distinguishing and determining a set of words or word which are most appropriate according to the context.
• For example, when you are reading an article about international relations and you come across the word 'alien', your contextual knowledge will automatically help you assume the word as 'foreign' and not the E.T.

• A reader who comes across the ambiguous word "bark" when reading a sentence, yet she has absolutely no difficulty understanding its intended meaning is because of her ability to disambiguate the word most likely resulted from contextual knowledge.