httpwwwenglishclubcomvocabularycollocationshtm 2 Why do you say deep water and not profound water A word is known by the company it keeps JR Firth tremble with fear tremble with excitement ID: 532058
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Slide1
Collocation
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htmSlide2
2Why do you say deep water and not profound water?
“A word is known by the company it keeps”
(JR Firth)
- tremble with fear tremble with excitement*
- quiver with excitement quiver with fear
*
There is no definable reason why we choose to say
“tremble with fear” but not “quiver with fear”. It is
simply a question of COLLOCATION.Slide3
3What is collocation?
COLLOCATION refers to a relationship between words that frequently occur together
The words together can mean more than the sum of their parts (
The Times of India, disk drive
)
- other examples:
hot dog, mother in law
Examples of collocations
noun phrases like
strong tea
and
weapons of mass destruction
phrasal verbs like
to make up
, and other phrases like
the rich and powerful
.
Valid or invalid?
a stiff breeze
but not
a stiff wind
(while either
a strong breeze
or
a strong wind
is okay).
Broad/bright daylight
(but not
narrow darkness
).Slide4
4Collocational meaning (1)Collocational meaning refers to the associations that a word acquires in its collocation:
e.g.
girl
boy
boy
woman
man
pretty flower handsome
garden
colour villageSlide5
5Collocational meaning (2)A word can gain different collocational meaning in different contexts:
e.g.
green on the job white man
green fruit white wine
green with envy white noise
white coffee
These different meanings of
“
green
”
and “
white
”
are
polysemous
but they are caused by the different
collocation, i.e. the change in verbal context
Slide6
6Criteria for collocationsTypical criteria for collocations:
- non-compositionality
- non-substitutability
- non-modifiability.
Collocations
usually
cannot be translated into other languages word by word.
A phrase can be a collocation even if it is not consecutive (as in the example
knock
. . .
door).Slide7
7Non-compositionality
A phrase is
compositiona
l if the meaning can predicted from the meaning of the parts.
e.g.
new companies
A phrase is
non-compositional
if the meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning of the parts
e.g. hot dog
Collocations are not necessarily fully compositional in that there is usually an element of meaning added to the combination. e.g. strong tea.Idioms are the most extreme examples of non-compositionality. e.g. to hear it through the grapevine.Slide8
8Non-substitutability
We cannot substitute near-synonyms for the components of a collocation.
e.g. We can’t say
yellow wine
instead of
white wine
even though
yellow
is as good a description of the color of white wine as
white is (it is kind of a yellowish white). Many collocations cannot be freely modified with additional lexical material or through grammatical transformations (Non-modifiability).e.g. white wine, but not whiter winemother in law, but not mother in lawsSlide9
9Linguistic Subclasses of Collocations
Light verbs:
- Verbs with little semantic content like
make
,
take
and
do.
- e.g.
make lunch
, take it easy, Verb particle constructions - e.g. to go downProper nouns - e.g. Bill ClintonTerminological expressions refer to concepts and objects in technical domains. - e.g. Hydraulic oil filterSlide10
Definition Of Collocation (Corpus Literature)
A collocation is defined as a sequence of two or more consecutive words, that has characteristics of a syntactic and semantic unit, and
whose exact and unambiguous meaning or connotation cannot be derived directly from the meaning or connotation of its components
. [Chouekra, 1988]Slide11
11Word Collocations
Collocation
Firth:
“
word is characterized by the company it keeps
”
; collocations of a given word are statements of the habitual or customary places of that word.
non-compositionality of meaning
cannot be derived directly from its parts (
heavy
rain)non-substitutability in contextfor parts (make a decision)non-modifiability (& non-transformability)kick the yellow bucket; take exceptions toSlide12
Collocations Collocations are not necessarily adjacentCollocations cannot be directly translated into other languages.Slide13
Example ClassesNamesTechnical Terms“Light” Verb ConstructionsPhrasal verbsNoun PhrasesSlide14
Linguistic Subclasses of CollocationsLight verbs: verbs with little semantic content like
make, take, do
Terminological Expressions: concepts and objects in technical domains (e.g.,
hard drive
)
Idioms: fixed phrases
kick the bucket, birds-of-a-feather, run for office
Proper names: difficult to recognize even with lists
Tuesday
(person
’s name), May, Winston Churchill, IBM, Inc.Numerical expressionscontaining “ordinary” wordsMonday Oct 04 1999, two thousand seven hundred fiftyVerb particle constructions or Phrasal VerbsSeparable parts: look up, take off, tell offSlide15
Collocationdefinition: collocation defines a sequence of words or
terms
that
co-occur
more often than would be expected by chance.
In other words, two
or more words that often
go
together.
These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time.
On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong".Slide16
ExamplesNatural English Unnatural English...
the fast
train
the
quick
train
fast
food quick food a quick shower a fast showera quick meal a fast meal Slide17
1. Adverb + Adjective:
completely satisfied
(NOT
downright
satisfied)
We entered a
richly decorated
room.
Are you
fully aware
of the implications of your action?Slide18
2. Adjective + Noun:
The doctor ordered him to take
regular exercise
.
The Titanic sank on its
maiden voyage
.
He was writhing on the ground in
excruciating pain
.
.Slide19
3. noun + nounLet's give
Mr.
Jones a
round of applause
.
The
ceasefire agreement
came into effect at 11am.
I'd
like to buy two
bars of soap please.Slide20
4. noun + verbThe
lion
started
to roar
when it heard the
dog barking
.
Snow was falling
as our
plane took off
. Slide21
5. verb + nounThe prisoner was hanged for
committing murder
.
I always try to
do my homework
in the morning, after
making my bed
.
He has been asked to
give a presentation
about his work.Slide22
6. verb + expression with prepositionWe had to return home because we
had run out of money
.
At first her eyes
filled with horror
, and then she
burst into tears
.
Their
behaviour
was enough to drive anybody to crime.Slide23
7. verb + adverbShe placed
her keys
gently
on the table and sat down.
Mary
whispered softly
in John's ear.
I
vaguely remember
that it was growing dark when we left.Slide24
Collocation Lists -1
h
ave
have
a
bath have
a drink
have a good
time have
a haircut
have a holiday have a problemhave a relationship have a resthave lunch have sympathySlide25
Collocation Lists -2dodo business do nothing
do someone a favor do the cooking
do the housework do the shopping
do the washing up do your best
do your hair do your homeworkSlide26
Collocation Lists -3make a difference make a mess
make a
mistake make
a noise
make an
effort make
furniture
make
money make
progress
make room make troubleSlide27
Collocation Lists -4take a break take a chancetake a look take a rest
take a seat take a taxi
take an exam take notes
take someone's place
take someone's temperatureSlide28
Collocation Lists -5catch a ball catch a bus
catch a
chill catch
a cold
catch a
thief catch
fire
catch sight of
catch someone's attention
catch someone's eye
catch the fluSlide29
Collocation Lists -6pay a fine pay attentionpay by credit
card pay
cash
pay interest
pay someone a compliment
pay someone a
visit pay
the bill
pay the
price pay
your respectsSlide30
Collocation Lists -7save electricity save energysave
money save
one's strength
save someone a
seat save
someone's life
save something to a disk
save
space save
time
save yourself the troubleSlide31
Collocation Lists -8keep a diary keep a promisekeep a
secret keep
an appointment
keep
calm keep
control
keep
in
touch keep
quiet
keep someone's placekeep the changeSlide32
Teaching Vocabulary
Elementary (Do x Make)
Images 1, 2 and 3 from English Collocations in use - Cambridge