The Structure of Chaucer’s Ambiguity

This book focuses on ambiguity in Troilus and Criseyde, one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1343?-1400) representative works. It examines systematically how and why ambiguity is likely to arise. Ambiguity in Chaucer has not been studied in sufficient detail so far. The work opens new vistas for the study of the phenomenon.

Yoshiyuki Nakao is Professor of English language and linguistics at Hiroshima University (Japan). He received his MA at Hiroshima University and his PhD at Kyushu University. His present research interests concentrate on Chaucer’s language and literature, the history of English and stylistics.

Contents: Previous scholarship – Our point of view and method – Ambiguity in metatext – Ambiguity in intertextuality – Ambiguity in macro-textual structure – Ambiguity in reported speech – Ambiguity in discourse – Ambiguity in speaker’s intention – Ambiguity in modality – Ambiguity in syntax – Ambiguity in words – Ambiguity in voice. Inhaltsverzeichnis