A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF COLLOCATIONS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY VERB —— MAKE Wan Hua Shanghai University 2007-5-20

Research purpose This paper endeavors to probe into all types of collocation. Its primary focus is to explore the principles that underlie collocational differences between native speakers of English and Chinese learners of English by observing, describing and explaining their respective linguistic behavior, so as to offer some useful suggestions for references in foreign language instructions.

Research methodology Contrastive analysis A case study on the differences between native speakers and non-native speakers concerning the high-frequency verb “make”. A systematic contrastive analysis is conducted on real-life linguistic data collected from British National Corpus (BNC) and Chinese Learners English Corpus (CLEC).

outline Definitions and classifications of collocations Data and findings First, data collection and classification. Second, contrast and analysis of the data. Third, findings and explanations of the differences and similarities in the data. conclusion

Definitions and classifications of collocations

Table 1 Cowie’s delimitation of collocations defining example free combination - restriction on substitution can be specified on semantic grounds -all elements of the word combination are used in a literal sense want a car read the book collocation - some substitution is possible, but there are arbitrary limitations on substitution at least one element has a non-literal meaning, and at least one element is used in its literal sense; the whole combination is transparent perform a task play the role figurative idiom - substitution of the elements is seldom possible - the combination has a figurative meaning, but preserves a current literal interpretation do a U-turn do a favor idiom - substitution of the elements is impossible - the combination has a figurative meaning does not preserve a current literal interpretation blow the guff rain cats and dogs

Table 2 Nesselhauf’s delimitation of collocations defining example free combination - elements are used without arbitrary restriction on their commutability buy a pen read a paper collocation - nouns are used in the sense without arbitrary restriction but verb in the given sense restricted to certain nouns shrug one’s shoulder, make a decision idiom - either no separate senses can be identified for the verb and the noun sweeten the pill kick the bucket

Table 3 Classification of collocations in the present study defining Example free collocation The elements are substituted without arbitrary restriction read a book restricted collocation The nouns are used in the sense without arbitrary restriction but verb in the given sense restricted to certain nouns perform an operation Fixed collocation The separate literal senses can not be guessed for the verb and the noun face the music

Data and Findings

Table 4 Overall frequency of make in CLEC-ST5 node make makes made making “make” in all forms frequency 375 78 239 41 733

Table 5 Overall frequency of make in BNC Node make makes made making “make” in all forms frequency 77392 16485 92659 27105 213641

Table 6 Overall result from ST-5 and BNC Make BNC % CLEC-ST5 Idioms 18 3.5 3 0.5 make up 21 4.2 17 2.8 make + noun / pronoun + noun 13 2.6 14 2.3 make + noun / pronoun + verb 45 8.9 84 make + noun / pronoun + adjective 83 16 150 25 make + adjective 26 5.1 2.2 make + noun 286 56.6 223 37 (be) made (up) of 67 11.2 make + verb 5 1 others 8 1.6 27 4.5 total 505 598

Table 7 Comparison of make use of in CLEC-ST5 and BNC frequency number of adjectives make (adjective) use of CLEC-ST5 14 4(28%) make good use of, make full use of, make the best use of, make the great use of BNC 11 5(45%) make heavy use of, make full use of, make more constructive use of, make increasing use of, make frequent use of

Findings Corpus evidence based on contrastive studies indicates that significant differences exist between native speakers of English and Chinese learners of English in the use of “make” in terms of choice of collocates and their frequencies. The study concludes that L2 learning is affected by native language, target language and learning strategies as well.

Conclusion Implications for L2 Learning and Teaching in China 1. Developing Learner’s Consciousness of Collocation 2 Facilitating Learning Strategies 3 Teaching Collocations Scout62wxh@163.com