[Lexicog] Re: Law of synonyms

[Kenneth C. Hill]

The search for absolute interchangeability between different forms is fated to fail. Just as the difference between "dog" and "canine" (noun) are differentiated according to register, so "gasoline" and "petrol" are differentiated (among other ways) according to region. Rudy is right that when regional differences come into contact, they strongly tend to become differentiated.

As far as practical lexicography is concerned, synonyms abound. Synonyms, in a practical sense, are items that mean pretty much the same thing. Then the lexicographer's task is to deal with them at a level of "delicacy" so as to explicate the difference.

However, I have found in compiling the Hopi dictionary, that often when some speakers differentiate a pair of words in a subtle way, other speakers regard them as meaning exactly the same thing and still others differentiate them in a reverse way. Our solution was to treat them as synonyms and to mention how some speakers perceived a difference.

--Ken

--- On Sat, 10/18/08, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
From: Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Lexicog]  Re: Law of synonyms
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008, 12:32 AM










    
            Even these might be different, though. Lift has meanings separate from elevator, which are surely used in both regions. Similarly, truck has multiple meanings other than just lorry. 
Finding examples without those problems still leaves the problem that the idealized or typical image of a truck is probably different from that of a lorry due to differences in the models/sizes of the vehicles in the respective countries, etc.
It still might be possible to find perfect synonyms in different dialects, but it might prove to be a difficult task. BB

On Oct 17, 2008, at 11:15 PM, rtroike at email. arizona.edu wrote:

One dimension that has been neglected in this discussion is regional
difference. There are numerous cases in most, probably all, languages
(provided that they are spoken by more than one person, or perhaps
one community) where there are regionally different equivalents for
the same object/activity/ condition. British vs American English furnishes
numerous examples: lorry vs truck, lift vs elevator, etc., etc. Surely
these are exact synonyms, either abstractly or for those who know both,
and the contexts of usage would be the same in different speech-communities.




      

    
    
	
	 
	
	








	


	
	

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