The network of words: an analysis of the collocate PETIT in French collocations
Ryleigh Lightbourn - [email protected]
Research advisors: Dr. Catherine Caws (Supervisor), Dr. Emmanuel Hérique (Second reader), Dr. Catherine Léger (Honours advisor)
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Introduction & Research Goals
Semantic Analysis
This research has two goals:
Synonyms
1. To identify a way to systematise collocations by the semantic and syntactic nature of their collocates
2. To explore the advantages that this system might have compared to the system of modern dictionaries
Our study analyses 10 French collocations whose adjectival collocate
is PETIT, by drawing from Igor Mel’čuk’s Meaning-Text Theory (MTT),
which uses Lexical Functions (LF) to understand the nature of words
and their combinations (Mel’čuk, 2003). By manipulating already
established LF, as well as identifying our own LF, our study uses the
MTT to understand the semantic breakdown of these 10 collocations,
as well as their syntactic nature. Ultimately, these micro-analyses
underline particular features of the collocate PETIT, in hopes to
propose a systematic model that can be used to understand and
define collocates and collocations.
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Antonyms
Derivation
Syntactic Analysis
- Syn(petit coin)= les toilettes ; les
cabinets ; le cabinet de toilette
- SynQC(petit coin)= la salle de
bain(s)
- SynQC⊃(petit coin)= la bécosse
- Syn⊃(petit coin)= les latrines
à [visiter au ~ ; aller au ~]
Déter(x)
defined article : le/les
Epit(x)
no attributes
Verbs(x)
- Func(x) = être [ ~ est là]
- Verbecir(x) = être [où est le ~] ; aller
[au ~] ; visiter [au ~]
1957: Firth defines
collocations as « the habitual
and recurrent juxtaposition of
semantically related
words » (Bartch & Evert, 2014,
p. 48). This quantitative
definition kickstarts research
on their use in language
learning and comprehension
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Identify 10 collocations:
selected out of the 350
most frequent COOCCURRENCES of the
word PETIT from a list in
Antidote
Example extraction:
select at least 20
citations per collocation
from Antidote, as well as
examples from linguee.fr
and google searches
Step 1 Criteria:
1) possesses a strong semantic link
2) composed of a noun (the base)
and an adjective (PETIT, i.e. the
collocate)
3) included in articles of three
dictionaries that we draw from in our
study (Le Grand Robert
électronique, Antidote, et usito)
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3
Primary Analysis:
semantic and syntactic
micro-analysis of our
examples. Each analysis
uses a specific set of LF
Secondary Analysis:
1) Identify the nature of
PETIT by the way it
modifies the base.
2) Identify the syntactic
nature of certain
semantic contexts
Les toilettes
[specific]
Petit coin (x)
Step 3 LF:
All LF are defined in the bottom
middle column.
Semantic analysis defines
the various meanings in
relation to the context of use
Syntactic analysis defines
the set of grammatically
determined vocabulary
Results & Discussion
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Context
Despite its long history, the collocation was
rarely studied before the mid-20th century. As a
result, modern dictionaries do not sufficiently
define them (Hausmann & Blumenthal, 2006).
To identify a way to systematise collocations by the semantic and
syntactic nature of their collocates
1
Semantic - we divided the nature of PETIT from 10 collocations into 5 categories:
1990’s: Igor Mel’čuk (1992,
1995, 2003), Alain Polguère
(1998, 2003), Hausmann
(2006) and others identified
and developed a qualitative
definition of the collocation
2. Un endroit retiré (souvent fig.)
[non-specific]
2000’s: New research that
almost entirely uses the
qualitative definition of the
collocation for pedagogy,
lexicology and lexicography
DEFINITION OF THE COLLOCATION
Semantic analysis
Syntactic Analysis
Synonyms
Varmorph(x) Les petits coins
Derivation
A non-arbitrary binary word pairing composed of a BASE and a
COLLOCATE.
The base is independently chosen and maintains more or less
its original meaning.
The collocate is dependently chosen in response to a base,
and changes its meaning depending on the context.
Collocations are more or less figurative depending on the
context and the strength of their semantic link.
Methodology
Drawing from Igor Mel’čuk’s MTT (1995; 2003) our study uses LF to
analyse the semantic and syntactic natures of the collocate PETIT.
LF (ex. Magn - intensifiers, Oper - direct object verbs, etc.) identify
and label a clear semantic or syntactical connection. Our research
applies this concept and relates it to the nature of collocates. We will
see if it is possible to identify the way in which collocates modify the
meaning of bases through the use of already established LF, as well
as some created for our study.
(1) Modifier of affection: positive, familiar
Petit coin, Petit ami
(2) Modifier of affection: negative, derogatory
Petit vieux
(3) Modifier of size in comparison to a larger category: (Petit) écran, annonce,
more specific
cuillère, doigt, gâteau
Antonyms
3
Prép(x)
- V0(petit coin)=coincer
- A0(petit coin)= coincé
1.
