Collocation

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A B S T R A C T

The main purpose of this research paper is to distinguish the collocation from other word groups’ like- phrases, idioms, compound words and phraseological units which make difficulties in learning the collocation as a single word group. In addition, in this research are made some analyses based on five types of collocations; these types of collocations will be analyzed according to: number of elements, parts of speech and translation techniques in order to have a better view of collocations.

Altogether, it is hoped that the result of this research has not only produced a usable on line collocational aid, but also to demonstrate a simple and efficient way of understanding better the collocations.

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GLOSSARY

1. Adverb- a word like tomorrow, once, badly, there, also to say, for example, when, where, or how something happens .There are many kinds: adverb participle – words like up, out, off, used as part of phrasal verb – clean up, sold out, tell off.

2. Adjective – a word like green, hungry, impossible, which is used to describe people, things, events, etc, adjectives are used in connection with nouns or pronouns –a green apple, she is hungry.

3. Article – a, an, and the, are called articles, a, an, are called the infinitive

article, the- is called the definite article.

4. Attribute – adjective placed before nouns are in attributive position, a green shirt, and my noisy sun.

5. Compound words – a noun, an adjective etc, composed of two or more words, or parts of words, written as one or more words or joined by a hyphen – armchair, living-room, afternoon.

6. Conjunction – a word like and, but, although, because, when, if, can be used to join clauses, together, example I rang because I was worried about you.

7. Idioms – a) the language or a dialect of a group of people or a country. b) a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learned as a whole unit ,e.g. give way, a change of heart.

8. Noun – a word like, oil, memory, arm, which can be used with an article, nouns are most often names of people or things, personal names e.g. George, and place, e.g. Moldova, are called proper nouns, they are usually used without articles.

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9. Number – the way in which differences between singular and plural are shown grammatically. The difference between nose and noses, house and houses, this and these are differences of number.

10.Phrases – two or more words that function together as a group or more words that function together as a group, e.g. dead tired, the silly old woman, in the country.

11.Phrasal verb – a verb that is made up of two parts; a base verb followed by an adverb particle e.g. fill up, run over, take in, go on.

12.Phraseology – the choice or arrangement of words; the wording, e.g. tried

hard, could do better.

13.Preposition – a word like, off, of, on, in, into, to, at, normally followed by a noun or pronoun.

14.Pronoun – a word like it, yourself, their, my, his, her, which is used

instead of a more precise noun or noun phrase (like the cat, Peter, the family).The word pronoun can also be used for a determiner when this includes the meaning of a following noun which has been left out, which bottle would you like, I will take both, (both stands for both bottles, and we can say that it is used as pronoun).

15.Verb – a word like – ask, wake, play, be, can, draw, which can be used

with a subject o form the basis of clause; most verbs refer to actions or states.

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Abbreviations used in this research 1. ADV.-Adverb 2. ADJ. – Adjective 3. N – Noun 4. V – Verb 5. PREP – Preposition 6. ART – Article 7. CONJ – Conjunction 8. PR – Pronoun

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

“We scientists are fast learners but we are desperately

short of time, we want from you language is advice, tell us what we need to learn “

Jonathan Lipjochn

This research paper deals with:” The problem of collocations in English

language”.

Although many people consider that to know a language the most important is to learn words, there has recently been an increasing awareness that the way of combining the words is the important key of speaking, writing and understanding a language.

Words are our tools of expressing our ideas, thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Sometimes it is difficult even in our mother language to find words that are precise enough to render our exact message across to others. When we use English we are faced with a language that deals with a lot of word-groups which can be hard distinguished among them and also hard to understand their meaning. It can be said that English is a language full of traps which are easy to fall into, for example word groups like phrases, idioms, phraseological units, compound words and collocations.

Although there is a growing recognition of collocation in language teaching, there seems to be a lack of understanding of its true significance. Linguists and teachers have concentrated their attention on the extreme ends of the spectrum: free combinations and idioms, giving learners the impression that there are two distinct models of construction: the unfettered application of

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generative rules to lexis in free combinations, on the one hand, and complete frozenness in idioms, on the other.

Although the term collocation is increasingly used by writers in a number of languages – related fields, it has perhaps not yet achieved wide recognition in applied linguistics, nor are the implications of research within the field fully understood or made available to language teachers. This is partly the result of interest in the phenomenon of word combination being developed independently in variety of disciplines, and few linguists have attempted an overview. It is not possible within a scope of a single article to give an account of whole field, and the focus of this paper is restricted to those aspects of the subject that have to define the collocations as a single word unit.

That is why this research paper is based on the problem of collocations in

order to define and distinguish it as a single unit from other word groups mentioned above, to analyze its classification structure and translation techniques.

This research paper “The problem of collocation in English language “, consists of two chapters and subchapters. First chapter, “The collocation as a

type of multiword unit”, is focused on defining the other word groups: idioms,

compound words, phraseological units and phrases in order to understand better the collocation and not to have problems in distinguishing it from these word groups because they have a lot of peculiarities which make them to be wrong understood as a single unit. The second sub chapter is based on defying the collocation and distinguishing it, after briefly presentation of the word groups which mix up the understanding of collocation, here is presented largely the collocation as a single unit, its importance and its use in English language. After defying the collocation and its importance in learning a language, follows the

second chapter: Structural classification of collocations based on structural

classification of collocations. The examples of collocations were taken from Charlotte Bronte novels – Jane Eire-230 examples, and were analyzed

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according to five types of collocations, adjective +noun, noun+verb, verb +

noun, adverb + verb, adverb + adjective. According to these types, there were

made the structural analysis based on: number of elements, (for example the collocation can be formed from two, three, four elements); parts of speech, and the last one is based on translations techniques (literal translation, enlargement, reduction, modulation, contextual synonym and word by word translation).

For all types of classification were made up statistics and percentage in order to have a better view of collocations’ structure and analysis.

The objectives of this research paper are: - To define the collocation as a single unit. - To distinguish it from other word groups. - To classify the collocation.

- To translate 230 examples of collocations from English into Romanian

language

- To analyze the collocations according to: -five types of collocations,

-number of its elements, -parts of speech,

-translations techniques.

- To make percentage for all the classifications.

The methods of investigation are:

- Investigation, based on 230 examples of collocations from Jane Eire novel.

