COGNITIVE MECHANISMS OF AMBIGUITY INTERPRETATION IN ENGLISH DISCOURSE

This article explores the cognitive mechanisms involved in the interpretation of ambiguity in English discourse. Ambiguity is viewed as an inherent feature of natural language that emerges when linguistic units allow multiple interpretations. The study examines the principal types of ambiguity, including lexical, structural, semantic, and pragmatic ambiguity, and analyzes the mental processes underlying meaning construction during communication. Particular attention is devoted to the role of contextual information, conceptual knowledge, grammatical structure, and inferential reasoning in ambiguity resolution. The article also discusses major cognitive approaches such as the Garden Path Model and Constraint-Based Theory, which explain how individuals process ambiguous linguistic expressions in real time. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the significance of ambiguity studies in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, language teaching, and artificial intelligence. The findings demonstrate that ambiguity interpretation represents a dynamic interaction between linguistic structures and human cognitive systems.