Vocabulary connections : multi-word items in English

1. Vocabularyconnections: multi-worditems in English Orietta Gutiérrez Herrera

2. Collocation There are differentmodelsthatanalysethesentences, these can be Models of Western Europeanlanguagesforexample, are builtongrammaticalprincipleswiththeclausesentencebeingthe focal unit. • Transformational-generativemodel • Systemicmodel of grammar (letsthehearertoreconstructitsmeaning) • Discourse-basedgrammaticalmodel (Cohesivesignificance) • Collocatinistmodel (predictability of theco-occurrences of words) Collocationstudies are associatedwith corpus studiessinceitisverydifficulttostudythisthingwithout real data.

3. Accordingtosomeauthors in a central studyoncollocationsthere are twoprincipleswhichaccountforthestructuralpatterning of LEXIS: • Open choiceprinciple: correspondes to a way of seeinglanguagetext as theresult of a verylargenumber of complexchoices. • Idiomprinciple: Isthat a languageuser has availabletohimorher a largenumber of semi-preconstructedphrasesthatconstitute single choicesevenwhentheymightappeartobeanalysableintosegments. A collocationistview of language observes thestrongpetterning in theco-occurrence of words. Itiscomplementedbythepsycholinguisticsapproachwhich observes howlanguageisprocessed and acquired. And alsosincewords are shownnottooperate as independent and interchangeableparts of thelexiconbut as part of a lexical system a learnermusthave full knowledge of theword: meaningpronunciation, morphology and itsgrammaticalbehavior.

4. Multi-wordsitems: terms and categories There are manyforms of multi-worditem and lexicology and idiomatologyhavegenerated a collection of namesforthem. A multi-worditemis a vocabularyitemwhichconsists of a sequence of twoor more words (consideringthat a wordissimplyanorthographicunit) Multi-wordsitems are theresult of lexical and semanticprocesses of whatisknown as fossilisation” ratherthan of grammatical rules. Forexample: comparativeforms of adjectivesorpassiveformsorverbs can beseparatedout and excludedfromthecategorysincethey are formedgrammatically.

5. There are threecriteriawhichhelpdistinguishholisticmulti-wordsitemsfromotherkinds of strings: Non-composionality: Thedegreetowhich a multi-worditemcannotbeinterpretedon a word-by-wordbasis, but has a specialisedunitarymeaning. – Relatedtosemantic non-composionality, which can also relate togrammarorpragmaticfunction. Institutionalisation: thedegreetowhich a multi-worditemisconventionalised in thelanguage: Doesitrecur? Fixedness: Thedegreetowhich a multi-worditemisfrozen as a sequence of words: Doesitinflect? – perhaps in itscomponentlexisorwordsorder? Thesecriteriaoperate are notabsolutesbut variables and they are present in differingdegrees in eachmulti-wordunit.

6. Multi-worditemis a superordinateterm; therefore, there are threedifferenttypes of multi-worditem: 1) Compounds: Differfrom single wordsonlybybeingwritten as twoor more orthographicwords. Cannotbeseparatedoutaltogether, sincehyphenationconventionsblurthedistinctionbetweencompoundmulti-worditems and polymorphemic. Many open ortwo-wordcompounds are nouns: Prime Minister, crystalball and so on. Compoundverbs are typicallyhyphenated Compoundadjectives are alsooftenhyphenated.

7. 2) PhrasalVerbs: Are combinations of verbs and adverbial orprepositionalparticles. Theyhavespecialisedmeanings, which mean theymayrange in compositionalityfromtransparentcombinations (example: break off) throughcompletives. (Example: eat up). Phrasalverbshave particular syntacticproblemssuch as theplacement of any nominal or pronominal objectswithrespecttotheverb. Idioms are alsotypicallymetaphorical in historicaloretymologicalterms. 3) Idioms: Referstomulti-worditemswhich are notthesum of theirparts: theyhaveholisticmeaningswhichcannotberetgrievedfromthe individual meanings of thecomponentwords. In terms of fixedness are oftenheldtoberelativelyfrozen and haveseveregrammaticalrestrictions. Metaphormayberelativelystraightforwardtodecode Regardtoinstitutionalisation are generallyinfrequent.

