Collocations analysis

Movrarid Saheban

Abstract

Language is a means of communication among people. So learning a foreign language is very useful for people to communicate with another nation. Each language has its own differences. There is an investigation about collocation; Collocations are one of the areas generally considered problematic for learners. This paper analyse some problematic English collocations in some aspects which included, their meaning in Persian, their structure, and their hierarchy of difficulty.

Introduction

The term collocation is used in widely different senses by linguists such as Moon (1998) to refer to syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of words. In one approach, Carter (1998: 51) argues that collocation is the frequent co-occurrence of words within a certain distance recognised to be four words to either side of the specified focal word or node. This view is known as the

“Frequency-Based Approach” and it goes back to Firth (1957: 51). It has been developed further in particular by Halliday (1966: 148) and Sinclair (1997: 170). Nesselhauf (2004: 11), on the other hand, claims that collocation can be seen as a type of word-combination, most commonly as one that is fixed to some degree but not completely. This view is known as the

“Phraseological Approach” and has been strongly adopted by researchers extensively working in the fields of lexicography and pedagogy such as Cowie (1981: 223).

In general, collocations are of two major types: grammatical collocations which relate to the grammatical categories rather than meaning associations and lexical Collocations which relate to word associations.

A lexical collocation is a type of construction where a verb, noun, adjective or adverb forms a predictable connection with another: Adverb+Adjective→ completely satisfied (Not downright satisfied)

Some types of lexical collocations:

Adjective+Noun→ Excruciating pain (Not excruciating joy)

Noun+Verb→ lions roar (Not lions shout)

Verbs+Noun→ Commit suicide (Not undertake suicide)

A grammatical collocation: is a type of construction where for example a verb or adjective must be followed by a particular preposition or a noun must become by a particular form of the verb.

Some types of grammatical collocation:

Verb+preposition→ Depend on (Not depend of)

Adjective+preposition→ Afraid of (Not afraid at)

Noun+particular form of verb→ Strength to lift it (Not strength to lifting it)

Also there is another type of collocation which is certain combination of words in any language, they known as fixed collocation or Siamese twins like Salt and pepper.

 Collocations analysis

At this part we decided to go through each of the selected collocations, to provide a description for them, consecutively compare them.  

1. Knife and fork: this is a fixed collocation composed of (noun+ conjunction+ noun), in Persian we have its equivalence قاشق چنگال →noun+ noun. Both In Persian and English it refers to their culture, in English they have things which need knife and fork but in Persian they have things which usually need spoon. So here learners face with a problem in using this collocation because he uses spoon and fork instead of knife and fork. So his collocation sounds unnatural for native speakers. Both languages have the same perception of these collocations but with different vocabularies. So in the hierarchy of difficulties it goes through reinterpretation level. 
2. Fresh question: the structure of this collocation is→ adjective+ noun. The collocation of fresh with non-physical nouns indicates that new or unfamiliar issues are raised. It can not be substituted by raw question. In Persian we have سوال جدید → noun+ adjective. According to the Persian structure learner use new question. The only problem here is the collocation that learner use is understandable but not native like. So it’s level of difficulties is reinterpretation.

3. Fast food: It is composed of adjective+ noun and an example of illogical collocations. Fast and quick mean the same thing and meals are times we eat food, but we only say ‘fast food’, meaning burgers, chips and pizza, or ‘quick meal’ which is a meal which takes little time to eat. In Persian we do not have its equivalence and use fast food in Persian too. So the learners and translators do not have problem with that and we put it into zero level.

4. Leave of absence: It is composed of (verb+ preposition+ noun). This collocation refers to the time when one has permission to be absent from work in the armed forces. We don’t use permission of absence usually, because permission of absence uses for leave a place like court to commence an action. In Persian we have مرخصی گرفتن → which it’s structure known as a verb. It’s hierarchy of difficulty is reinterpretation. So learner at this level avoids using this collocation.

5. Commit suicide: this is a verb+ noun collocation. The word commit used for a mistake, crime or immoral act but in Persian we haveخودکشی کردن which is considered as a verb. so when learner wants to say some thing about suicide refers to Persian structure and say: do suicide. It’s hierarchy of difficulty is reinterpretation, both of them are same semantically but different lexically.

6. Launch attack: this is a verb+ noun collocation. And the launch verb carries military connotation. In Persian we have just a verb حمله کردن. So learner use attack as a verb in English because he supposed this is a verb as in Persian, and this problem is due to lack of his knowledge in English. So its level of difficulty is reinterpretation.

7. Have dream: this is a verb + noun collocation. The have verb used for experience and possessing some thing, English people consider dream as an experience but in Persian people have  خواب دیدن→ (noun+ verb)  which   focus on dream that have seen by a  In both Persian and English it is know as collocation but learner applies it as see dream so his words going to be unnatural. So its level of difficulty is reinterpretation

8. Draw attention: this is verb+ noun collocation. The draw verb mean attract, in Persian we have جلب توجه →  verb+ noun. Both of them are same semantically but the matter is that learner use attention only because he considers it as a verb not a collocation. So this collocation belongs to reinterpretation level.

9. Find appropriate: it is composed of a verb+ adjective. In Persian we have مناسب دانستن → adjective + verb. Learner uses it as known appropriate so his combination would be nonsense. And here we faced with reinterpretation level.

10. Anecdotal evidence: This collocation is composed of an adjective+ verb. The anecdotal adjective means not necessarily true or reliable because it is based on personal accounts rather than facts. In Persian we have شواهد which is composed of a noun only. When learner use the noun (evidence) only does not make his word nonsense in English the only matter is that he can not transfer his object precisely. This collocation stands at split level.

Implication

Learning collocation is learning how to communicate like native speaker.

But learning collocation is bit difficult for learner because they do not know which words go together in order to make a collocation.

First of all we recommend teachers to give multiple-choice questions and ask learners to choose the best one, because after choosing they can figure out their problems and correct them.

Secondly teaching vocabulary should be done through lexical phrases not individuals words.

Thirdly learner should practice by repetition, because over time it fixed in their mind, also they should not pay their attention to wrong forms of that collocation for example when learner faced with commit suicide /do suicide and find out that commit suicide is correct should not attention to incorrect form because it can distract their attention from correct form, After that as we mentioned above learner should repeat the collocation again and again till stick in their mind.