Note 18 — INTRODUCTION

In the strictest sense, of course, no two forms are the same in meaning: in English, for example, rather pronounced to rhyme with father is different in meaning from rather pronounced [ræd̵ər]. One is a strange or affected word and the other is a normal word. But which form is normal is all a matter of what part of the country one comes from, and a dictionary which is not regionally biased must list them as synonymous. Similarly, in Cebuano for any given speaker, where several forms compete, usually only one form is normal; but, as in the case of the two rather’s in English, the two competing forms are most often synonymous from the dictionary’s point of view.