  We show that a minimal surface of general type has a canonical symplectic
structure (unique up to symplectomorphism) which is invariant for smooth
deformation. We show that the symplectomorphism type is also invariant for
deformations which allow certain normal singularities, provided one remains in
the same smoothing component. We use this technique to show that the Manetti
surfaces yield examples of surfaces of general type which are not deformation
equivalent but are canonically symplectomorphic.
