English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

7:11 AM

@RegDwigнt alright, you win

2 hours later…

9:05 AM

@Malavika I can give it a go - what are you stuck on?

As far as I understand it, a collocation is a phrase

And it has stuck - everyone uses it, and you can't use synonyms instead of one of the words in the phrase

Imagine it is like a car - you can't change your tyres to monster truck tires without it looking very odd

Does that help?

That is probably a weak collocation

The main difference is that 'to commit a crime' is something a native user would use more often

Usually say 'commit a crime'

It's probably because of courts, which use formal language

The best way to find examples is by reading books

Another example: you park your truck in a car park, but there isn't something called a truck park

I assume you are an English learner - you probably have collocation in your native language

10:00 AM

@Malavika see skell.sketchengine.co.uk

3 hours later…

12:58 PM

@Malavika a collocation is just a combination of words.

For example, "red car" is a common collocation, and "mathematical car" is not.

When you do research on collocations, that simply means that you look at which words commonly combine with a given word, and which do not.

So in your example, you are looking for verbs that collocate with crime.

You can use a corpus search for that. For example, COCA has a tab specifically for finding collocations.

english-corpora.org/coca

In the first search box, you enter "crime". In the second, you enter "verb.ALL" to cover all possible verb forms. So it finds and counts not just commit, but also commits, committed, committing.

And then you click on the numbers to specify the relative position of the verb that you want the search results to include.

So for example, only selecting the number -1 will match "commit crime" and "reduce crime", but not "commit a crime" or "solve a horrible crime".

Likewise, selecting +4 will match "crime has been swiftly solved" but not "crime was solved".

And then you just click on the "find" button and look at the results.

From these you see that a crime can be committed, solved, reduced, fought, organized, and so on. But not done. You do not do a crime.

@marcellothearcane that's a wonderfully funny thing to say.

A language with no collocations would need to consist of just one word. And you'd only use the word once and then never say anything ever again.

As soon as you said the word twice in a row, it'd already collocate with itself.

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is just all collocations all the time.

Counting them shall be left as an exercise to the reader.

Darts in Higher Dimensions (with 3blue1brown) - Numberphile

1:50 PM

►

This is the best thing ever. Everyone should watch it.

@RegDwigнt One

Or twenty eight (counting on my fingers)

Q: Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?

2:03 PM

> Consistency is only a virtue if you’re not a screw-up.

Good. You're now ready for the next level:

Certain words you hear in English are only ever heard in a single context. For example, skirl is used to describe the sound a bagpipe makes. Etymonline generously says the word is "rarely" heard outside that context, but I can't recall ever hearing it used for anything else. I imagine one could u...

A: Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?

It's a "stormy petrel." The idea, as described on the linked page, is that (for example) you never (or, at least, rarely) find a petrel that's not stormy. Similarly, "all shrift is short," and lots of other examples. One of the ones there is in fact "every skirl is of bagpipes."

> All PETRELS are STORMY (Except, of course, those that aren't. This item remains on the list
for historical reasons.) All SHRIFT is SHORT
All DUDGEON is HIGH
All MEEMIES are SCREAMING
All DURANCE is VILE
All RECRIMINATIONS are BITTER
All FIGMENTS are OF somebody's IMAGINATION
Every CYNOSURE is OF ALL EYES
All ZEST is FOR LIFE
All TURPITUDE is MORAL
Every SCRUFF is OF THE NECK
All FETTLE is FINE
Every NAPE is OF THE NECK
All PARLANCE is COMMON
All SNIFTERS are BRANDY
All GUIGNOL is GRAND
Every SKIRL is OF BAGPIPES

2 hours later…

3:48 PM

Is there anything I should be upset about?

I feel like there should be a ton of stuff but I'm just having trouble getting worked up about anything.

skullpatrol

how about trump's list of convicted felons working for him?

What?

skullpatrol

yeah, twitter is buzzing about it

it's not worth getting worked up about

4:36 PM

@skullpatrol Oh I know what is really effing anonying.

It's super cod outside and you put your gloves on and you go to the car and you go to pull out your keys so you have to take out your keys from your pocket but your glove has to be taken off but it's freezing outside.

OMG somebody should go to prison over that.

5:16 PM

@Mitch you should be upset about the weather.

@Mitch oh good on you, you've found the weather.

@Malavika many people do. I'm a busy man.

I'm watching Rocketman on YouTube. That's a lot of work.

4 hours later…

9:36 PM

@RegDwigнt Is that some science fiction space story?

10:31 PM

@RegDwigнt hilarious, aren't I.

Is there such a thing as a single word collocation?

Like 'dismembered', 'disgruntled', 'unbidden', &c.?

Cerberus

11:13 PM

Also known as a word?

It isn't con- with anything.

11:47 PM

@marcellothearcane That is not what collocation means. I'm not sure what pattern you're trying to describe.

Of course a single word that is repeated or appears multiple times in a phrase is definitely a 'self' collocation. But that is somewhat rare in English.

Reduplication

In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. Reduplication is used in inflections to convey a grammatical function, such as plurality, intensification, etc., and in lexical derivation to create new words. It is often used when a speaker adopts a tone more "expressive" or figurative than ordinary speech and is also often, but not exclusively, iconic in meaning. Reduplication is found in a wide range of languages and language groups, though its level of linguisti...

For side by side instances, only baby talk or onomatopoeia in English.

In long phrases they tend towards aphorisms, 'a rose is a rose is a rose' or 'we must all hang together or we will all hang separately'

Google search must actually take into account multiple uses of words since search results are different if you repeat a word.

Cerberus

> a collocation is a series of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance.

I don't think the term is used for mere morphemes?