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Coming to terms with  lexical chunks:  Identifying, using and teaching . Helen Osimo,  University of Haifa Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel [email_address]
Jerusalem is lost in translation !! Tourism officials in Israel did little to sell the city of Jerusalem as a must-see for visitors when a brochure  suggested it did not exist.   The sightseeing pamphlet was translated   from Hebrew to English and read:
"Jerusalem -  there's no such city !",  instead of the slogan:  "Jerusalem -  there's no city like it !". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5364192.stm Published: 2006/09/20 14:27:14 GMT  (taken from Maariv)
IDIOMATIC LEXICAL CHUNK ILC full idioms     semi-     transparent/   variable chunks |____________________________________________| kick the bucket   no such city/word/person
…  a formulaic unit "is no longer obliged to be grammatically regular or semantically logical"   Wray (2002:33)
IDENTIFYING ILCs CRITERIA :  an idiomatic lexical chunk is a  multiword unit that is  1.grammatically irregular –  at least one component does not follow regular grammatical rules; irregularity includes fixedness and grammatical  constraints
and/or 2. semantically opaque in varying degrees –  at least one component in the unit does not convey its conventional meaning.
semantically opaque I’m all  ears come to  terms  with by  and  large
grammatical irregularities tense:  It’s about time you  went  to bed
grammatical irregularities tense:  It’s about time you  went  to bed article: Just say  the  word
grammatical irregularities tense:  It’s about time you  went  to bed article: Just say  the  word fixed tense:  Come  to think of it
grammatical irregularities tense: It’s about time you  went  to bed article: Just say  the  word fixed tense:  Come  to think of it  restricted to the plural: I’m all ear s
Julia and I go way back. The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs. Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck, and that now and again her shift becomes loose.  I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I make the best of it. After all, we've been through a lot over the years: two books, reams of journalism, and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it, we're partners because we understand each other. In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot.  My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter!
Julia and  I  go way back .  The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our  ups and downs . Sometimes she  makes me furious  and I am ashamed to admit that  once or twice  I've even knocked her about a bit. What  drives me crazy  is the way her ‘P’  keeps getting stuck , and that  now and again  her shift becomes loose.  I never  see   eye to eye  with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate  nook and cranny  is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I  make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot  over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters.  Come to think of it , we're partners because we need  each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my  one and only  companion –  for better or for worse  – and her loyalty  means a lot .  My friends and colleagues are always  making fun of me  and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that  sooner or later  I’ll have to start using a word-processor and  get rid of  Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
PERCENTAGE OF CHUNKS IN THE TEXT 189 words  19 ILCs (66 words) 35% of the text comprises ILCs
PERVASIVENESS OF LEXICAL CHUNKS 58.6%  spoken and  52.3%  written texts (Erman & Warren:2000)
USING   ILCs three structural patterns : fixed variable discontinuous
Julia and  I  go way back .  The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our  ups and downs . Sometimes she  makes me furious  and I am ashamed to admit that  once or twice  I've even knocked her about a bit. What  drives me crazy  is the way her ‘P’  keeps getting stuck , and that  now and again  her shift becomes loose.  I never  see   eye to eye  with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate  nook and cranny  is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I  make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot  over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters.  Come to think of it , we're partners because we need  each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my  one and only  companion –  for better or for worse  – and her loyalty  means a lot .  My friends and colleagues are always  making fun of me  and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that  sooner or later  I’ll have to start using a word-processor and  get rid of  Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
Julia and  I  go way back .  The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our  ups and downs . Sometimes she  makes me furious  and I am ashamed to admit that  once or twice  I've even knocked her about a bit. What  drives me crazy  is the way her ‘P’  keeps getting stuck , and that  now and again  her shift becomes loose.  I never  see   eye to eye  with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate  nook and cranny  is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I  make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot  over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters.  Come to think of it , we're partners because we need  each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my  one and only  companion –  for better or for worse   – and her loyalty  means a lot .  My friends and colleagues are always  making fun of me  and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that  sooner or later  I’ll have to start using a word-processor and  get rid of  Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
Julia and  I  go way back .  The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our  ups and downs . Sometimes she  makes me furious  and I am ashamed to admit that  once or twice  I've even knocked her about a bit. What  drives me crazy  is the way her ‘P’  keeps getting stuck , and that  now and again  her shift becomes loose.  I never  see   eye to eye  with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate  nook and cranny  is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I  make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot  over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters.  Come to think of it , we're partners because we need  each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my  one and only  companion –  for better or for worse   – and her loyalty  means a lot .  My friends and colleagues are always  making fun of me  and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that  sooner or later  I’ll have to start using a word-processor and  get rid of  Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
Julia and  I  go way back .  The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our  ups and downs . Sometimes she  makes me furious  and I am ashamed to admit that  once or twice  I've even knocked her about a bit. What  drives me crazy  is the way her ‘P’  keeps getting stuck , and that  now and again  her shift becomes loose.  I never  see   eye to eye  with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate  nook and cranny  is constantly clogged up with dust.  But Julia and I  make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot  over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters.  Come to think of it , we're partners because we need  each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my  one and only  companion –  for better or for worse   – and her loyalty  means a lot .  My friends and colleagues are always  making fun of me  and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that  sooner or later  I’ll have to start using a word-processor and  get rid of  Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
IDIOMATIC LEXICAL CHUNKS FIXED VARIABLE (verb tense, pronoun, negation) DIS- CONTINUOUS (+ lexical items)
The fixed pattern once or twice  nook and cranny  come to think of it  each other  over the years
The variable pattern   [see] eye to eye  saw eye to eye have never seen eye to eye   didn’t see eye to eye  [ Make] the best of [it]
The discontinuous pattern keeps getting stuck which would be represented  keeps getting [ADJ]  keeps getting  lost/sick/tired/bored
She kept getting sick They keep getting lost represented thus : [keep] getting [ADJ]
ILCs grammatically irregular  and/or  semantically   opaque FIXED once or twice   each other   VARIABLE [see] eye to eye DIS-CONTINUOUS [keep] getting [ ADJ ]
TEACHING  ILCs   Should we teach them? Which chunks should we teach? Who should be taught? How should we teach them?
