collocation (n.)

A term used in LEXICOLOGY by some (especially FIRTHIAN) LINGUISTS to refer to the habitual co-occurrence of individual LEXICAL ITEMS. For example, auspicious collocates with occasion, event, sign, etc.; and letter collocates with alphabet, graphic, etc., on the one hand, and postman, pillar-box, etc., on the other. Collocations are, then, a type of SYNTAGMATIC lexical relation. They are linguistically predictable to a greater or lesser extent (e.g. the bond between spick and span is stronger than that between letter and pillar-box), and this differentiates them from SENSE ASSOCIATIONS, which tend to include idiosyncratic connections (e.g. mother-in-law associating with hippopotamus). Some words have no specific collocational restrictions – grammatical words such as the, of, after, in. By contrast, there are many totally predictable restrictions, as in eke + out, spick + span, and these are usually analyzed as IDIOMS, clichés, etc. Another important feature of collocations is that they are FORMAL (not SEMANTIC) statements of co-occurrence; e.g. green collocates with jealousy (as opposed to, say, blue or red), even though there is no REFERENTIAL basis for the link. Lexical items which are ‘collocated’ are said to be collocates of each other; the potential of items to collocate is known as their collocability or collocational range. A related notion is ‘semantic prosody’. Collocational restrictions are analogous to the notion of SELECTIONAL RESTRICTIONS in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR. Collocations should not be confused with the notion of word association in psychology, which refers to any kind of mental relationship between words – for example, car might produce the association New Zealand or Uncle Joe. Word associations of this kind are being increasingly studied as part of PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, especially for the light they throw on cultural differences (e.g. in relation to BILINGUALISM).

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

خمسون عامًا من العطاء.. نجم الأعرجي خادم الزائرين بلا انقطاع

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تواصل إقامة مجالسها العزائية لإحياء شهر المحرم

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تطلق سلسلة محاضرات قرآنية عاشورائية في بابل

في مساء اليوم الخامس من المحرّم.. المواكب الكربلائيّة تواصل فعالياتها العزائية

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

هذا ما يحدث لجسمك عند تناولك الطماطم بانتظام !

تعرف على أطعمة تسرّع "تعافي الجسم" من حروق الشمس

لمن تجاوز الستين.. عليك بشرب 4 أكواب من القهوة يوميا ؟

الحليب مع العسل.. مزيج يمنحك 7 فوائد صحية

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

هل هاتفك مراقب؟.. 5 علامات خطيرة تكشف التجسس عليك

دبي تطلق أول رحلة تجريبية للتاكسي الجوي

كيف تساعد الصيانة الوقائية في الحفاظ على كفاءة التكييف في سيارتك ؟

في ظاهرة غريبة حيرت العلماء.. كوكبنا قد يسجل أقصر يوم في التاريخ هذا الصيف!

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Mirror in nominal morphology

Appendix 2: Hapax legomena from the Cobuild corpus

Appendix 1: 20th century neologisms from the OED

Morphological Productivity Structural Constraints in English Derivation Conclusion

Verbal derivation and the separation hypothesis

The separation hypothesis

Theoretical implications: Against the separation of form and meaning in morphology

Rival morphological processes 4: Where have all the rivals gone? Summary

Conversion vs. -ize, -ify and -ate

Rival morphological processes -ize vs. -ate

Rival morphological processes -ize vs. -ify

Rival morphological processes 4: Where have all the rivals gone?