[Lexicog] Synonymy

[Greg and Heather Mellow]

When reviewing the Owa (Solomon Islands) Dictionary, the local editor found synonyms for a great many Owa words. These synonyms were not 'identical in meaning and usage' but were 'very similar in meaning'. The advantage of listing near synonyms is that it helps reveal the conceptual framework, or conceptual domains, which the language is expressing. For example, if we find a dozen near synonyms centred around the concept 'cut', that indicates that cutting is an important concept in this language/culture. 

We find it helpful to be able to categorize some words as synonyms, and others that we 'refer to' because the words refer to the same domain. Listing synonyms and antonyms makes the dictionary more useful, informative and interesting.

Even in everyday English, the word synonym has a use for expressing the idea of close similarity of meaning. In that sense, perhaps 'big' and 'large' are synonyms, even though they cannot be interchanged in every instance.

Greg Mellow
Owa Dictionary Project

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mike_Cahill at sil.org 
  To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 4:54 AM
  Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Synonymy



  Wayne wrote:

        What kinds of experiences have you all had when trying to elicit
        synonyms
        from speakers of a language?

        Do you sometimes get a response something like, "Oh, there is a
        little
        difference between those words," confirming what many lexicographers
        and
        semanticians has claimed, that there are seldom true synonyms in a
        language?

        Wayne
        -----
        Wayne Leman
        Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language

  I'd think more likely would be "no, they are just the same." That's what I
  might answer for English "own" and "possess", for example. But then you
  start investigating their actual usage, and you find that they are not
  completely substitutable for each other. Then the fun begins to find out
  why.

  Mike Cahill



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