The meanings of words have generality. But some words have no definite boundary line of generalized range and it has some degree of ambiguity. For example, in modern Chinese, the word 早晨morning has such explanation in Modern Chinese Dictionary like the following. The explanation reads that a time period ranging from daytime at 8 or 9 o’clock and sometimes it refers to any time from midnight to 12 o’clock in the morning. Such explanation is ambiguous and just has a general range. In some literary works, the concepts like 拂晓,傍晚and 黄昏are also blurry. The range of the words like 大and 小,深and浅,高and低 is relative. Thus, it is common of the ambiguity of meaning of words.
Foreign learners should pay attention to the phenomenon. When they are having some free Chinese lessons, the concepts of the ambiguity will be introduced by the teachers. The ambiguity of words refers to the blurry of the meaning. The objects the word referred to are of concrete characteristics, but the gradual development of the objects are hard to describe. The development of the objects is transitional. For example, 中年and 老年 are the tow periods which people will experience, but there is no concrete and absolute boundary line to separate the two periods.
The ambiguity of meaning of words is caused by the ambiguity of language. The objective articles reflected by language are concrete and infinite, but the language is abstract and the language unit can not be added. Thus, we have to admit ad tolerate the phenomena that the language unit can not express the specific articles like the objective articles themselves. Fro those who learn Chinese, it is one of the phenomena which they should pay attention to.
The ambiguity of word meaning plays an important role in the process of communication between people. When people are exchanging ideas, it is enough for them to make clear of the different articles and the general range of the word. In this way, people can flexibly choose right words according to different occasions and contexts to express their ideas, making language a convenient and flexible communicative tool. If we do not use the ambiguity of meaning of words, the contents of our communication will be barren and boring. The ambiguity of word meaning guarantees the smooth development of communication.