[Lexicog] Law of Synonyms

Wed Oct 15 22:09:19 UTC 2008

David, yes, you're right. An interesting observation I made of a University of Maryland computational-linguist was when he said that he often asked a colleague, "Does this sound right?" How telling of a linguist who guesses. There are no clear lines here -- only principles of generalities and tendencies and norms -- and statistical deviations from the norms. Not such clear lines. That's why I ask for principles, not mathematical exactitudes.  

Scott Nelson

--- On Wed, 10/15/08, David Frank <david_frank at sil.org> wrote:

From: David Frank <david_frank at sil.org>
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 5:05 PM

I don't mean to be a purist, but what I was thinking of was the propriety of "the data are available" as opposed to the more common "the data is available." I suppose you could say that "data" has become a singular noun in terms of verb agreemet.

-- David Frank

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Scott Nelson 
To: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com 
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 4:50 PM
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms

Fritz, David, BB, et al: Question was [["Is there a law of synonyms? I don’t believe in synonyms. No two words are exactly "synonymous" from the point of view of connotation. "]] 

[Response] Good points about the examples of "agenda"/"agendum" (still smirking over that one), "data"/"datum" and "media"/medium. " I only picked 'phenomenona" /"phenomenon" because I cringe whenever I hear it wrong (quirkie of me, isn't it?) I think "data" is preponderant over "datum," partially because there is rarely statistical evidence with only one number (datum) being reported, in which case it would be something like "my conclusion" or "my finding" or "the answer," or "the number"-- but not "The result of my research is this datum." (Awkward on its face.) 
Fritz, I've considered your observation of the impossibility of there being a true "synonym," too. This is why I'm disappointed in standard dictionaries lacking listings of connotation, frequency, and context -- which could quite easily be identified in digital format. As to the general concept of synonyms, though, I think there are true synonyms -- which are exhibited in divergent phrasing, not necessarily in divergent meaning or connotation. 
Notice the different grammatical form -- including tense, person, and mood -- in the following phrases, which all mean essentially "angry." -- I lost my cool. || I could wring his neck. || Emotions are running high. || The room is at a boiling point. || If he even looks at me cross-eyed.. . || It galls me! || She's really hot under the collar. || He went ballistic. || He's fit to be tied. || She went through the roof. 
By the way, Fritz, did you hear about the German truck that was loaded with thesauruses yesterday? It crashed into a dictionary publishing company building. The bystanders were surprised, amazed, astounded, shocked, dumbfounded, thunderstruck, startled, caught unawares, flabbergasted, taken aback, stunned, awestruck, caught with heir pants down, ... 
It must be a human aversion to cliche that makes humanity come up with synonyms. Maybe the answer is in that simple principle.

Fritz, do Germans have synonyms?

Scott Nelson

--- On Wed, 10/15/08, Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling@ sil.org> wrote:

From: Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling@ sil.org>
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms
To: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 12:45 PM

Is there a law of synonyms? I don’t believe in synonyms. No two words are exactly “synonymous” from the point of view of connotation.
Concerning your example from the computer domain, let me mention another example, given to me by a computer specialist. Who speaks of ‘jump drive’ or ‘pen drive’ any more? It’s probably between ‘flash drive’ and ‘thumb drive’ nowadays. And who knows what will come up next.
When two or more expressions come up at about the same time and compete, ‘brevity (punch)’ is one factor IMO that makes the winner.

Brevity is the soul of wit (Shakespeare, Hamlet 2, 86-92), 

Fritz Goerling 

Law of Synonyms 
There must be a law of synonyms somewhere (of phrasal synomyms 
in particular). Dictionaries and thesauruses (thesauri) seem too 
arbitrary & random too trust for this purpose. Of course, corpora 
listings are easy for words. I've been wondering for years what the 
world would gravitate toward -- "laptop" or "notebook" 
computer. "Portable computer" seems quaint, but... The reason I'm 
fishing in this pond is that I would hate wading through 
dissertations or theses looking for synonym principles (must be lazy 
or something). The only simple, quick source for finding phrasal 
frequency comparisons seems to be google-counting. "Laptop" (computer
(s)) wins on this one, generally by 22%-30%. But we're dealing with 
the `phrase' "notebook computer" and "laptop computer." 
Googling "notebook" alone skews the results. 
Has anyone done, or seen, research about how one term (or 
phrase) tends to predominate over others -- when two or more 
expressions begin at about the same time? Is is there a phonetic 
(e.g. reduplicative, length, ease-of-pronunciati on) influence? Is 
there a "great-man" influence, according to coiner? First come, first 
served? Regional? Or is it truly unpredicable? 
This is an open-ended question.... Any ideas?

Scott Nelson

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