TEACHING  ILCs text-oriented approach goal-oriented approach practice tasks organisational frameworks
CATEGORIES as an organisational framework speech acts   modal verbs delexicalised verbs  ( make, get, have )  binomials
BINOMIALS fixed multiword units  usually composed of two lexical items joined most frequently  by   and,   or, but  ups and downs once or twice now and again nook and cranny one and only for better or for worse sooner or later
They often have synonyms:   sooner or later  = eventually They sometimes repeat the same word: again and again little by little They often start with the same letters or sounds: first and foremost last but not least born and bred
some rhyme wear and tear wine and dine similar in Hebrew but not the same   sooner or later more or less for better or for worse no Hebrew equivalent back to front the same in Hebrew one and only
DELEXICALISED VERBS   MAKE [make] [me] [ADJ] ( furious,  happy,  upset, curious   …) [make] the best of [it/them] [make] fun of [me]
add chunks from the same category [make] sure   [make] up [your] mind [can’t] make head or tail of
A HEADWORD   THAT OCCURS FREQUENTLY IN CHUNKS   way  a   very frequent idiomatic intensifier    [go] way back
other examples of  way  as an intensifer way above,  way below, way beyond,  way too long,  way out of reach
For HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES Add chunks with the same headword by the way [pave] the way for set in [his] ways  [rub] [NP] up the wrong way
VOCABULARY UNIT   chunks which share meaning   agree   –   [see] eye to eye o ccasionally  –  once or twice    now and again
add chunks with similar meanings on and off;  now and then;  once in a while;  once in a blue moon
GRAMMAR UNIT present simple tense with temporals -  sometimes  +  ILC  -  now and then
IDENTIFYING A CONTINUUM OF IDIOMATICITY 1. Is it grammatically irregular ?   and/or 2. Is it semantically opaque ?
USING THREE STRUCTURAL PATTERNS FIXED VARIABLE  (verb tense, pronoun, negation) DISCONTINUOUS   (+ lexical items )
TEACHING TWO APPROACHES Text-orientated  goal-orientated  ↓  ↓ categories head words shared meaning   …
Be aware !!  Idiomatic chunks are  all over the place
Thank you for
Thank you for [bearing] with [me] [email_address]

More Related Content

Coming to Terms with Lexical Chunks: Identifying, Using and Teaching.

  • 1. Coming to terms with lexical chunks: Identifying, using and teaching . Helen Osimo, University of Haifa Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel [email_address]
  • 2. Jerusalem is lost in translation !! Tourism officials in Israel did little to sell the city of Jerusalem as a must-see for visitors when a brochure suggested it did not exist. The sightseeing pamphlet was translated from Hebrew to English and read:
  • 3. "Jerusalem - there's no such city !", instead of the slogan: "Jerusalem - there's no city like it !". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5364192.stm Published: 2006/09/20 14:27:14 GMT (taken from Maariv)
  • 4. IDIOMATIC LEXICAL CHUNK ILC full idioms semi- transparent/ variable chunks |____________________________________________| kick the bucket no such city/word/person
  • 5. … a formulaic unit "is no longer obliged to be grammatically regular or semantically logical" Wray (2002:33)
  • 6. IDENTIFYING ILCs CRITERIA : an idiomatic lexical chunk is a multiword unit that is 1.grammatically irregular – at least one component does not follow regular grammatical rules; irregularity includes fixedness and grammatical constraints
  • 7. and/or 2. semantically opaque in varying degrees – at least one component in the unit does not convey its conventional meaning.
  • 8. semantically opaque I’m all ears come to terms with by and large
  • 9. grammatical irregularities tense: It’s about time you went to bed
  • 10. grammatical irregularities tense: It’s about time you went to bed article: Just say the word
  • 11. grammatical irregularities tense: It’s about time you went to bed article: Just say the word fixed tense: Come to think of it
  • 12. grammatical irregularities tense: It’s about time you went to bed article: Just say the word fixed tense: Come to think of it restricted to the plural: I’m all ear s
  • 13. Julia and I go way back. The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs. Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck, and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it. After all, we've been through a lot over the years: two books, reams of journalism, and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it, we're partners because we understand each other. In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot. My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter!