- Analysis, based on five types of collocations, parts of speech, number of

elements and translation techniques.

- Comparison, based on translation of 230 examples from English into Romanian language

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This theme is an actual one and it is studied now by many linguists because it had been neglected in the past. Now, the problem of collocations is studied by linguists in order to be understood better, by translators in order to translate the words correctly, by teachers in order to teach others about this language feature, and also by lexicographers in making dictionaries. Studying the collocation it can be see its importance in learning English language in order to understand it and speak fluently like a native one.

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CHAPTER I - THE COLLOCATION AS A TYPE OF

MULTIWORD UNIT

Words put together make phrases or word groups. It will be recalled that lexicology deals with words, word –forming and word groups’ it can be said that the word is the basic lexical unit .The smallest two facet unit to be found the word is the morpheme. The largest two facet lexical unit comprising more than one word is the word –group observed on the systematic level of analysis ,E.g. in the analysis of various the words are joined together to inseparable .such word groups are usually described as phrases ,idioms parasitological units ,compound words and collocations which are traditionally regarded as the branch of lexicological science .

The component members in other word groups e.g. a week ago, man of wisdom, take place, take lessons kind to people, seem to posses greater semantic and structural independence .Word groups of this type make up single self contained lexical units.

The degree of structural and semantic cohesion of words-groups may vary .Some word groups, e g. at least, point of view, by means, take place, seem to be functionally and semantically are defined as free word groups or phrases.

Here, however, it can proceed from the assumption that before on the problem of collocation it is essential to briefly outline the features common and uncommon to various word groups.

To get a better insight into the essentials of structure and meaning of word groups we must begin with a brief survey of the main factors active in uniting words into word groups as-phrases, idioms, phrasiological units compound words and our main pattern collocations. The two main linguistic factors to be considered in this connection are the lexical and grammatical valency of words.

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§1.1.1 I D I O M S

In order to have a better understanding of collocation firstly it will discussed its common and uncommon features with idioms. The definition from oxford dictionary says that an idiom is

1) “The Language or dialect of a group of people or a country, e.g.: have an ear for Irish idiom”

2) “A phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its

individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit, e.g. – give way, a change of heart, be hard to put it.”

When used in a broad sense, the term idiom will not denote the “language

peculiar to a people, community or district”, as it is frequently done, because for

this notion there is another term which is appropriate: Dialect. The wealth of idioms of English is a reflection of the many sources, cultural and linguistic that have fed into the mainstream of the language, e.g.: Military (spike someone’s

guns), Naval (know the ropes), Sporting (saved by the bell), Musical (run the gamut) and many others technical vocabularies have all contributed vivid forms

of words to the rich mix. By idiom in a broad sense is a form of expression, construction or phrase peculiar to a language and approved by the usage of that language and it often has a signification other than its grammatical or logical one. In practical terms this includes a wide range of expression that has become in a sense fossilized within the language and is used in a fixed or semi-fixed way without any reference to the literal meaning of their component word.

Idioms are those elements in a language that are often the most difficult to translation – that’s way they cause most difficulty to foreign learners.

Idiom in the narrow sense consist of proverbs and sayings that reflect the thought patterns of the English people and their folk wisdom, also idiom in a broad sense can also include collocations, phrases, e.g.: airbus industry, a man

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of letters, be a delicate procedure, etc., as these words also collocate, that is they can be put side by side.

§1.1.2. PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS

For a better defying and understanding the collocations, Phraseological unit is the second pattern analyzed in this research paper. The definition of phrasiological units says that-

There are different combinations of words. Some of them are free, e. g. to

read books (newspapers, a letter, etc.), others are fixed, limited in their

combinative power, e. g. to go to bed, to make a report. The combinations of words which are fixed (s e t -e x p r e s s i o n s) are called phraseological units.

A free combination is a syntactical unit, which consists of notional and form words, and in which notional words have the function of independent parts of the sentence. In a phraseological unit words are not independent. They form set-expressions, in which neither words nor the order of words can be changed. Free combinations are created by the speaker. Phraseological units are used by one speaker in a ready form, without any changes. The whole phraseological unit has a-meaning which may be quite different form the meanings of its components, and therefore the whole unit and not separate words, has the function of a part of the sentence.

Phraseological units consist of separate words and therefore they are different from words, even from compounds. Word's have several structural forms, but in phraseological units only one of the components has all the forms of the paradigm of the part of speech it belongs to, e. g. to go to bed, goes to

bed, went to bed, gone to bed, going to bed etc., the rest of the components do

not change their form.

By the classification of V.Vinogradov some phraseological units are divided into three units logically for the combination of particular words. It

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can be explained only on the basis of tradition, e. g. to deliver a lecture (but not to read a lecture).

In phraseological combinations words retain their full semantic independence although they are limited in their combinative, power, e. g. to wage war (but not to lead war), to render assistance, to render services (but not to render pleasure).

Phraseological combination is the least idiomatic of all the kinds of phraseological units. In other words, in phraseological combinations the meaning of the whole can be inferred from the meaning of the components, e. g.

To draw a conclusion

To lend assistance To make money To pay attention to

In phraseological combinations one of the components (generally the component which is used figuratively) can be combined with different words, e. g. to talk sports, politics, business (but to speak about life),

leading worker, leading article (but the main problem), deadly enemy, deadly shot (but a mortal wound), keen interest, keen curiosity, keen sense of humour (but great surprise).

Words of wide meaning, as to make, to take, to do, to give, etc. Form many phraseological units, e. g. to take an examination to take a trip, to

take a chance, to take interest, to make fun of, to make inquiries, to make a statement, to make friends.

Sometimes traditional combination are synonyms of words e. g. to

make inquiries=to inquire, to make haste=to hurry.

Some traditional combination is equivalents in propositions e. g. by

means of, in connection with.

Some phraseological combinations have nearly become compounds, e. g.

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Traditional combinations often have synonymous expressions, e. g. to make

a report=to deliver a report.

Phraseological combinations are not equivalents of words. Though the components of phraseological combinations are limited in their combinative power, that is, they can be combined only with certain words and cannot be combined with any other words, they preserve not only their meaning but all their structural forms, e. g. nice distinction is phraseological combination and it is possible to say nice distinctions, nicer distinction, etc., or to clench one's fist

(clenched his fists, was clenching his fists, etc.).

