Re: DTD Notation raises a question

[John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>]

Rod Davison wrote:

> Not in the spirit I was speaking.  It is generally accepted that synonyms are 
> not the same as different references for the same entitiy.  Thus "The 
> President of the United States" and "George W. Bush" are not synonyms but 
> different ways of referring to the same thing.


At present, yes, but not always.


> Synonomy is a matter of semantic meaning not reference.  In my example 
> "middle" and "medial" are considered synonomous based on their meaning,

> not on a reference.


But CJD, JCD, and SSE really do mean the same thing (at least in
humans).  As Jonathan Borden posted, they have different sociolinguistic
implications.  But if you believe in semantics as distinct from
pragmatics, they have identical semantics.

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