Referential amiguity

Misunderstandings occur when a speaker has one referent in mind for a definite expression like George or the papers, and the addressee is thinking of a different George or some other papers. No doubt we have all experienced, and been troubled by, this kind of problem in reference. We can see other instances of referential ambiguity that are due to the nature of referring expressions, the vagueness that pieces of language necessarily have.
Referential ambiguity occurs when
1 an indefinite referring expression may be specific or not;
32 I wanted to buy a newspaper.
Here a newspaper may refer to a specific newspaper or some newspaper, any newspaper. The ambiguity disappears if we add, on the one hand, but I couldn’t find it or, on the other hand, but I couldn’t find one.
2 anaphora is unclear because a personal pronoun, he, she, it or they, can be linked to either of two referring expressions:
33 Jack told Ralph that a visitor was waiting for him.
3 the pronoun you is used generically or specifically:
34 If you want to get ahead, you have to work hard. (Is you the addressee or is this sentence a general platitude?)
4 a noun phrase with every can have distributed reference or collected
35 I’m buying a drink for everybody here.
(One drink for all or one drink for each?)

Referential ambiguity occurs when the context does not make clear whether a referring expression is being used specifically or not; when the interpretation of a referring expression can be collective or distributed; and when it is not clear to which of two or more referring expressions an anaphoric item is linked.

jadi intinya kesalahpahaman terjadi ketika seseorang mempunyai satu rujukan di dalam pikiran untuk expresi tertentu. Kesalahpahaman ini sering terjadi bahkan mungkin semua orang pernah mengalaminya dan telah terganggu oleh masalah seperti ini di referensi.
Ambiguitas referensial terjadi ketika
1 ekspresi merujuk terbatas mungkin khusus atau tidak;
32 Saya ingin membeli koran.
Berikut surat kabar bisa merujuk ke surat kabar tertentu atau beberapa surat kabar,
Koran apapun. Ambiguitas hilang jika kita menambahkan, di satu sisi, tapi aku tidak bisa menemukannya atau, di sisi lain, tapi aku tidak bisa menemukan satu.
2 anafora tidak jelas karena kata ganti orang, dia, dia, atau mereka, dapat dihubungkan dengan salah satu ekspresi merujuk:
33 Jack mengatakan bahwa Ralph pengunjung sudah menunggunya.
3 kata ganti Anda digunakan secara umum atau secara khusus:
34 Jika Anda ingin maju, Anda harus bekerja keras.

Referential ambiguity
More than one object is being referred to by a noun phrase.
An exercise
What can THEY refer to in: "After THEY finished the exam the students and lecturers left." * Students only * Lecturers only * Both
Solutions?
* Expected situations (maybe using frames):
"John gave Mark a present and he said thanks" * Syntax can identify the head (main) noun phrase. Reference to this is more likely.
"The director fired the worker. He was known to be aggressive." * Close reference is preferred
"Sue gave Lisa a coat because she was cold"
But what about...
"Sue and Lisa gave John and Mark some grotesque horror face masks because they liked them."
Do we assume that THEM refers to John & Mark? Could be but perhaps too obvious. After all we don't really need to say that we like someone if we give something to them. Perhaps we need Grice's Maxims to help here.
From internet
http://www.scism.lsbu.ac.uk/inmandw/tutorials/nlp/ambiguity/ambiguity.html