[Lexicog] Re: Synonymy

[Kenneth C. Hill]

While 'big' and 'large' are synonomous in the usual sense that they
seriously overlap in meaning, they certainly mean different things in some
contexts. Remember the movie 'Little Big Man'? 'Little Large Man' would be
weird. A 'big man' can be a physically large man, but also, unlike 'large
man', can be an important man or a man of moral force. Napoleon and Gandhi
were big men who were physically small. They were not large men even
though they loom large in history.

Similarly, someone with a 'big heart' is not understood as someone with a
physically enlarged heart, but if one was to say 'He has a large heart', I
think the first understanding would be that his heart is physically larger
in size than some understood norm.

In a Native Californian village there would be a 'big house' where
ceremonies were conducted. It couldn't necessarily be identified as the
'large house' because some dwelling house might have been larger than the
Big House. (I'm reminded of the fact that in US English a prison is
referred to as the 'big house', never the 'large house'.)

--Ken

--- Rudolph C Troike <rtroike at u.arizona.edu> wrote:
>
> I was interested in Greg Mellow's mention of 'big' and 'large'. Like
> Greg,
> I would consider them synonyms, but in the past several years I've had
> occasion to note the use of 'big' in papers by non-native English
> speaking
> grad students, and have somewhat compulsively felt the need to change it
> to 'large', as 'big' seems stylistically inappropriate for formal
> writing.
>
> Rudy Troike
> U of Arizona
>
>
>


		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/HKE4lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->


Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/