Re: lexicon

   -------Original Message-------
   > From: JS Bangs 
   > Subject: Re: lexicon
   > Sent: May 29 2003 11:22:54
   >
   >  I think that synonyms are a very valuable thing, even for a
   >  lablang/auxlang. To begin with, very few words are *exact* synonyms, even
   >  though they may appear as such. It greatly aids communication to be able
   >  to utilize the subtle connotations that having lots of synonyms provide,
   >  even for normal use. "Steal" and "rob" are synonyms, but the connotation
   >  and argument structure of "rob" makes it possible to say 'I was robbed',
   >  which is more convenient and clearer than 'I was stolen from.' Lack of
   >  synonyms denies you this possibility.
   >
   >  Most of the synonyms in Yivrian have been derived in just this
   >  way--inadvertendly adding items to the lexicon that already existed.

well, two words having the same meaning is different from two words having a
different argument structure. I will have the second type in minyeva, where
each verb will have a different semantic role in the event for its direct
object. What i don't want, however, is two words that mean the same thing plus
have the same argument structure. Steal and rob have different direct objects:
steal is the thing stolen, rob is the person it was stolen from. But, I won't
have for example two words for "sell", with the direct object being the thing
sold (this is one of the words i accidentally duplicated). I don't really
consider steal and rob synonyms.

   >  Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
   >  http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/
   >  http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/blog

Reply