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Bujnova O. J.
Удмуртский госуниверситет
COLLOCATION: ANOTHER CHALLENGE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION?
"To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement" Mark Twain
The chief focus of this article are set phrases, the sort of vocabulary that is repeated and through constant repetition stored in our memories as more or less frozen units. Despite differences over terminology, specialists broadly agree in recognizing a basic division between "set phrases" and which are divided into collocations and idioms, and set sentences, which can be divided into a number of traditional categories, typically of sentence length, including proverbs (a stitch in time
saves nine), catchphrases (round up the usual suspects), and advertising slogans (all we do is driven by you). Set phrases and set sentences differ not only because the latter are potentially longer and more complex but because they have different uses and convey different kind of meanings. What is collocation?
Collocation is the way words combine in а language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing [Oxford Collocations Dictionary 2010]. Collocations are by far the largest
group of set phrases in English, they serve as a constant reminder that much of the language we use from day to day is ready-made, as distinct from freshly minted by the application of semantic rules. A collocation is memorized as a lexical unity, but at the same time it is typically divided in two, both semantically and grammatically. The semantic division is clear from the fact that the nouns in both sets of examples are used in literal sense: carry/bear/cover/meet/pay cost; cross/enter/flash across/spring to mind. By contrast, the verbs in the sets have a meaning that is often metaphorical. The nouns, with their literal meaning, can occur independently. In addition, collocations are typically pairs of words fitting a grammatical pattern. For each combination of the verb + noun type, there are two slots, in which we can attempt to substitute verbs and/or nouns. The extent to which this is possible tells us how "free" or how "bound" the example is.
We can see how this works in practice with the combination take a book. Here, the choice of nouns in the second slot (pen, phone, vase, flower, etc.) is exceptionally wide and, as a result, here we deal with a "free combination", not a collocation. With set phrases, the range of choice is more tightly constrained. Though many collocations can be easily understood, because of the literal meaning of one word, a characteristic feature is limited choice at one point. How tightly the constituent components are organized within the phrase is in the nature of gradation [Cowie 2009].
Collocations can be put between free phrases and idioms.
Collocations and idioms
With idioms, the meaning is completely non-compositional whereas collocations, as we have just seen, are mostly compositional: collocations have a figurative meaning that takes place only in a part of the phrase, in an idiom the figurative shift extends over the entire phrase. Let's consider the following examples:
"to sit on one's hands" - "to take no actions" (an idiom)
"to sit idly" - "to have nothing to do" (a collocation) The degree of the cohesion of the lexical units within the idiom may as well be different. The meaning of the idiom like water off a duck's back is be unaffected by an unpleasant experience. Here is the context:
A: Anita, the ageing ballerina, is starring in a new production of "Swan Lake". All the newspaper critics said she was too old and should retire.
B: Oh dear, I'm sure Anita was very upset when she read the reviews.
A: No, the comments were like water off a duck's back to Anita. She invited all the critics to her house and told them she was still the best dancer in the world!
In this very example the idea of the whole phrase is quite clear for a Russian learner of English: we have the same idiom (but in our case it is not a duck but a goose).
Another example. The meaning of the idiom make a mountain out of a molehill
is to make a small problem seem very important/ exaggerate a minor difficulty. Here is the context:
A: Doctor, I'm really frightened. I've just come back from Africa and I'm sure I've caught malaria. I sneezed twice this morning.
B: Now Mr. Worrier, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. All you have is a cold!
We don't have the same frame of reference in the Russian language, though the idea may be expressed by the Russian idiom - делать из мухи слона.
The most difficult cases for language learners appear when there is no equivalent in the Russian language. Some idioms are opaque semantically, for example: get on like a house on fire with the meaning to enjoy the company of someone very much. Here is the context:
A: My father met my new boyfriend last week.
B: Oh dear, I'm sure that didn't go very well. Your father doesn't like young men with red and green hair.
A: Actually they got on like a house on fire. They discovered that they both like opera and talked about it all afternoon!
