To any Spanish speakers, why are certain sentences ambiguous in their verbiage?

Answer 1

The answer to your question falls under the study of an area called "information distribution" Roman Jacobson, a famous early 20th century linguist, put it best when he said: "languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey." Let me give you some practical examples from English.

If you walk into your office one morning and say "Did you see Sally?"

The listeners (addressees) will assume one of a limited set of things:

1. They were supposed to have seen Sally at a determined hour (as per prior arrangement) and the speaker (you) are trying to confirm whether or not such an event took place (seeing Sally).
2. Something notable (or terrible) happened to Sally, and you want to call attention to it.

If there is no prior expectation to see or have seen Sally at a determined point in time, you (the speaker) would more than likely say: Have you seen Sally?

1. In English the so-called present perfect tense can be used to convey ignorance or non-importance of specific time points.

We as speakers of English (most dialects) are EXPECTED to draw this difference. Not so in other languages like Spanish.

Imagine all the things in the world that are relevant to the stories you want to tell and the questions you want to ask. In each language there is a limited set of items that the LISTENERS expect us to clarify and they fill in the gaps. Some examples here help:

1. In English we are expected to point out the sex of persons we are talking about who are not present:he/she
2. In Spanish we are expected to mark real/unreal (realism/irrealis) events with the indicative/subjunctive marking system.
3. In Turkish we are expected to ALWAYS mark activities and states as witnessed/hearsay. If you didn't see it happen or know it to be fact, MARK it as hearsay!
4. In Tagalog you MUST mark the distinction between WE (2+ speakers and the listener included) and WE* (2+ speakers and the listener EXCLUDED).
5. Also in Turkish and Tagalog there is no difference between the notions of until and by. So "you can watch tv until supper" and "I will finish the project by supper." Look the same. This is why Tagalog and Turkish speakers often say stuff like "I will finish the project until December." Speakers of these language rely on the listener figuring it out. In English we must draw a difference.

If you consider (4), in English we always have to clarify with a lot of verbiage when we mean option two. Consider telling a close buddy that you and your partner are going on a romantic cruise: which "we" would you choose? We just ASSUME that the listener is not invited, and indeed you can make baudy jokes in this scenario in English but not in Tagalog.

Have you ever addressed one person in a group of two, as "you" and had to clarify which "you" you (the speaker) meant? Even when these people where of two different sexes? Well, in Arabic, this is not a problem, since they have obligate gender marking in the second person!

Have you noticed how you use the so-called present progressive to mark the following things:

Recently started activities (new habits):

I am going to the gym (started recently).

In-progress activities:

I am going to the gym (en route to the gym).

Future activities:

I am going to the gym (after work).

Such ambiguity does not exist in all languages!!!

In speaking we tend to give minimal information to the listener and rely shared knowledge with the listener to fill in the gaps. Shared knowledge comes from:

1. Speaking the same language (conventional knowledge)
2. Attending the same educational institution
3. Consuming the same media
4. Sharing the same profession/hobbies
5. Growing up in the same small geographic area
6. Working at the same place

However, as we said at the beginning the items that CAN be left to interpretation/deduction are language dependent. When you learn a new language -you learn to prioritize things that were not important in your other language(s) and (this is hard) DE-prioritize things that were not important in your other language(s).

Answer 2

Can you be more specific? Give some examples?