1
Varmorph(x) les petits coins
ø
EVOLUTION OF THE COLLOCATION
16th century: The first French
dictionaries (ex. le Dictionnaire
de l’Académie française) listed
collocations, which were still
undefined, at the beginning of
dictionary articles. This
representation evolved to
overlook collocations simply
as examples used to describe
other words (Hausmann &
Blumenthal, 2006)
Analysis Procedure
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- Syn(petit coin)= un petit
endroit ; une alcôve ; un coin
- Syn⊃(petit coin)= un lopin
(de terre)
Syntactic - We sorted the grammatical behaviours of our collocations into 2 types:
Déter(x)
- undefined articles: un, des
- demonstrative articles (plus rare): ce,
ces
- defined articles: le, les [Rare : x +
attribute ; possession: le ~ de terre
qu’on a acheté]
- uses defined article (le/les)
- variety of articles (little restriction)
- no attribute = does not need to be - often + attribute = needs to be
further defined, or possessed
possessed or specified
Verbs(x)
Petit gâteau
Petit mot
Petit pas
- de + noun : de lecture ; de nature ;
du nord-ouest de l’Ontario ; de terre ;
de (la) planète ; de paradis ; de son
cerveau ; etc.
- un ~ + attribute : dans votre vie
(quotidienne); confortable ; tranquille;
etc.
- Oper(x) = réserver; avoir; découvrir;
choisir; retrouver; entretenir; exploiter
- Func(x) = être [adj. : ex. ce ~ est riche]
DEFINITIONS - LF
-
Syn = Synonym
SynQC = Quebec specific synonym
SynFR = France specific synonym
Syn⊃ = More specific synonym
Syn⊂ = Less specific synonym
- Contr = Antonym
- Contr⊃ = More specific antonym
- Contr⊂ = Less specific antonym
- V0(x) = Verbal derivation
- A0(x) = Adjectival derivation
- Adv0(x) = Adverbial derivation
-
Petit pas
Specific concept
- V0(petit coin)=coincer
- A0(petit coin)= coincé
Petit écran
Petite annonce
Petite cuillère
Petit doigt
(5) Modifier of progression: context of time or space
No common prepositions
Epit(x)
Petit coin
Petit ami
Petit vieux
Petit mot
Prép(x)
- Contr = un endroit peuplé
SELECTED COLLOCATIONS
(4) Modifier of precision: increase importance, reduce
duration/size
Prép = Prepositions
Déter = Determinants
Epit = Modifiers or attributes
Varmorph = Morphological
variation
- Verbes:
- Oper(x) = x = Direct object (DO)
- Func(x) = x = Subject
- Labour(x) = x = Indirect object (IO)
- Verbecir(x) = x = Adverbial adjunct
Non-Specific concept
To explore the advantages that this system might have compared to the
system of modern dictionaries
2
Modern Dictionaries:
- Do not distinguish between collocations and co-occurrences
- Define collocates by their base (base which/who is small, etc.)
- Do not present a strict system of sorting collocations
-
(ex. The GR: under PETIT, petit coin is only found in examples, under COIN it is
defined as “les cabinets”. BUT petit ami is defined under both PETIT and AMI)
not define any syntactic trends or uses (examples imply syntactic uses)
- Do
Our System:
- Defines collocations precisely, recognising their binary semantic use
- Defines collocates by their nature (how they modify bases)
- Defines syntactic trends and uses of collocations
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References
Dictionaries:
Antidote. Montréal : Druide informatique
Cajolet-Laganière, H., Martel, P. (2013). usito. Sherbrooke: éditions Delisme.
Le Grand Robert de la langue française (Web ed.). Paris : Dictionnaires Le Robert.
References
Bartsch, S., & Evert, S. (2014). Towards a Firthian notion of collocation. Network
Strategies, Access Structures and Automatic Extraction of Lexicographical
Information. 2nd Work Report of the Academic Network Internet
Lexicography, OPAL–Online publizierte Arbeiten zur Linguistik. Institut für
Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, to appear.
Hausmann, F. J. et Blumenthal, P. (2006). Présentation : collocations, corpus,
dictionnaires. Langue française 2 (n° 150), p. 3-13. doi : 10.3917/lf.150.0003.
Polguère, A. (1998). La théorie sens-texte. Université de Montréal
http://papillon.imag.fr/static/info_media/1620886.pdf
Polguère, A. (2003). Lexicologie et sémantique lexicale : Notions fondamentales. Montréal :
Presses de l'Université de Montréal.
Mel’čuk, I., Clas, A. et Polguère, A. (1995). Introduction à la lexicologie explicative et
combinatoire. Louvain : Duculot.
Mel’čuk, I. (1992). Paraphrase et lexique : La Théorie Sens-Texte et le Dictionnaire explicatif
et combinatoire. Dans I. Mel’čuk et A. Class (dir), Dictionnaire explicatif et
combinatoire du français contemporain : recherches lexico-sémantique (vol. 3, p.
9-58). Montréal : Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal.
Mel’čuk, I. (2003). Collocations dans le dictionnaire. Dans T. Szende (dir.), Les écarts
culturels dans les Dictionnaires bilingues. Paris : Honoré Champion, p. 19-64.
A special thank you to the Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards which allowed me to conduct this research and to the UVic French Department for all of their support.
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