It is important to distinguish between idioms proper and collocations when working on English vocabulary, paying special attention to different range of semantic combinability of the elements within a set phrase. While teaching vocabulary we should aim at giving the full range of collocation - from the fairly weak (see a movie, an enjoyable experience, extremely complicated), through the medium-strength (see a doctor, direct equivalent, highly intelligent) to the strongest and most restricted (see reason, burning ambition, blindingly obvious).
Why is collocation important for language learning?
Collocation is a habitual combination of words which sounds natural [Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 2008]. Collocation runs through the whole of the English language. No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation. The ability to produce the right pairing of words, like mount an exhibition, is a form of socially approved behavior, and rather like "good" manners, becomes self-effacing once acquired [Cowie 2009:51].
The senesces below are both correct but for an advanced English leaner it is more natural to use the second utterance:
This is a good book and contains a lot of interesting details.
This is a fascinating book and contains a wealth of historical detail.
Having analysed the most typical mistakes made by advanced students of the English language, it may be possible to distinguish some groups of collocation, which represent a real challenge.
Types of Collocation
Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating
joy),
Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions cry)
Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
Verb + Expression with Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)
Teaching Strategies
Begin by making students realize how many collocations they already know.
Ask them to spot collocations in reading texts and to record new collocations, as well as new words, in their vocabulary notebooks.
Draw attention to opportunities for including collocations when marking their written work.
Give your students some useful tips how to deal with set phrases.
How to learn collocations?
Be aware of collocations as a phenomenon;
Treat collocations as single blocks of language: remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words;
Write down other words that collocate with a new word you learn;
Read as much as possible;
Revise what you learn regularly;
Learn collocations in groups that work for you;
Find information on collocations in any good learner's dictionary (Oxford Collocations Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary);
As a result your language will be more natural and more easily understood, you will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
Why use a Collocations Dictionary?
Modern dictionaries are increasingly giving attention to collocation. But they are still hampered by trying to provide a whole range of information about any word besides its collocations. A collocational dictionary doesn't have to generalize to the same extent: it covers the entire language on a word by word, collocation by collocation basis. It manages this by not attempting to account for every possible utterance, only for what is most typical [Oxford Collocations Dictionary 2010]. The Oxford English Corpus is a database of almost two billon words of text in English taken from up-to-date sources from around the world, ensuring that we have the most accurate information about word behavior possible.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary covers all the collocations in common use in general British English. It is based on a thorough analysis of authentic, representative language. It is presented with copious example sentences showing them in use.
To make the process of learning collocation more effective, consideration should be given to some of the exercises, which take students systematically through the different section of nouns, verbs, adjectives, quantifiers, adverbs. For example: in each of the following sentences one of the adverbs is not a common collocate of the verbs in bold. Decide which it is.
He grinned owlishly/sheepishly/wolfishly at her.
He blankly/categorically/flatly denies that he has committed a crime.
They will fiercely/heatedly/passionately defend their rights.
She argued fiercely/heatedly/hotly about her right to compensation.
When proper collocations (to grin sheepishly/wolfishly; to deny categorically/flatly; to defend fiercely/passionately; to argue fiercely/heatedly) have been lodged in a student's memory it makes for fluency of expression, since the speaker now has a ready-made, conventional ways of conveying a particular meaning in a given context.
Литература
1. Oxford Collocations Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2010.
2. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Pearson Longman, 2008.
3. Cowie A. P. Semantics. Oxford University Press, 2009.
4. Applebee J., Rush A. Help with idioms. Heinemann, 2002.
Ljamina I. D.
Удмуртский госуниверситет
EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE AS THE REFLECTION OF THE GROWTH OF THE NATION
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses
erected in the sea of time. Barbara W. Tuchman
Literature of any nation reflects its growths and development like a mirror. As long as it implies all the literary works created by citizens, literature can be defined as national identity. Apart from this, literature serves as a bridge which connects previous generations with the present ones. Writers and poets of every century take inspiration from external reality and pass it on to further generations.
The significance of early American literary productions cannot be underestimated. They documented the process of a new nation emergence and contributed to the development of national literary culture of the United States during the next centuries. When reading literary works of colonial writers one can therefore get the full image of the New World, learn about Indian culture understand values and assumptions of people living in colonial America.
Although American literature evolves out of Native American oral literature, the vast majority of literary works were