In prof. A. Smirnitsky opinion traditional combinations are not phraseological units, as he considered only those word combinations to be units which are equivalents of words.

In phraseological unities the meaning of the whole word combination is not the sum of the meanings of its components, but it is based on them and the meaning of the whole can be inferred from the image that underlies the whole expression, e. g. to get on one's nerves, to cut somebody short, to show one's

teeth, to be at daggers drawn.

Phraseological unities are often synonyms of words, e. g. to make a clean

breast of=to confess; to get on one's nerves—to-irritate.

Phraseological unities are equivalents of words as 1) only one of the components of a phraseological unity has structural forms, e. g. to play

(played, is playing, etc.) the first fiddle (but not played the first fiddles); to turn (turned, will turn, etc.), a new leaf but not to turn newer leaf, or new leaves);

(2) the whole unity and not its components are parts of the sentence in

syntactical analysis, e. g. in the sentence He took the bull by the horns (attached a problem boldly) there are only two parts: he—the subject, and took

the bull by the horns—the predicate.

In phraseological fusions the meaning of the whole word combination cannot be derived from the meaning of its component’s, e. g. to pull one's leg

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(to deceive); at sixes and sevens un confusion;; a mare's nest (a discovery

which turns out to be false or worthless); to show the white feather (to show cowardice); to rule the high horse (to put on airs).

Phraseological fusions are the most idiomatic of all the kinds of phraseological units.

Phraseological fusions are equivalents of words: fusions as well as unities form a syntactical whole in analysis.

Phraseological units have some important

The first feature is the incompleteness of the paradigm. In a phraseological unit al least one of the components has an incomplete paradigm, e.g. to go to the

dogs (to be ruined).

The verb to go may have different forms, but the noun dogs can be used only in this form. (He has gone, is going, went, will go, etc., the dogs).

If the combination is considered a free combination, then all the words will acquire complete paradigms (he went to the (a) dog).

1) The second distinctive as compared with free word combinations is that auxiliary words cannot be changed in phraseological units, e.g. at a glance, on

the dot, to fall in love. In to go to the dogs only the definite article can be used.

Generally in phraseological units there is only one form of the article that can be used.

2) The last morphological feature of phraseological units as distinguished from free combinations is archaic word forms no longer in actual use, e.g. In olden days, in bouden duty, in bended knees.

Also phrasiological units have two semantic peculiarities-.

Phraseological units have non-motivated meaning as compared with free word combinations, e.g. at sixes and sevens (in confusion).

1) In phraseological units there occur unique meanings, that is the meanings

of elements which they have only in a concrete given combination, e. g. the meaning of the word salt in the phraseological unit an old salt has a

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unique meaning. A unique meaning occurs only in one combination. It is a meaning which is not productive, i.e. no derivates or compounds are created from the word in the unique meaning.

Free word combinations can never be polysynaptic, while there are polysemantic phraseological units, e. g. to be on the go, to be busy and active,

to be leaving, to be tipsy, to be near one's end

Have done with make an end of, give up, reach the end of Two types of synonymy are typical of phraseological units:

1. Synonymy of phraseological units that do not contain any synonymous

words and are based on different images, e. g.

to leave no stone unturned=to move, heaven and earth

to haul down colors=to ground arms

In free word combinations synonymy is based on the synonymy of particular words (an old man—an elderly man}.

2. Phraseological units have word synonym

to make up one's mind=to decide

to haul down colors—to surrender

There is a lot of dispute going on about the nature of such expressions as to

take a look, to have a look, to have a fall, to get a glance, etc. Such expressions

may form an intermediate group between phraseological units and free combinations.

Another difficult question to decide is whether such combinations as to give

up, to give in, to' take off, to come round are phraseological units or compound

verbs. As there are two words in the combinations and they lack the unity or the inseparability of form which is characteristic of words, we prefer to regard them as a special group of phraseological units which for the absence of a better name we may call v e r b-a d v e r b (or v e r b-p o s t-position) combinations.

Sometimes a phraseological verb-adverb combination can be distinguished from a free combination only by the context, e. g.

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He put on his coat (ph.) and went out (free). He put the book on the table (free).

The difference between a phraseological verb-adverb combination and free verb-adverb combinations may be seen in the impossibility of inversion in phraseological units. It is possible to say the boy ran in or in ran the boy, the prices went up or up went the prices, but it is quite impossible to invert the order of words in the phraseological verb-adverb combination / gave it up (up gave I it

— is impossible).

Phraseological units are formed from free word combinations. Word combinations become set expressions and come to be used with a figurative meaning. Their origin may be different. Some phraseological units are connected with some historical events, e. g. to burn one's boats (some commanders burned their ships after the landing of the troops, so that there should be no possibility of retreat), to bury the hatchet (Indians in America buried a hatchet when they made peace). Often phraseological units are expressions taken from some literary work, e. g. much ado about nothing" (Shakespeare). .Many phraseological units are professional expressions, e. g. to put the finishing touches (used by artists), to feel one’_{s pulse (medical), to}

be in chancery (sport),to have all the trumps in one's hand (gambling), to see

rocks ahead (used by

sailors), to die in the last ditch (used by soldiers). Many phraseological units are translated from foreign languages, e. g. the apple of discord -(from Greek).

Sometimes phraseological units are formed as a result of shortening proverbs, e. g.

To catch at a straw (from a drowning man will catch at a straw); To cry over spilt milk (from there is no use crying over' spilt milk).

P r o v e r b s is considered by some linguists to be a kind of phraseological units. Proverbs are not equivalents of words, but of sentences, e. g.

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All is not gold that glitters.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. .

§1.1.3. COMPOUND WORDS

.Another pattern studied here is compound word and its similarities and differences toward the collocations .The definition of compound word says that - compound word consist of two or even more units, as toothbrush ,upstairs .The most common compound word are two nouns combined to create a meaning which differs from that of each of its parts ,as in sleeping peel ,picture

book ice cream ,etc. However, compounds can be quite lengthy, e.g. absolute money- back guarantee. One would think that there must be some cut off point

where the length of the compound makes processing difficult. However, it is not uncommon to find three, four or five part compounds, e.g. Garbage can

collector, map making geography class.

