4. Collocational Meaning Flashcards
Collocation was first used as a technical term by J______ F_______ in the 1950s.
London School of linguistics (SOAS)
John Firth
Collocation refers to the statistical likelihood of t— or more l—— i—- c–o——–, next to each other or a few words apart, in actual language use.
two or more lexical items co-occurring
How words combine with see [V]……
f____ c_________: to see a man/car/book
free combination: to see a man/car/book
How words combine with see [V]……
w____ c__________: to see a film
weak collocation: to see a film
How words combine with see [V]……
m______-s_______ c_________: to see a doctor
medium-strength collocation: to see a doctor
How words combine with see [V]……
s_______ c_________: to see danger/reason/ the point
strong collocation: to see danger/reason/ the point
How words combine with see [V]……
f_____ p_____: not see the wood for the trees
fixed phrase: not see the wood for the trees
C________, also a term from Firth, refers to the grammatical behaviour around linguistic items in actual language, i.e. the syntactic structures they take part
Colligation
We chose to go there.
= S + choose + infinitive ✔
is ok, but
We selected to go there.
= S + select + infinitive ✕
is not.
There are c________ d________ between select and choose.
colligational differences
S______ p_______ refers to the positive or negative meaning associated with a word.
Semantic prosody
This is a meaning beyond its dictionary definition, also signalled by its collocates.
Semantic prosody
For example, cause [V] has a n_______ s_______ p______.
It collocates with:
problems
trouble
accident
subsidence
etc.
negative semantic prosody.
C_______ signal different senses within a polysemous word.
Sense 1 – to do - assault, burglary, error
Sense 2 – to promise - money, funds, peacekeepers
Sense 3 – to dedicate - yourself, themselves, oneself
Collocates (Collocation)
The structure for
Sense 1 [= to do] is to commit sth
(assault, burglary, error)
Sense 2 [= to promise] is to commit sth to sth
(money, funds, peacekeepers)
Sense 3 [= to dedicate] is to commit + reflexive pronoun (yourself, themselves, oneself)
Colligation
Sense 1
commit sth (murder, crime)
– the semantic prosody is -ve
Sense 2
commit sth to sth (money, personnel e.g. to a cause)
– the semantic prosody is +ve
Sense 3
– commit yourself (+ve)
Sematic prosody
