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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>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. </DIV>
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<DIV>Scott Nelson<BR><BR>--- On <B>Wed, 10/15/08, David Frank <I><david_frank@sil.org></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: David Frank <david_frank@sil.org><BR>Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms<BR>To: lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com<BR>Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 5:05 PM<BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">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.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">-- David Frank</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A title=bolstar1@yahoo.com href="mailto:bolstar1@yahoo.com" target=_blank rel=nofollow>Scott Nelson</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com" target=_blank rel=nofollow>lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 15, 2008 4:50 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms</DIV>
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<DIV>Fritz, David, BB, et al: Question was [["</B><FONT face="Times New Roman">Is there a <I>law</I> of synonyms? I don’t believe in synonyms. No two words are exactly "synonymous" from the point of view of connotation. "]] </FONT><B><BR></B></DIV>
<DIV><B>[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.) <BR>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. <BR>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. <BR>By the way, Fritz, did you hear about the German <FONT face=Arial>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, ... <BR>It must be a human aversion to cliche that makes humanity come up with synonyms. Maybe the answer is
in that simple principle.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Fritz, do Germans have synonyms?</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Scott Nelson</DIV></B><BR><BR>--- On <B>Wed, 10/15/08, Fritz Goerling <I><Fritz_Goerling@ sil.org></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling@ sil.org><BR>Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Law of Synonyms<BR>To: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com<BR>Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 12:45 PM<BR><BR>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Is there a <I><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">law</SPAN></I> of synonyms? I don’t believe in synonyms. No two words are exactly “synonymous” from the point of view of connotation.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">When two or more expressions come up at about the same time and compete, ‘brevity (punch)’ is one factor IMO that makes the winner.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Brevity is the soul of wit (Shakespeare, Hamlet 2, 86-92),</SPAN></FONT>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Fritz Goerling</SPAN></FONT>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Law of Synonyms <BR>There must be a law of synonyms somewhere (of phrasal synomyms <BR>in particular). Dictionaries and thesauruses (thesauri) seem too <BR>arbitrary & random too trust for this purpose. Of course, corpora <BR>listings are easy for words. I've been wondering for years what the <BR>world would gravitate toward -- "laptop" or "notebook" <BR>computer. "Portable computer" seems quaint, but... The reason I'm <BR>fishing in this pond is that I would hate wading through <BR>dissertations or theses looking for synonym principles (must be lazy <BR>or something). The only simple, quick source for finding phrasal <BR>frequency comparisons seems to be google-counting. "Laptop" (computer<BR>(s)) wins on this one, generally by 22%-30%. But we're dealing with <BR>the `phrase' "notebook computer" and "laptop computer." <BR>Googling "notebook" alone skews the results. <BR>Has
anyone done, or seen, research about how one term (or <BR>phrase) tends to predominate over others -- when two or more <BR>expressions begin at about the same time? Is is there a phonetic <BR>(e.g. reduplicative, length, ease-of-pronunciati on) influence? Is <BR>there a "great-man" influence, according to coiner? First come, first <BR>served? Regional? Or is it truly unpredicable? <BR>This is an open-ended question.... Any ideas?<BR><BR>Scott Nelson</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV>
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