Collocation

Collocation
In Other Words, Chapter 3, pp. 53-60

Definition of Collocation
 Semantically arbitrary restrictions which do not follow logically from the

propositional meaning of a word.
 The tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language.

 At one level, the tendency of certain words to co-occur has to do
with their propositional meanings.
 For example, Cheque is more likely to occur with bank, pay, money and write.
 However, meaning cannot always account for collocational patterning.
 If it did, we might expect Carry out, undertake or even perform to collocate with visit.
Yet, English speakers typically pay a visit, and less typically make a visit.
 Both rancid and addled mean ‘stale/rotten’. But rancid collocates with butter,
and addled collocates with eggs.
 English speakers typically break rules, but they do not break regulations.
 They typically talk of wasting time but not of squandering time.

 When two words collocate, the relationship can hold between all or several of
their various forms, combined in any grammatically acceptable order.
 Achieving aims, aims having been achieved, achievable aims and the achievement
of an aim
 However, it is often the case that words will collocate with other words in
some of their forms but not in others.
 We bend rules in English but are unlikely to describe rules as unbendable. Instead,
we usually talk of rules being inflexible.
 Thus, patterns of collocation are largely arbitrary and independent of
meaning. This is so both within and across languages.
English Arabic Persian
 Deliver a ً‫ﺧﻄﺎﺑﺎ‬ ُ ّ ِ‫ﺴﻠ‬

ِ ‫ﻢ‬ َ ‫ُﯾ‬  ‫ﺗﺴﻠﯿﻢ‬/‫ ﺗﺤﻮﯾﻞ دادن‬
letter/telegram ‫ﺗﻠﮕﺮاف‬/‫رﺳﺎﻧﺪن ﻧﺎﻣﻪ‬/‫ﮐﺮدن‬
 Deliver a ‫ﺧﻄﺒَ ًﺔ‬
ُ ‫ُﯾﻠﻘﯽ‬  ‫اﯾﺮاد ﮐﺮدن‬/‫ اراﺋﻪ دادن‬
speech/lecture ‫ﺳﺨﻨﺮاﻧﯽ‬
 Deliver news ً‫ﻞ اَﺧﺒﺎرا‬ ُ ‫ﯾَﻨ ِﻘ‬  ‫اراﺋﻪ دادن اﺧﺒﺎر‬/‫ رﺳﺎﻧﺪن‬
 Deliver a blow ‫ﺿﺮﺑَ ًﺔ‬
َ ‫ﺟ ُﻪ‬ِ ‫ُﯾ َﻮ‬  ‫زدن ﺿﺮﺑﻪ‬/‫ﻧﻮاﺧﺘﻦ‬/‫ وارد ﮐﺮدن‬
ً‫ﺣﮑﻤﺎ‬ ُ ‫ُﯾﺼ ِﺪ ُر‬
 Deliver a verdict  ‫ ﺻﺎدر ﮐﺮدن رأی‬
‫ُﯾ َﻮﻟِ ّ ُﺪ اِﻣ َﺮاَ ًة‬ 
 Deliver a baby ‫ ﺑﻪ دﻧﯿﺎ آوردن ﻧﻮزاد‬
 Some collocations are in fact a direct reflection of the material, social or
moral environment in which they occur.
 Bread collocates with butter in English. It collocates with cheese in Persian.
 Law and order is a common collocation in English. In Arabic, a more typical

collocation would be ‫‘( اﻟﻘﺎﻧﻮن و اﻟﺘﻘﺎﻟﯿﺪ‬law and convention/tradition’).
Collocational Range
 Every word in a language can be said to have a range of items with which it is
compatible, to a greater or lesser degree.
 Range here refers to the set of collocates, that is other words, which are
typically associated with the word in question.
 Some words have a much broader collocational range than others.

 The English verb shrug, for instance, has a rather limited collocational range. It
typically occurs with shoulders.
 Run, by contrast, has a vast collocational range, some of its typical collocates
being company, business, show, car, stockings, tights, nose, wild, debt, bill, river,
course, water and color, among others.
 Two main factors can influence the collocational range of an item (Beekman
and Callow 1974):
 Its level of specificity

The verb bury, for instance, collocates with people, a treasure, your head, face,
feelings and memories. But the verbs inter or entomb only collocate with people.
 The number of senses it has

For example, in its sense of ‘manage’, the verb run collocates with words like
company, institution and business. In its sense of ‘operate or provide’, it collocates
with words like service and course.
 We create new collocations all the time by two ways:
 Extending an existing collocational range (by analogy)

For example, Heavy gambler is created by analogy with heavy smoker and heavy
drinker.
 Putting together words from different or opposing ranges (thereby creating marked
collocations)
President Clinton fanned the flames of optimism in Northern Ireland.
Some tout at the book fair wanted me to take UK rights in a book on glasnost and the
crisis of peace. Essays by past and present hawks, reappraisals of strategy. Could real
peace break out after all?
Collocation and Register
 Some collocations may seem untypical in everyday language but are common
in specific registers.
 Dull highlights and vigorous depressions are common collocations in the fields of
photography and meteorology, respectively.
 Biased error and tolerable error are common and acceptable collocations in
statistics.
 Register-specific collocations extend far beyond the list of terms that one
normally finds in specialized dictionaries and glossaries.
 It is not enough, for instance, to know that data in computer language forms part
of compound terms such as data processing and data bank and to become
familiar with the dictionary equivalents of such terms in the target language.
 A translator must, among other things, be aware that in English computer texts,
data may be handled, extracted, processed, manipulated and retrieved but not
typically shifted, treated, arranged or tackled.
 A translator of computer literature must also be familiar with the way in which the
equivalent of data is used in his or her corresponding target texts.
Collocational Meaning
 What we do when we are asked to give an account of the meaning of a word

in isolation is to contextualize it in its most typical collocations.
 Dry clothes, dry river and dry weather
 As we move away from the most common collocations, it becomes clear that
the meaning of the word depends largely on its pattern of collocation.
 Dry cow, dry bread, dry wine, dry sound, dry voice, dry country, dry book, dry
humor, dry run
 When the translation of a word or a stretch of language is criticized as being
inaccurate or inappropriate in a given context, the criticism may refer to the
translator’s inability to recognize a collocational pattern with a unique
meaning different from or exceeding the sum of the meanings of its individual
elements.
 Start a family (have one’s first child)
 Dry voice (a voice which is cold, not expressing emotion)
 Run a car (to own, use and be able to maintain a car financially)

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Collocation

In Other Words, Chapter 3, pp. 53-60

 Semantically arbitrary restrictions which do not follow logically from the

 The tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language.

 However, meaning cannot always account for collocational patterning.

 They typically talk of wasting time but not of squandering time.

English Arabic Persian

 Deliver a ً‫ﺧﻄﺎﺑﺎ‬ ُ ّ ِ‫ﺴﻠ‬

 Bread collocates with butter in English. It collocates with cheese in Persian.

 Law and order is a common collocation in English. In Arabic, a more typical

 Some words have a much broader collocational range than others.

 Its level of specificity

 The number of senses it has

 Extending an existing collocational range (by analogy)

President Clinton fanned the flames of optimism in Northern Ireland.

 What we do when we are asked to give an account of the meaning of a word

 Dry clothes, dry river and dry weather

 Start a family (have one’s first child)

 Dry voice (a voice which is cold, not expressing emotion)

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