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Collocations

Combination of lexical items which make an isolated semantic contribution and are regulary repeated, come readily to mind, and are relatively fixed (vs. free combinations):

bitter complaints vs. recent complaintsbilingual dictionary vs. expensive dictionaryto commit suicide vs. to hate suicideto declare war vs. to hate the waramusement park vs. big park

Collocations

LexicalGrammatical

+ or - idiomatic

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Lexical collocations

E.g.

deeply absorbed (in)a dog barksto argue heatedlyclose friend…

Combination of lexical words that frequently occur together

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Grammatical collocations

E.g.

eager for (vs. *eager in)amazed ateager/eagerness to do somethingwant someone to do something…

Combination of a dominant word (e.g., N, Adj, V) with a preposition or a grammatical construction

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Collocations

Some adverbs most typically modify particular types of adjectives

Cf. “utterly”

(Cambridge Dictionary Online)

Collocations

Some adverbs most typically modify particular types of adjectives

Cf. “utterly”

… very frequently occurs before adjectives with negative connotatios (although it can also be used with neutral or positive words)

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Collocations

utterly appallingutterly dismalutterly depressedutterly disgustingutterly distastefulutterly exhausted utterly falseutterly fatuousutterly impossibleutterly lostutterly ludicrousutterly naiveutterly pointlessutterly ridiculousutterly uselessutterly unacceptableutterly wrong

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Collocations and idiomaticity

To agree entirelyTo rain cats and dogsTo paint the town red

How can you decide whether and expression is an idiom or not?

Collocations and idiomaticity

To agree entirely> Each constituent has independent meaning

To rain cats and dogs> One constituent has independent meaning (to rain), the other is idiomatic (“cats and dogs” = heavily)

To paint the town red> Hardly possible to say what the individual constituents contribute to the meaning of the combination as a whole (= to go out and celebrate; to go on a drinking bout; to get drunk)

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Collocations and idiomaticity

To paint the town red

«Special» collocations: containers & contents

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Complete the blanks in the shopping list

«Special» collocations: collective nouns

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1.brisk: quick and energetic (> una bella passeggiata, una rapida passeggiata)brusque: quick and rude in manner or speech (> brusco)brash: (of people) showing too much confidence and too little respect(>sfacciato, presuntuoso)

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Readings:

Gramley, S., and Patzold K.-M. (1992). A Survey of Modern English. London: Routledge

> Words in combinations

Benson, M., Benson. E., & Ilson, R. F. (2010) The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English: Your guide to collocations and grammar. Amsterdam: Benjamins

> Preface> A practical guide to the BBI> Introduction

(pp. VII-XLI)

Readings:

Benson , M., Benson. E., Ilson, R. F. & Young, R. (1991). Using the BBI. A workbook with exercises for the BBI combinatory dictionary of English. Amsterdam: Benjamins

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Creating own (food) collocatiom list:

> SPROUT

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Creating own (food) collocation list:

bean SPROUT~ husks >>> to discard ~~ texture >>> to lose ~

To top ~To tail ~To stir-fry ~To rinse ~To overcook ~To drain ~

Binomials

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Binomials

Consist of two constituents belonging to the same word class linked by a grammatical item (e.g., and)

May differ in degree of idiomaticity:

bed and breakfasthire and firebag and baggagehead over heels

Binomials

bed and breakfast> a hotel or other hostelry that offers a room for the night and a morning meal at an inclusive price.

hire and fire> to employ new staff and dismiss existing staff very frequently

bag and baggage> with all one’s belongings

head over heels> completely

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Binomials

Can have a syntactic function that neither constituent on their own could have:

head over heels [N + N]> completely [Adv]

Binomials

Irreversible: completely unchangable word order (vs. collocations!)

rough and ready vs. ready and rough

I can’t tell you how to use prepositions correctly, but I can give you a few rough and ready [not exact] rules

Cf.

bacon and eggs, bread and butterhigh and dryblack and whitecash and carryuphill and down dale

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Binomials

Preserve rare words (1) and words which survive only in the binomial expression (2)

(1) hale and hearty(2) kith and kin

Binomials

Fixed (especially if more idiomatic):

Cf.

They offered a marvellous bed and an even better breakfast

*This is all an important part and even more important parcel of the whole initiation process

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Binomials > trinomials

Can comprise three (vs. two) elements

hook, line and sinkerleft, right and centre

Binomials

Cf.

Her English is progressing very rapidlyHer English is progressing in leaps and bounds

! More informal (REGISTER)

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Binomials

Do you know the formal counterpart?

• Here and there• On and off / off and on• Back and forth / to and fro• Out and about• Up and down

Binomials

Do you know the formal counterpart?

• Here and there: in various places• On and off / off and on: intermittently• Back and forth / to and fro: to and from

somewhere• Out and about: engaging in normal activity after

an illness• Up and down: in various places, etc.

NB sometimes context matters

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Binomials

Sound pattern: repetition of sound(s) >

• Assonance >>> vowel sound• Allitteration >>> first consonant sound• Rhyme >>> similar sounds in two or more words

Binomials

We’ve had meetings on and off

/ɒn/ /ɒf/

assonance

[occasionally]

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Binomials

The old cottage has gone to rack and ruin

/ræk/ /ˈruː.ɪn/

allitteration

[is ruined / has decayed]

Binomials

Tears are part and parcel of growing up

/pɑːt//ˈpɑː·səl/

initial rhyme

[an important part of / belong to]

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Based on the sound patterns that are typical of binomials, combine the following words to form binomials

prim dine high parcel ruin

rough dry rack

part ready

proper rave rant wine

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Readings:

Gramley, S., and Patzold K.-M. (1992). A Survey of Modern English. London: Routledge

> Words in combinations