Collocations are when two words frequently group together, and are specific to each language. They govern how words interact, and can include nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They differ from idioms, which are not compositional. Collocations are important in literature, but difficult to learn in second language acquisition.
A collocation occurs when two words group together so often that their grouping cannot be just a random occurrence. It is, therefore, an element of linguistics and is specific to any language. This means that placing two words like “lily livered” in another language will have no meaning, whereas it means “coward” and “weak” in English.
Collocazione comes from the Latin words “collocazioneem” and “collocatio”, which are nominal forms of the Latin verb meaning “to organize”. It has been used as a piece of linguistic terminology since the 1940s and is considered a part of linguistic governance. In this sense, it governs how certain words interact with each other when put together.
Idioms are not to be confused with collocations. Collocations are lexical units, while idioms are not. This is because idioms are not compositional. This means that their meaning does not derive directly from the words that compose them; for example, no element of ‘toss the bucket’ actually means ‘to die’. Collocations, on the other hand, are part or wholly compositional, so at least one word in them actually contributes to its meaning.
Nouns, verbs, and adjectives can all form elements of a collocation. Nouns are usually present, but as with much of English, this rule is quite often broken. Collocation, therefore, governs which verbs, nouns and adjectives are able to combine and which are not.
There are many examples of verb and noun collocations. These include “take” and “medicine” and “invite” and “wedding.” Adjective and noun collocations include combining ‘final’ or ‘last’ with ‘straw’, but only ‘last’ can be combined with ‘stable’. Nouns can be combined with other nouns, and two adjectives can also be placed.
The ability to place is an important element of English literature. Charles Dickens, for example, was a master at creating and using good collocation. His words were often colorful and well-chosen elements of the 4 million words he published during his lifetime. An example of his collocations is “curious indifference” as seen in “Bleak House”. He also used collocations like “beef face” and the alliterative “lazy legs”.
Learning to understand and construct a collocation is a difficult element of second language acquisition. This is also the case when the languages appear to be relatively similar, such as German and English. Different collocations have developed because each language has grown and changed with its culture and the experiences of the people within that culture. Efforts are being made with German and Polish, for example, to develop collocation dictionaries to provide suitable translations.
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