Possible Ways to Disambiguate Syntactic Ambiguity in Academic Writing in German

This paper first defines the relevant notion 'syntactic ambiguity' in the context of the Academic Writing
in German, emphasizing the importance of its disambiguation primarily through context, but also through
other linguistic and extralinguistic entities. Notable examples in German are cited to demonstrate that if
expressions with syntactic ambiguity remain unresolved, they can cause misunderstandings. The
problematic nature of these phenomena is particularly evident in written texts. Therefore, when writing
an academic text, it is crucial to be mindful of the high probability for misinterpretation of ambiguous
expressions. This paper presents ideas on how to disambiguate syntactically ambiguous expressions
while maintaining the coherence of the text. Primarily, we consider the use of lexical means such as
repetition, implication or inclusion, synonymy, paradigms, and antonymy, as well as some grammatical
but also some extralinguistic means. By conducting some experiments and questionnaires among
students at the study program for Translation and Interpretation, at the Chair of German language and
Literature we aim to find out if and in what extend the students are aware when they use syntactic
ambiguity during the academic writing as well as of the importance of its disambiguation. On the success
of the disambiguation depends the appropriate understanding of the written text.