Some linguists have tackled the problem of defining a compound in English. One test has been that if word stress falls on the first part of the compound, then it is truly a compound word. This would make armchair and working paper compounds whereas chocolate cake would be classified as phrases made up of nouns modified by adjectives. However, chocolate cake,

cherry pie the stress falls on the final noun are recognized as meaningful objects,

so for us , these will be considered compounds, too.

While we have noted that many compounds are made up of pairs of nouns, all types of combination are possible eg. Kill joy- combines a verb and a noun, green house- combines an adjective and a noun, windbreak -combines a noun and a verb, make believe- combines two verbs downpour-combines a verb and an adverb, red hot-combines two adjectives.

It appears that almost any combination is possible to make compound words, but they vary in ports of speech.

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Somebody might wander why we need to create compounds words when it is possible to say the some thing without the compound. We can say “I

like cakes that are chocolate” We don’t have to use “chocolate cake “to convey

that information. Compounds are useful ways of condensing information and they add variation to the way we refer to concepts in discourse. Compounds provide us new ways to refer to the some information, as well as condense the information. They are for that reason often used for different types of writing

§ 1.1.4. PHRASES

Other pattern which make us wrongly define and understanding the collocation are phrases. Its definition says that -From the strictly grammatical point of view, a phrase is a word combination standing for a part of speech those grammatical functions it discharges. It must necessarily contain a noun, a verb a modifying adjective or adverb in its structure e.g. One or more words of full lexical value, e.g. In the middle of (prepositional-phrase) to do ones utmost (verbal phrase), in the distance (adverbial phrase), no matter how (conjunctional phrase) etc.

In lexicology there is no such category as “complex words” and the term

“phrase” has another meaning than it has in grammar, including all the word

combinations that are not compounds, which they, however, resemble in that they imply a more or less marked unity of meaning. Complex verbs are sometimes referred to us “compound words” and sometimes as phrases; though it seems more adequate to call compounds only complex verbs formed with the help of adverbial particles.

Consequently a lexical phrase may be expressed even by a whole sentence, provided the latter is a phraseological unit enjoying structural stability, as are proverbs, conversational formulas, etc. e.g. No news is good news, how

do you do? Etc.

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They are said to be stable when no change of the component elements is possible. Thus, in the proverb quoted above “no news is good news”, not one word can be changed in point of form e.g. (of case, tense,) or replaced by a

synonym.

On the contrary, an unstable phrase is liable to change of form or partial replacement. Thus, the verb in to play a trick on somebody can be used in various tenses (I played a trick on him, he thought he would play a trick on us ), The order of words can be changed (to play somebody a trick); at the some time to put and to serve are apt to be used as connotatational synonyms for to pay (to

put a trick on somebody, to serve somebody a trick) in as toll as a maypole, only

the replacement of maypole is possible, (as toll as a steeple).

In to have all the time in the world, it is only the verb that is apt to change (in point of tense). (I have or had etc. all the time in the world).

The interpretation of the term phrase in various works by English authors is far from unitary, e.g. An idiomatic expression, small group of words usually without predicate, especially preposition with the word it governs, equivalent a finite verb forming part of a sentence.

Phrases have some important

classification-Semantically, phrases may be roughly divided into two:

A) those which are used in a direct meaning;

B) Those which, partly or whole express figurative meanings. The phrase “to have a rare fun time” belongs to type:

a) For all the verbs of which it is made up are used in a direct meaning: to

have rare, fun time-with the connotation (of good excellent, merry etc.) As to the meaning of the phrase as a whole, it is the sum of the meanings of the component elements. Other examples: to set at liberty, in other words, to be of

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As to the meaning of the phrase as a whole, it is the sum of the meanings of the component elements. Other examples: to set at liberty, in other words, to be of good cheer, safe and sound to come into view, silence give consent.

Phrases of the:

b) Type is, partly or wholly, based on figures of speech chiefly on

metaphors, whose role in the semantic development of a language is very active. In to give somebody a lesson all the words are used in the direct meaning, but the whole, meaning of the phrase is metaphorical. The same may be said about to carry coals to Newcastle, the cat in the gloves

catches no mice, to put a spoke in somebody’s wheel, make hay while the sun shines and strike the iron while it is hot, to give somebody the needle.

On the other hand, in to break the silence as a result of its association with silence, to break assumes a figurative metaphorical meaning, though, owing to the frequent use of the phrase, the metaphor is of the fading or degraded, not of the live type. Other examples of metaphoric words in phrases: to pay

in to pay one’s addresses to, to lose one’s temper, depth in the depth of the forest, to cut in to cut one’s teeth stress in under the stress of circumstances.

Many phrases are built on similes:

Ex: - As red as a rose, to run like a deer, on hyperboles

- A thousand thanks, to be o shadow on of one’s former self.

Sometimes it is difficult enough to establish whether this or that word in a phrase has a direct or a figurative meaning. Language is permanently on the run and what was new yesterday may be trite and today. The problem is all the more complicated as even big sized dictionaries do not clearly discriminate between direct and figurative meanings of words, to say nothing of words in phrases.

There are phrases connected with trades -

-To bring grist to the mill,

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-Between hammer and anvil in, - Full blast a chip of the old block, -One nail drives another.

Also there are phrases connected with

-To swallow the pill,

-To take the temperature, -A dose of one’s own medicine, -A fly in the ointment.

Also there are phrases connected with rivers, etc

-To shiver on the drink,

-To go at the deep end, -To make a splash, -On thin ice,

Phrases are also monosemantic and polysemantic. In full blast is a monsemantic phrase, but to be in abeyance is polysemantic for it has more meaning than one.

1.2. DEFINING THE COLLOCATION

§1.2.1. DEFINING THE COLLOCATIONS

The word collocation appeared from the verb “collocate» which means –place side by side ,e.g. beautiful girl ,handsome boy, (concise dictionary of English Etymology.) The “oxford dictionary” gives the following definition for the verb “collocate”-to be used regularly together in a language, to combine e.g. weak collocates with tea,-weak

tea

The following definitions of collocation will make understand better the term of Collocation:

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1 A combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by change: e.g. of collocation: crying shame, resounding success. (from oxford dictionaries)

2 A term introduced in linguistic (though in much earlier use us a general word)

by J.K. Firth, to refer to the habitual co-occurrence of individual words .Thus

tweedledum goes with tweedledee and spike with span. (The new followers, Modern

English usage, R.W Burchfield.)

