word usage - How can you recognize "uncle" is father's brother or mother's brother? (Is there any "default option"? )

Sometimes the speaker(or author) specifies what he/she means when he/she uses the word "uncle" for example:

The gelding was mine, a gift from a great-uncle on my mother’s side.(Educated by Tara Westover)

but suppose that you read about someone's uncle in a certain text and the writer doesn't mention if the uncle is:

• his father's brother


• or his mother's brother


• or his father's sister's husband


• or his mother's sister's husband

Could you please tell me how you can recognize which one is the "uncle"?

Basically, is there any "default option" in the absence of uncertain answer?

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PS: In some languages like Albanian, Arabic, Persian, and Polish, unlike the English language, no single inclusive term describing both a person's kinship to their parental male sibling or parental male in-law exists. Instead, there are specific terms describing a person's kinship. For example, the Persian language has a special word for the uncle of the father side (amou-عمو) and the uncle of the mother side (daiyee-دایی)

*This postscript was added after some fine answers had been offered.

Answer

You can't. There is no "default". If it's not clearly stated, you have to ask. Generally, if it's not clarified in the text, it's probably not important.

This may seem odd from the point of view of someone coming from a language where the difference is part of the terminology used but as with many familial terms like grandmother/father, cousin, or nephew, only the direct relationship in English is there without adding modifiers.

• My mother's mother -> my grandmother on my mother's side or maternal grandmother


• My father's brother -> my uncle on my father's side or paternal uncle


• My father's brother's son -> my cousin who is the son of my father's brother

It gets a bit wordy but, there you have it. We don't really have a better way of doing it.

When it comes to aunts and uncles by marriage - the spouse of your parent's brother or sister - one might use "uncle-in-law" but (as a native American English speaker) this seems silly and would likely be something I would only do when joking or teasing that person... and it still doesn't solve the problem of whether it's your father's or mother's sibling's spouse.