Research Methods in T&I Studies I

Lexical Level

(Collocations and Idioms)

13 October 2009

Categories of language

Traditional linguistic categories

Sound structure (phonology)

Grammatical structure (syntax)

Word and sentence meaning (semantics)

Organisation of language

Alternative way of looking at language in terms of how it is organisedSyntagmatic

What actually manifests itself on the page

Paradigmatic Linguists’ abstractions

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms)

Syntagmatic Paradigmatic

Grammar (syntax)

Structure

(e.g. SVO, dhq, SPOCA)

System

(e.g. pronoun system; active vs. passive)

Lexis

(vocabulary)

Collocation

(e.g. rancid butter, addled eggs, stale bread)

Sets

(e.g. lexical field of vehicles, flowers, etc.)

Organisation of language

Alternative way of looking at language in terms of how it is organised Syntagmatic

What actually manifests itself on the page Structure Collocation

Paradigmatic Linguists’ abstractions

System Sets

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Collocation

The tendency of certain items to co-occur regularly in a given language (Baker 1992:285)

Lexical Set Items which share a like privilege of collocation

(share collocates)e.g. for hair: dark, black, red, blonde, auburn

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Grammar

Structure Obligatory Largely predictive

LexisPatterning

Largely not predictive Organised on top of structure Can concern the recurrence of structural items

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Word

e.g. die, dies, died, dying Word-form

Token (e.g. man, men) Lexeme

Base form of a word, without inflections (e.g. DIE)

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Applying Lexical Analysis in T&I

Meaning does not totally organise the vocabulary of a language

Meaning in a text is cumulativeCategories of lexis different from grammar

and semantics Collocation Lexical Set

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Lexical item

Any word or expression which has a unique pattern of collocation and which represents an independently meaningful stretch of language

Grammar and lexis are two complementary ways of looking at language

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Types of collocation

Collocations which exist for semantic reasons (brown cow)

Culturally conditioned collocations (cottage cheese)

Arbitrary collocations (running commentary but not running discussion)

Lexical Level (Collocations and Idioms) Domain-specific collocations (e.g. vigorous

depressions) Collocation and metaphor (e.g. time is

money) Marked/unmarked collocation Collocational range and range extension Idioms and Fixed Expressions

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Some major functions of MWUs

Sequencing ideas: first and foremost Anaphoric connections: in other words Argumentation: as a result of, for that matter Greetings and closings: How are you? See you later Politeness routines: if you don’t mind, I beg your pardon Assent/agreement: sure thing, you’re absolutely right Rejection/conflictive: no way, you’re kidding, not on your life Fluency/interactive devices: you see, I mean, you know

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Some major functions of MWUs

Markers of new information: guess what, you’ll never believe this Suggestions: if I were you Concessions: it’s up to you, never mind Support: not to worry, don’t let it get to you Qualification: mind you, and yet Expression of emotions (gets more idiomatic): have/get cold

feet, have butterflies in one’s stomach, turns one’s stomach Expression of evaluation/assessment: small fry, not worth the

paper it’s written on, worth peanuts

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Idioms

Literal (as a matter of fact)Semi-transparent (skate on thin ice)Opaque (spill the beans)Misleading idioms (public school)

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Transparency/opacity continuum

Concretising (playing on visual dimension)Playing on both literal and idiomatic meanings

simultaneously

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) Semantic fields and idiom

Parts of the body Syntactical structure

Can be extremely ‘fixed’ Ellipsis common with sayings

The grass is always greener Cultural references

East End, Harley Street, cucumber sandwiches Idioms vs. Allusions

‘The Origin of the Species’/’The Origin of the Spices’

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) References

Abu-Ssaydeh, Abdul-Fattah (2004) ‘Translation of English Idioms into Arabic’, Babel 50(2): 114–131.

Baker, Mona (1992) In Other Words, London & New York: Routledge. (Chapter 3: Equivalence Above Word Level)

Baker, Mona (in press) ‘Patterns of Idiomaticity in Translated vs. Non-translated English’, Belgian Journal of Linguistics. [Available on Intranet]

Baker, Mona and Michael McCarthy (1988) ‘Multi-Word Units and Things Like That’. Unpublished Manuscript, University of Birmingham. [Available on Intranet]

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) References (cont.)

Bolinger, Dwight and Donald Sears (1981) Aspects of Language, New York: Harcourt Brace, 3rd Edition. (Chapter 4: Words and their Make-Up)

Fernando, C. (1996) Idioms and Idiomaticity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gabrielatos, Constantinos (1994) ‘Pedagogical Grammar. Collocations: Pedagogical Implications and Their Treatment in Pedagogical Materials’. Unpublished Article, Cambridge: Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics’ [Available on Intranet].

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) References (cont.)

Gottlieb, Henrik (1997) ‘Quality Revisited: The Rendering of English Idioms in Danish Television Subtitles vs. Printed Translations’, in Anna Trosborg (ed.) Text Typology and Translation, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 309-338.

Mitchell, T. F. (1975) Principles of Firthian Linguistics, London: Longman. (Chapter 4: ‘Linguistic “goings on”: collocations and other lexical matters arising on the syntagmatic record’, pp. 99-136).

Newman, A. (1988) ‘The Contrastive Analysis of Hebrew and English Dress and Cooking Collocations: Some Linguistic and Pedagogic Parameters’, Applied Linguistics 9(3):293-305.

Lexical Level (Collocation and Idioms) References (cont.)

Rose, James H. (1978) ‘Types of Idioms’, Linguistics 203: 55-62 [Short Loan Collection].

Shei, Chi-Chiang. (2005) ‘Fixedness in genre-specific language and intercultural differences: Comparing English and Chinese fire news corpora’, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 10(2): 199-225 [electronic journal]

Sinclair, J.M. (1987) ‘Collocation: a progress report’, in R. Steele and T. Threadgold (eds) Language Topics: Essays in Honour of Michael Halliday, Vol II, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 319-331.

Sinclair, John (1991) Corpus, Concordance, Collocation, Oxford: Oxford University Press.