3 A relation within a syntactic unit between individual lexical elements ,e.g.

computers collocates with hate ‘my computers hates me’

Used especially where words specifically collocate with other, e.g. blond collocates with hair ‘the hair is blond’, drunk collocate with lord as ‘Drunk as a lord ‘, Run with

riot-Run riot ‘(Concise Dictionary of linguistic, Ph, A. Matthews.)

4 Collocations may be a set of expressions, they can not be divided, also its

elements can not be replaced by others elements without changing the meaning of the remaining elements.(Oxford dictionary of English collocations )

5 The phenomenon whereby certain words co-occur with other words in natural ,in statistically significant ways .Collocations do not always occur as immediately adjacent ,e.g. He kept his money in his pocket.(Haria Hulban –Syntheses in English lexicology and semantic)

6 Collocations –the actions of collocating regular combination of words ,e.g.

strong collocates with wind ,’strong wind ‘,’heavy rain.(Concise dictionary of English

linguistic)

7 Learning a new language students often learns lists of new words , but it is also

important to learn words that go together ,For e.g. when you learn a word like ‘effort ‘

it is useful to know that the verb that goes with it is ‘make ‘and not ‘do’,’ make an effort ‘. Words that go together are called collocations, e.g. By the way.(English

language ,Life and culture, Anne Fraemal, Richard Haill.)

Most of the researchers who defined the collocation agree that it is a lexical unit consisting of a cluster of two or more words formed from different parts of speech.

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Most of the definitions are perhaps based on Firth’s definition that collocations are ‘ words in habitual company ‘.For the purpose of this study the collocations can be defined as- two words that combining with each other and its elements cannot be replaced because the meaning of other elements can change and also their elements cannot be divided . It must be learned as a single unit, also the collocation is the way of combine the words in a language in order to sound more natural.

It is an indisputable fact that words are connected according to the collocation hey share .Words are used in certain lexical contexts, e.g. in combination with other words .The noun question is often combined with such adjectives- vital ,pressing ,urgent, disputable, delicate, etc. This noun is a component of a number of other word groups, e.g. question at issue, to raise a question, a question of great importance, a question on the agenda of the day, and many others.

The aptness of a word to appear in various combinations is described as its lexical valency or collocability.

The range of the lexical valency is linguistically delimited by the inner structure of the English word stock .This can be easily observed in the choice of synonyms found in different word groups .Though the verbs lift and rise ,e.g. are usually treated as synonyms ,it is only the latter that is collocated with the noun question .The verb take may be synonymically interpreted as- grasp, seize , catch, lay, hold of,etc.,but it is only take that is found in collocation with nouns examination ,measures, precautions, etc., only catch in catch somebody napping and grasp in grasp the truth.

There is a certain norm of lexical valency of each word and any departure from this norm is left as a literary or rather stylistic device. Such word group as for example bitter and sweet, shove question and the like are illustrative of the point under discussion. It is because we recognize that bitter and sweet are not normally collocable that the junction of them can be effective.

Words habitually collocated in speech tend to constitute a cliché .It can be observed ,for example ,that the verb put forward and the noun question are habitually collocated and when we hear the verb put forward or see it written on paper it is natural

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that we should anticipate the word question. So we may conclude that put forward a question constitutes a habitual word-group, a kind of cliché. This is also true of a number of other word-groups, e.g. to win (or gain) a victory, keen sight (or hearing), etc. Some linguists hold tat most of the English in ordinary use is thoroughly saturated with clichés.

The lexical valency of correlated words in different languages is not identical. This is only natural since the inner structure of the language. Both the English word flower and its Russian counterparts –floare, for example, may be combined with a number of other words all of which denote the place where the flowers are grown, e.g. garden flowers, hot-house flowers, etc. The English word, however, cannot enter into combination with the word room to denote flowers growing in the rooms (e.g. pot flowers-flori de cameră)

One more point of importance should be discussed in connection with the problem of lexical valency-the interrelation of lexical valency and polysemy as found in word-groups.

Firstly, the restriction of lexical valency of words may manifest themselves in the choice of the lexical meaning of the polysemantic members of word-groups. The adjective heavy, e.g., is combined with words food, meals, supper, etc. in the meaning rich and difficult to digest. But not all the words with more or less the same denominator of meaning can be combined with this adjective. One cannot say, for instance, heavy cheese or heavy sausage implying that cheese or sausage is difficult to digest.

Secondly, it is observed that different meanings of a word may be described through the possible types of lexical context, through the lexical valency of the word, for example the different meanings of the adjective heavy may be described through the word-groups heavy, weight (book, table), heavy snow (storm, rain, etc.) heavy drinker (eater, etc.).

Collocation is basic to language, its subtleties must be learned, and failure to get the collocation of English right is a major indicator of foreignness: e.g. toll king about

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‘rotten ‘rather than ‘rancid butter’. The British linguist J.R.Firth encouraged the use of the term as one of a constructive pair: collocations for semantic association, collation for syntactic association.

In current usage, however, collocation generally covers both types of association. Cohesiveness in semantics and syntax is a matter of degree. Idioms are usually fixed in form and used without recourse to the meaning of their elements: ‘it can rain cats and dogs, but never dogs and cats or cats and cows .Even with idioms

, however, there can be some free way: for example, at least the three verbs banging, hitting, and knocking can occupy the slot in the idiomatic sentence, ‘it’s like ---- your head against a (brick) wall.’

Collocations are more loosely associated than idioms, contiguously (as with ‘tortoise’

and ‘shel’in ‘tortoiseshell’ or proximately (as with’ cats and ‘purr’ in ‘

the cat was purring ‘ ).When the elements of compound word collocate they form new lexical items:’ house and ‘boat ‘, coming together in both ‘houseboat’ and ‘boat house ‘, each with a distctinct meaning and use. An item that collocates with another is its ‘collocations’.

Collocations have some important types, reading the type of collocations and, there are open collocations and restricted which can be identified three basic types of restrictions .In open collocation the words can combine with a wide range of other words e.g. keep the promise ,speak softly ,great pain ,heavy book.

Restrictions of use can be opposed to the process of synonymy; there are three types of restrictions:

1) Systematic collocational restrictions that is restrictions which are typical for certain criterion, e.g.

a non human subject in the case of the phrase an apple pie order, or a human subject in the case of the phrase bitter tongue.

