[Lexicog] Variants

[David Frank]

from David Frank:

It sounds like you really think of these forms as being variants but you are 
afraid they wouldn't techically qualify as variants, and you think maybe you 
should call them synonyms even though you really know they are variants.

I would treat them as variants. Here are my answers to your question:

"Assuming a dictionary is written in one primary dialect, does a variant 
have to refer only to variant spellings of a word from the primary dialect?"
No.

"What if the word from the primary dialect is pronounced with a slight 
difference in a minor dialect? Could that not be called a dialectical 
variant?"
Yes.

"Or would it have to be called a synonym since it is not a variant from the 
primary dialect?"
No.

"How narrow is the term 'variant'?"
I don't feel bound to use a narrow classification for variants. Based on a 
correlation of form and meaning, you have to make a judgment whether two 
words are variants, synonyms, or something else.

"How have you used this term 'variant' in your own dictionaries?"
On some basis, you have to decide which of the variant forms to select to 
make into a main entry. (That doesn't seem to be your problem; you have 
identified a primary dialect.) In that main entry, I listed the variant 
dialectal forms that that same word can have. Then I made a minor entry for 
each of the variant forms, pointing to the main entry.

If two different words have similar meanings, I would call them synonyms 
only if they don't come from the same historical (i.e., etymological) 
source, or if they can't be recognized as coming from the same historical 
source.

Of course, sometimes two words come from the same etymological source but 
have come to have two distinct meanings, and in that case I wouldn't call 
them either synonyms or variants.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Crockett" <asigwan at yahoo.com>
To: <lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:10 PM
Subject: [Lexicog] Variants


I have a question about lexical variants. does a variant have to refer only 
to variant
spellings of a word from the primary dialect? What if the word from the
primary dialect is pronounced with a slight difference in a minor dialect?
Could that not be called a dialectical variant? Or would it have to be
called a synonym since it is not a variant from the primary dialect? How
narrow is the term "variant"? How have you used this term "variant" in your
own dictionaries?

Thanks,
Dave 



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