8. 4) Fixedphrases: Cover a number of multi-worditemswhichfalloutsidethepreviouscategories. Includeitemssuch as: in fact, byfar as well as greetings and a fewothers. Stronglyinstitutionalised and stronglyfixed. Compositionalityis variable in kind and degree. Grammaticallyill-formedorbecausetheyhavespecialist and non-predictablepragmaticfunctions. Similes and proverbs can beincluded in thiscategory. 5) Prefabs: Alsoknown as prefabricatedroutines. Referto as lexicalisedsentencestemsorready-made (complex) units. Prefabs are preconstructedphrases, phraseologicalchunks, stereotypedcollocationsorsemifixedstringswhich are tiedtodiscoursalsituations and which forma structuringdevices. Frequentlyused as particular kinds of signalorconvention, buttheyoftenvaryratherthanbeingcompletelyfrozen.

9. Traditions and models of multi-worditems Semantics-based, are in manyrespectsthemosttraditional. Theydifferentiatebetweencategories of multi-worditemsaccordingtodegrees of compositionality and alsoaimtoidentifythe irreducible semanticbuilding-blocks of thelexicon. In contrast, Syntax-basedtakegrammaticalwell-formedness as theirstartingpoint. Multi-worditems and in particular idioms and fixedphrases are often non-compositionalbecausethey do notobey rules. A lastmodelisknown as Functional, and heremulti-worditems are integratedintothevocabulary in terms of theirpragmaticswhich leads to a more practicalapproachwheremulti-worditems can beintegratedinto a dynamicmodel of language-in-use, rathenthanlanguage-as artifact.

10. Multi-worditems and corpus evidence Themodelsseen set outtoprovetheirrobustnessthroughconventialmodes of argumentation, etc. In contrast, corpus linguisticsoverrecentyearshadmadepossibleto examine lexis in a more scientific and objectiveway. Secondgeneration: 20 millionwordsweretoimprovehereapproximately. Firstgeneration: toorare and toogenre-specificto show up. (words) Themain idea of thecorporaistopresentthemostfrequentwords, however general tendencies are show up again and again in differentcorpora. There are a lot of multi-worditems in thelanguagebut a lot of them are veryinfrequent.

11. Variability in multi-worditems • Some of the principal kinds of variation are represented in thefollowing: • British/American variations: Holdthefort(Br) / Holddownthefort(Am) • Varying lexical component: Throw in thesponge/towel • Unstableverbs: show/declare your true colors • Truncation • Transformation: break the ice/ice-breaker In extreme cases, there are no fixed lexical items at allbutmerelysomesort of lexico-semanticcorewhich can beconsideredan idiom-schema.0

12. Multi-worditems in text and discourse Whilecorporaprovidesonekind of evidenceformulti-worditems; textsprovideanother. Bycheckingdifferentkinds of multi-worditem in particular texttypes, it can beseenthatthere are oftenstronggenrepreferences. Ex: Idioms are especiallyassociatedwithjournalism as well as informal conversation. Itisalsomentionedthefactthatmulti-worditemshaveimportant roles withrespecttothestructure of text. Ex: Generalising, compoundstypically denote and havehighinformationcontent; mostlybecausetheyhavetechnicaltermsorhavespecificreference. Fixedphrases and prefabsoftenorganise and providetheframeworkfortheargument of a text.

13. Secondlanguagelearningperspectives Multi-worditems are typicallypresented as a problem in teaching a foreignlanguageduetotheir non-compositionality, whethersyntactic, semanticorpragmatic in naturewhichmeansthattheymustberecognisedlearned, decoded and encoded as holisticunits. At thesame time multi-worditems are languagespecific and theyhave particular sociocultural connotations and associations. Whenanalogousmulti-worditemsexist in notonly L1 butalso in L2, they are unlikelytobeexactcounterparts and theremaybedifferentconstraintsontheir use. L2 typicallyavoidusingmulti-worditems, evenwherethelanguages are closelyrelated and haveapparentlyparallelexpressions.

14. Teachingmulti-worditems Manypedagogicaltechniquesfortheacquisition of multi-worditemshavebeensuggested. Themostappropriatestrategyforteachingthemisthe use of short dialogues and at more advancedlevelsthe use of contextualisedexampleswould show up discoursalfeatures. Finally, collocations are a veryimportantprinciplewithinthestructure of language . Multi-worditems can bereallyfrequentornotthatmuchbutstillhave a veryimportant role in real discourse.