2).semi systematic collocation restriction, that is restrictions are topical for certain words, e.g. wages are paid for manual or mechanic work, while fees are paid either for professional men or for school, colleges and public bodies.

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3) Idiosyncratic collocational restrictions which are imposed only by idiom, e.g. a hand some man but a pretty woman. These are the restrictions of collocations.

Attempts have been made to approach the problem of collocations in different ways .Up till now; however, there is certain divergence of opinion as to the essential features of collocations as distinguished from other word groups and the nature of nature of phrases that can be properly termed “phraseological units”. The habitual terms “phrases, idioms, compound words, and phraseological units “, are even treated differently by different linguists.

The complexity of the problem may be largely accounted for by the fact that the borderline between word groups and collocations is not clearly defined. This word groups are relatively free as collocability of member words is fundamentally delimited by their lexical and grammatical valency which makes at least some of them very close to set – phrases. Collocations are but comparatively stable and semantically inseparable. Between the extremes of complete motivation and variability of member words and lack of motivation combined with complete stability of lexical components and grammatical structure there are innumerable borderline cases.

However, the existing terms, e.g. phraseological units, idioms, phrases, compound words, phrases, reflect to a certain extent the main debatable issues of phraseology which centre in the divergent vies concerning the nature and essential features of collocations as distinguished from the so called free word groups. The term phrase implies that the basic criterion of differention is stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure of word groups. The term idiom generally implies that the essential feature of the linguistic units under consideration is idiomaticity which defies word by word translation. The term compound words implies a certain combination with certain words, they have an aptness to function in speech as a single word. The term phraseological unit implies that it can not be freely made up in speech.

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Thus difference in terminology reflects certain differences in the main criteria used to distinguish between these word groups and collocations.

Collocations are habitually defined as non-motivated word groups that can not be freely made up in speech but are produced as ready made units. This definition proceeds from the assumption that the essential features of collocations are stability of the lexical components. It is consequently assumed that unlike components of free word groups which may vary according to the needs of communication, member words of collocation are always reproduced as single unchangeable combinations.

For example, bear a grudge may be changed into bear malice, but not into bar a fancy or liking. We can say take a liking (fancy) but not take hatred (disgust). These habitual collocations tend to become kind of where the meaning of member word is to some extent dominated by the meaning of the whole group. Due to this, it can be said that collocations are felt as possessing a certain degree of semantic inseparability.

The current definition of collocation is that it can not be freely made up in speech, but has to be reproduced as ready made units and also to be learned as wholes.

§1.2.2. THE PROBLEM OF COLLOCATIONS

Collocation is an expression consisting of two or more words that correspond to some conventional way of saying things. Or in the words of Firth: “Collocations of a given word are statements of the habitual or customary places of that word.” Collocations include noun phrases like strong tea and weapons of mass destruction, phrasal verbs like to make up, and other stock phrases like the rich and powerful. Particularly interesting are the subtle and not-easily-explainable patterns of word usage that native speakers all know: why they say a stiff breeze but not a stiff wind (while either a strong breeze or a strong wind is okay), or why they speak of broad daylight (but not bright daylight or Narrow darkness).

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Collocations are characterized by limited compositionality. It can be called a natural language expression compositional if the meaning of the expression can be predicted from the meaning of the parts. Collocations are not fully compositional in that there is usually an element of meaning added to the combination. In the case of tea strong, strong has acquired the meaning rich in some active agent who is closely related, but slightly different from the basic sense having great physical strength. Idioms are the most extreme examples of non-compositionality. Idioms like to kick the bucket or to hear it through the grapevine only have an indirect historical relationship to the meanings of the parts of the expression. There are not talking about buckets or grapevines literally when it is used these idioms. Most collocations exhibit milder forms of non-compositionality, it is very nearly a systematic composition of its parts, but still has an element of added meaning. It usually refers to administrative efficiency and would, for example, not be used to describe a cooking technique although that meaning would be compatible with its literal meaning.

There is much interest in collocations partly because this is an area that has been neglected in structural linguistic traditions that follow Saussure and Chomsky. There is, however, a tradition in British linguistics, associated with the names of Firth, Holliday, and Sinclair, which pays close attention to phenomena like collocations. Structural linguistics concentrates on general abstractions about the properties of phrases and sentences. In contrast, Firth’s Contextual Theory of Meaning emphasizes the importance of context: the context of the social setting (as opposed to the idealized speaker), the context of spoken and textual discourse (as opposed to the isolated sentence), and, important for collocations, the context of surrounding words. These contextual features easily get lost in the abstract treatment that is typical of structural linguistics.

A good example of the type of problem that is seen as important in this contextual view of language is Holliday’s example of strong vs. powerful tea it

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is a convention in English to talk about strong tea, not powerful tea, although any speaker of English would also understand the latter unconventional expression. Arguably, there are no interesting structural properties of English that can be gleaned from this contrast. However, the contrast may tell us something interesting about attitudes towards different types of substances in English culture (why do they use powerful for drugs like heroin, but not for cigarettes, tea and coffee?) and it is obviously important to teach this contrast to students who want to learn idiomatically correct English.

Frequency-based search works well for fixed phrases. But many collocations consist of two words that stand in a more flexible relationship to one another. Consider the verb knock and one of its most frequent arguments, door. Here are some examples of knocking on or at a door:

a. she knocked on his door

b. they knocked at the door

c. 100 women knocked on Donaldson’s door d. a man knocked on the metal front door

The words that appear between knocked and door vary and the distance between the two words is not constant so a fixed phrase approach would not work here. But there is enough regularity in the patterns to allow us to determine that knock is the right verb to use in English for this situation, not hit, beat or rap.

A short note is in order here on collocations that occur as a fixed phrase versus those that are more variable.

Verbs with little semantic content like make, take and do are called light verbs in collocations like make a decision or do a favour. There is hardly anything about the meaning of make, take or do that would explain why it have to say make a decision instead of take a decision and do a favour instead of make a favour, but for many linguists purposes the correct light verb for combination with a particular noun must be determined.

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Verb particle constructions or phrasal verbs are an especially important part of the lexicon of English. Many verbs in English like to tell off and to go down consist of a combination of a main verb and a particle. These verbs often correspond to a single lexeme in other languages (reprimanded, descended in France. for two approaches that use this type of information for finding phrases and collocations.