  • 14. Julia and I go way back . The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs . Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck , and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it , we're partners because we need each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot . My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
  • 15. PERCENTAGE OF CHUNKS IN THE TEXT 189 words 19 ILCs (66 words) 35% of the text comprises ILCs
  • 16. PERVASIVENESS OF LEXICAL CHUNKS 58.6% spoken and 52.3% written texts (Erman & Warren:2000)
  • 17. USING ILCs three structural patterns : fixed variable discontinuous
  • 18. Julia and I go way back . The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs . Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck , and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it , we're partners because we need each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot . My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
  • 19. Julia and I go way back . The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs . Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck , and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it , we're partners because we need each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot . My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
  • 20. Julia and I go way back . The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs . Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck , and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it , we're partners because we need each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot . My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
  • 21. Julia and I go way back . The relationship isn’t perfect and we’ve had our ups and downs . Sometimes she makes me furious and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice I've even knocked her about a bit. What drives me crazy is the way her ‘P’ keeps getting stuck , and that now and again her shift becomes loose. I never see eye to eye with her about her messy ribbons either, nor the fact that every intimate nook and cranny is constantly clogged up with dust. But Julia and I make the best of it : After all, we've been through a lot over the years : two books, reams of journalism and hundreds of letters. Come to think of it , we're partners because we need each other . In the lonely business of writing, Julia is my one and only companion – for better or for worse – and her loyalty means a lot . My friends and colleagues are always making fun of me and call me an old dinosaur. They insist that sooner or later I’ll have to start using a word-processor and get rid of Julia – my faithful old typewriter !
  • 22. IDIOMATIC LEXICAL CHUNKS FIXED VARIABLE (verb tense, pronoun, negation) DIS- CONTINUOUS (+ lexical items)
  • 23. The fixed pattern once or twice nook and cranny come to think of it each other over the years
  • 24. The variable pattern [see] eye to eye saw eye to eye have never seen eye to eye didn’t see eye to eye [ Make] the best of [it]
  • 25. The discontinuous pattern keeps getting stuck which would be represented keeps getting [ADJ] keeps getting lost/sick/tired/bored
  • 26. She kept getting sick They keep getting lost represented thus : [keep] getting [ADJ]
  • 27. ILCs grammatically irregular and/or semantically opaque FIXED once or twice each other VARIABLE [see] eye to eye DIS-CONTINUOUS [keep] getting [ ADJ ]
  • 28. TEACHING ILCs Should we teach them? Which chunks should we teach? Who should be taught? How should we teach them?
  • 29. TEACHING ILCs text-oriented approach goal-oriented approach practice tasks organisational frameworks
  • 30. CATEGORIES as an organisational framework speech acts modal verbs delexicalised verbs ( make, get, have ) binomials
  • 31. BINOMIALS fixed multiword units usually composed of two lexical items joined most frequently by and, or, but ups and downs once or twice now and again nook and cranny one and only for better or for worse sooner or later
  • 32. They often have synonyms: sooner or later = eventually They sometimes repeat the same word: again and again little by little They often start with the same letters or sounds: first and foremost last but not least born and bred
  • 33. some rhyme wear and tear wine and dine similar in Hebrew but not the same sooner or later more or less for better or for worse no Hebrew equivalent back to front the same in Hebrew one and only
  • 34. DELEXICALISED VERBS MAKE [make] [me] [ADJ] ( furious, happy, upset, curious …) [make] the best of [it/them] [make] fun of [me]
  • 35. add chunks from the same category [make] sure [make] up [your] mind [can’t] make head or tail of
  • 36. A HEADWORD THAT OCCURS FREQUENTLY IN CHUNKS way a very frequent idiomatic intensifier [go] way back
  • 37. other examples of way as an intensifer way above, way below, way beyond, way too long, way out of reach
  • 38. For HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES Add chunks with the same headword by the way [pave] the way for set in [his] ways [rub] [NP] up the wrong way
  • 39. VOCABULARY UNIT chunks which share meaning agree – [see] eye to eye o ccasionally – once or twice now and again
  • 40. add chunks with similar meanings on and off; now and then; once in a while; once in a blue moon
  • 41. GRAMMAR UNIT present simple tense with temporals - sometimes + ILC - now and then
  • 42. IDENTIFYING A CONTINUUM OF IDIOMATICITY 1. Is it grammatically irregular ? and/or 2. Is it semantically opaque ?
  • 43. USING THREE STRUCTURAL PATTERNS FIXED VARIABLE (verb tense, pronoun, negation) DISCONTINUOUS (+ lexical items )
  • 44. TEACHING TWO APPROACHES Text-orientated goal-orientated ↓ ↓ categories head words shared meaning …
  • 45. Be aware !! Idiomatic chunks are all over the place
  • 47. Thank you for [bearing] with [me] [email_address]