• ISSN: 2010-023X (Print)
    • Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Trade, Economics and Financ.
    • Frequency: Quaterly
    • DOI: 10.18178/IJTEF
    • Editor-in-Chief: Prof.Tung-Zong (Donald) Chang
    • Managing Editor: Ms. Shira. W. Lu
    • Abstracting/ Indexing:  Crossref, Electronic Journals Library , EBSCO
    • E-mail: ijtef.editorial.office@gmail.com
IJTEF 2019 Vol.10(6): 162-170 ISSN: 2010-023X
DOI: 10.18178/ijtef.2019.10.6.655

Parlant de Business: An Application of Combined Probability Theory to Inherent and Translation-Induced Semantic Ambiguity

Ross A. Jackson and Amanda M. Reboulet

Abstract—Debate persists around the axiom that it is impossible not to communicate. Given the multitude of potential meanings associated with words, a reasonable correlate in this dispute is that it is unlikely to communicate sans ambiguïté. Such an occurrence is even more pressing in international business management where the language used is frequently abstract, metaphorical and translated. Informed by this insight, one is able to view meaning as occurring probabilistically. Frequently, probability theory is used to model the risk and uncertainty associated with a given set of business projects. In this research, that methodology and focus is turned on itself, and an application of combined probability theory to select words in management related to business is explored and extended further to show how translations between French and English could increase the ambiguity of meaning. Through the process, an uncommon application of probability theory is illustrated; one focused on addressing problems of effective, international business communication.

Index Terms—Analytics, business, semantics, translation.

Ross A. Jackson is with the Wittenberg University, USA (e-mail: jacksonr@wittenberg.edu).
Amanda M. Reboulet is with the Jacoulet, USA (e-mail: amanda@jacoulet.org).

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Cite: Ross A. Jackson and Amanda M. Reboulet, "Parlant de Business: An Application of Combined Probability Theory to Inherent and Translation-Induced Semantic Ambiguity," International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance vol.10, no.6, pp. 162-170, 2019.

Copyright © 2019 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

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