Proper nouns (also called proper names) are usually included in the category of collocations although they are quite different from lexical collocations. They are most amenable to approaches that look for fixed phrases that reappear in exactly the same form throughout a text.

Collocation is applied to; let us point to the many different degrees of invariability that a collocation can show. At one extreme of the spectrum we have usage notes in dictionaries that describe subtle differences in usage between near synonyms like answer and reply (diplomatic answer vs. stinging reply). This type of collocation is important for generating text that sounds natural, but getting a collocation wrong here is less likely to lead to a fatal error. The other extreme are completely frozen expressions like proper names and idioms.

Here there is just one way of saying things and any deviation will completely change the meaning of what is said.

An important area that we haven’t been able to cover is the discovery of proper nouns, which can be regarded as a kind of collocation. Proper nouns cannot be exhaustively covered in dictionaries since new people, places, and other entities come into existence and are named all the time.

Yet another approach to discovering collocations is to search for points in the word stream with either low or high uncertainty as to what the next (or previous) word will be. Points with high uncertainty are likely to be phrase boundaries, which in turn are candidates for points where a collocation may start or end, whereas points with low uncertainty are likely to be located within a collocation.

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§1.2.3. THE USE OF COLLOCATIONS

The meaning of the verb to collocate is to put aside. Collocations are thus combinations f words. In:

He kept his money in his pocket.

The meaning of the verb is» to preserve for future use, » have in ones possession, but in

He kept in his neighbors

The meaning is entirely different from the former, being “to remain on

good terms with” in such collocation it is difficult or impossible to identify the

meaning of the parts of collocation. The order of the elements is also extremely important, being a fixed order. One can say:

He On can climbed on to the window seat to window seat he an climbed

Climbed he can on to the window seat

There are linguists who consider this type of collocation as being equally – word like, and phrase like, considering phrasal verbs semi-compounds.

Collocations may be set expressions and three combinations. Set expressions are successions of words that must be learned as if they were a single word. They can not be divided in to their constituent elements destroying their meaning. Between the parts of a set expression there is on intrinsic connection- its elements can not be replaced by other elements without changing the meaning of the remaining elements. The meaning of the collocation is usually expressed by a single word. From a grammatical point of view, collocations are complex parts of speech.

The largest group of collocations is formed by complex verbs. Some linguists also call them phrasal verbs. They are made of a verb, usually of Germanic origin, and belonging to the basic word stock, such as – to get, to

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give, to take, to bring, to carry, to hold, to keep, to sit, to drive, to fly , to turned.

And an adverbial particle which functions as an adverb and modifies the verb with which it is associated .the most commonly used adverbial particles in such combinations are about ,above ,across ,after ,along, around, away ,back,

backward , before, behind , between ,beyond, by ,down ,forth ,in, inside, off, on, out ,outside, over, round. as can be noticed, most of the originate prepositions.

Examples of both set expressions and free combinations may be offered by the verb –to get, In combination with various adverbial particles, it may form set expressions, as ‘to get in to get up- meaning , to be elected”, “to get through- to

pass an examination “,to arrange , to prepare”, “to be friendly- agree with “.

In these expressions the meaning is not easily understood from the meaning of the component words. These constructions have an evident idiomatic character.

Other collocations, built on the same patter, have a meaning which can be easily derived from that of the components, having the character of free combinations. In such cases, the complex verb acquires are subsidiary meaning of the verb which stands as base, as in “to get ahead- to advance”, “to get

away- to escape”, “ to get back – to return”, “to get by- to pass”. In such examples as-, to fall down climb up, to blow up etc, the meaning of the verb is

intensified.

It is important to notice that some verbs and particles have a high combinatory potential, being often used together, while others are un likely to occur together. Knowing in advance the combinatory possibilities offered by both elements contributes to the correct decoding of the text in which they are used.

The constituent structure of collocations may be represented by diagrams called “tree diagrams “. The tree diagrams is made of branches and a node (where all branches meet) The set expression “to climb up” may be represented

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by the following tree diagram in which VP is the label for the verb phrase, V for the verb Part for particle.

Diagramme

V.P.

PART V PART

To climb up

Though most phrasal verbs may be replaced by one word synonyms , e.g. to get

out-meaning to leave , to give up – to surrender, to ring up – to telephone. Not

all of them have an adequate substitute. They are not always interchangeable with a synonym: e.g. to put out – to begin a voyage, to put up – provide

lodgings. This is to a great extent a matter of idiomatic usage.

If compound words can not be separated, complex verbs often can. Of course, only a pan of them is separable. Phrasal verbs may be both transitive and intransitive.

E.g. take in the wash

Take the wash in

In such cases, the pattern is verb + particle + noun or verb + noun + particle. One may say that in the former pattern the emphasis falls on the noun, while in the latter the emphases is put on the action. When personal pronouns are introduced in the pattern, they are usually placed between the verb and the adverbial particle, according to the pattern verb + pronoun + adverbial particle. E.g. put it on

To blow up

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Examples of complex adverbs are all alone – not in the company of others, all along – for the whole length of.

Examples of complex conjunctions are as if, as for, as to, so as to.

Such collocation constitutes lexical and grammatical clichés provided by language. Though their use is not a proof of originality in speech, they are extremely important in communication. They have an important part in language structure.

Their idiomatic character makes sometimes life difficult for translators, who must find other language equivalents which have sometimes nothing to do with the words of the translated, or have very little in common with it.

In e.g. Jane has been often asked out during this summer holiday.

The Romanian translation is not “a fost adesea invitata sa iasa afara “, but “a

fost adesea invitata in oras “.

One can also talk about collocation range, which implies certain restrictions concerning the verbs which are used and the particles respectively. Thus we can expect verbs of movement to be used approximately with the same set of particles, though sometimes the equivalence is not perfect. for example “to go

,to come ,to walk ,to run ,to get “, are usually followed by the adverbial

particles, ‘ahead ,along, away, back , in ,off, out, up, round’, but we would not expect some other verbs to be accompanied by the some adverbial particles , e.g.” to beat to die ,to laugh ,etc.

§1.2.4. TYPES OF COLLOCATION

A collocation is an expression consisting of two or more words that correspond to some conventional way of saying things. Collocations can be defined in numerous ways but the most common are those of two or more clusters which occur with a more than chance regularity through spoken and written English. Bellow there are shown the most easily distinguishable types of collocations which contains the following elements (parts of speech).

