Howarth P.A. Phraseology in English Academic Writing. Some implications for language learning and dictionary making. Lexicographica. Series Maioг 75

Tiibingen: Niemeyer Verlag, 1996. — 243 p.
Lexicographica : supplementary volumes to the International annual for lexicography / publ. in coopération with the Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) and the European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX).The study reported hère examines the use of prefàbricated language in the production of native and non-native writers of Engiish. In particular, it investigates the role that conventional lexical collocations play in the academic style of the social sciences, in an attempt to throw light on a neglected aspect of learner compétence. In order to do this, it first surveys the existing theoretical viewpoints on word combinations, fixed expressions and collocations and develops a framework within wbich one specifie category can best be described in détail: restricted collocations. It then reviews experimental research into the psycholinguistic processing of prefàbricated language, which suggests that the significance of such multi-word units is that they are stored in the mental lexicon as wholes and are used as conventional expressions to facilítate fluent production and rapid compréhension. A computer-based corpus of native académie writing is analysed to discover to what extent such collocations are found in formai written English and how they are used. ш sphe of a certain amount of déviation from expected norms, this style is found to be conventional in the use of collocations. Conventionality of style, it is suggested, aids precision of expression, clearly a quahry highly vahied in academie argument. A corpus of advanced learner writing is then subjected to a similar analysis. This corpus consiste of academic essays produced by overseas postgraduate students attending a UK university. While the collocational errors they make do not on the whole seriously destroy intelligibility, they can lead to a lack of precision and obscure the clarity required in academic communication. Pedagogical implications are then considered, and it is seen that for the most part published teaching materials have fàiled to recognize the nature of collocations and offer little help. The final part of the study examines the treatment of restricted collocations in general and phraseological dictionaries for learners. These are evaluated on their selection and présentation of collocations shown by the preceding research to be problematic for advanced learners. The conclusion suggests that, for such learners, who are mostly studying the language independently, good reference works are needed in the form of speciaüst collocational dictionaries. The results of this research help to establish principies for the design of such dictionaries.