Word Meaningcome an important area of research and to provide significant insights into
how words and larger expressions are organized in our minds. Book diction-
aries are more and more dependent on such databases and will incorporate
more collocational information as time goes on.
Collocational expectation is a matter of degree. Some collocational re-
strictions are quite narrow, others are more liberal. Collocates may become
rigidly fixed, in which case they have calcified into idioms, expressions
whose meanings are not derivable from their words and syntax. Examples
include kick the bucket for “die,” tie the knot for “marry.” Note that these
expressions have both a literal and an idiomatic meaning. The audience has
to work out which meaning is intended in a particular context.
It should come as no surprise that because the psychological bonds be-
tween collocates may be very strong, words regularly elicit their collocates in
word association tests.
Dictionaries differ in how they treat idioms. Some may not include them
at all. WNTC and WNWD include idioms at the end of the entry for one
or more of the main words of the idiom (kick the bucket is listed under
bucket, though not under kick).
Exercise
- What words collocate with blond, false, artificial, herd, flock, ream,
spick, husband, deal, bumper? Some of these words allow only one or
two collocates; the remainder allow for (far) more. Identify as many
collocates as each word allows, up to a maximum of five. Check a pair
of dictionaries, including a learner’s, to see if and how collocational
information is included. - Make a list of 10 idioms. What are their meanings? Can all of them
be taken both literally and idiomatically? Do your examples suggest any
connection between idiom and metaphor? Check a pair of dictionaries,
including a learner’s, to see if and how idioms are included. If you know
some people learning English as a second language, ask them if they
understand the idioms you have chosen.
concluding remarks.
We saw in this chapter that dictionaries, especially larger, more comprehen-
sive ones, provide enormous amounts of information about the words of a
language. We also saw that learner’s dictionaries tend to provide more infor-