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Verb +noun:

Throw a party, accept responsibility, drew the curtains, rushed

the door, break

Code, lift a blockade.

Verb + noun :

Cold winter, somber clouds, strong tea, best wishes, square meal, grim determination, huge profit.

Noun+verb:

Water freezing, clock ticks, blood running down, arms

waving, legs

Kicking, rain beating, light moving.

Verb+adverb:

Affect deeply, appreciate sincerely, resisting wildly, looking

kindly, live

Dangerously, hold tightly, scream loudly, speak softly, and speak heavily

Adverb + adjective:

Completely hidden, nervously entered, deeply absorbed,

closely related,

Completely related, completely soaked, totally unacceptable behavior.

These are the most used and practical types of collocations, also there are others types of collocations but for this analyze will be studied only these types of collocations.

Acquisition and correct production of such word combination is mark of an advanced of proficiency in a language, as Lewis (1997 pg 15) puts it that its fluency is based on the acquisition of a large state or fixed or semi fixed prefabricated items, Sonya (1988) goes ever further to say that lexical errors are more serious because affective communication depends on the choice of words,

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also James (1998pg 152) agrees that the correct usage of collocation contributes greatly to ones ieomatcity and native likeness . .

§1.2.5. THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLOCATIONS

Collocations run through the whole of the English language. No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocations. For the student choosing the right collocation will make his speech and writing sound much more natural, more native speaker like, even when basic intelligibility does not seem to be at issue. A student who talks about ‘strong rain’ may make himself understood, but possibly not without provoking smile or correction, which may or not matter. He will certainly be marked down for it an exam.

But perhaps even more importantly than this, language that is collocation is also more precise. This is because most single words in the English language especially the more common words embrace a whole range of meanings, some quite distinct, and some that shade into each other by degrees. The precise meaning in any context is determined by that context: by the word that surround and combine with the best collocation. A student who choose the best collocation will express himself much more clearly and to be able to convey not just general meaning, but something quite precise. Compare, for example, the following two sentences:

‘This is a good book and contains a lot of interesting details’,

‘This is a fascinated book, and contains a wealth of historical detail’.

Both sentences are perfectly correct in terms of grammar and the vocabulary, but which communicates more (both spoke about the book under discussion and the person discussing it)

Students with good ideas often lose marks because they don’t know the four or five most important collocations of a key word that is central to what they are writing about. As a result, they create longer, wordier ways of defining or

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discussing the issue, increasing the chance of further errors, examples: ‘His disability will continue until he dies’, rather than ‘He has a permanent disability’. There is no magic formula for correcting these mistakes. Collocations have to be acquired both through direct study and large amount of quality impute. The very concept of collocations is often not easy for learners. The essentially simple idea that word choice is seriously limited by what comes before and after it perhaps the single most elusive aspect of the lexical system and the hardest, therefore, for learners to acquire.

Learning collocations apart from increasing the mental , leads to an increase in written and spoken fluency ( the brain has more time to focus on its message, if many of the nuts and bolts are already in place ). In the form of collocations of varying length as Lewis says: “Fluency is based on the acquisition of a large store of fixed or semi fixed prefabricated items, which are available as the foundation for any linguistic novelty or creativity’. Moreover, stress and intonation also improve if language is met, learnt and acquired in chunks, quality input should lead to quality output.

References:

1_{Bauer Laurie, English word formation ,Cambridge 1984 ,pg 115-120.} 2 _{Levitchi Leon, Limba engleza contemporan, Lexicology, 1970, pg 25-37}

3_{Olga Achmanava, Linguistic terminology , Moscow university press ,1977,pg}

161-165.

4 _{Galina Salapina, Limba engleza contemporana, Lexicologie, editia II-a, Timisoara,}

pg 14-21.

5.Olga Achmanova, The chair of English ,Lexicology, Theory and Method, edited by Moscow state university,1972, pg 76-85.

6.English for advanced students ,with a special chapter in English lexicology, Institutul Europei ,Iasi,1993, pg 190-195.

7.R.S.Girbuz,A course in modern English lexicology, Higher School Published House, Moscow 1996,pg 86-105.

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8.Seminars in Modern English Lexicology, Part II, Chisinau ,Moldova State University,2000, pg 161-163 .

9. N .Raevska, English lexicology, second edition revised, edited by Радянска Школа, 1961, pg 25-37.

10. N.M.Raenska, English lexicology, Kiev, 1971, pg 86-90.

11.Peter Roach, Third Edition, English Phonetics and Phonology, A practical course, Cambridge, University Press,1999, pg 63-65.

12. James. R. Natting, S. Dacerio, Oxford Applied Linguistic, Lexical Phrases and Language Technique, Oxford University Press,1992, pg 23-53.

13.A.P Cowie, Oxford Linguistic Phraseology, Theory and Analyses, 1998, pg 21-23, 145-153.

14.Oxford Collocations Dictionary For Students, Oxford University Press. 15.Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary.

16.Johnatan Orauther,Catherym Cavanaugh, Oxford Guide to British and American Culture, Oxford University Press,1999, pg 58-73.

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CHAPTER II - STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF

COLLOCATIONS

§2.1.1. STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF

COLLOCATION BASED ON THEIR TYPES

.

There are more criteria of classifying the collocations but for this research paper the classification will be done according to collocations’ structure.

For the purpose of the investigation, this chapter is focused on five types of collocation:

Verb +noun e.g. accept responsibility, to follow the instructions, Adjective +noun e.g. sad place, strong chest, narrow corridors,

Noun +verb e.g. to took the opportunity, fall asleep, blood running down,. Verb +adverb e.g. looking kindly, scream loudly, speak softly, and hold tightly. Adverb+ adjective e.g. deeply absorbed, nervously entered, completely hidden.

The examples of collocations analyzed in this research paper were taken from Charlotte Bronte novels-Jane Eire. There are 230 examples of collocations taken from this book. On the background these examples will be made the statistics and percentage on basis of the: number of elements, structural analysis of parts of speech.

Also in this chapter will be translated 60 collocations from English into Romanian language, and will be analyzed the problem of translating the collocation and the techniques used in translating this collocations.

According to the 230 examples of collocations analyzed here, it can be said that –adjective +noun types has 121 examples from all 230 e.g. good child,