1. "THIS SOUNDS ODD TO ME": ISSUES OF COLLOCATIONAL ACCEPTABILITY IN AN ENGLISH-ITALIAN DICTIONARY.
- Author
-
BERTI, BARBARA
- Subjects
COLLOCATION (Linguistics) ,ENCYCLOPEDIAS & dictionaries ,NATIVE language ,SOCIAL interaction ,ORAL communication - Abstract
The present work aims to assess the acceptability of a set of collocations from the point of view of a native speaker who uses the language actively. A survey of 50 Italian collocations selected from the Il Ragazzini English-Italian dictionary (2013 edition) was carried out with the participation of 20 native Italian speakers who were asked to judge the examples provided on the basis of acceptability and usage. Analysis of the results confirms that, when it comes to collocations, the speakers' judgments are extremely heterogeneous. Moreover, the percentage of collocations deemed questionable or unacceptable is hefty, calling for reflection on the kind of language that is represented in dictionaries. From the point of view of usage, the data are not encouraging either, as many peripheral collocations seemed to be provided. The paper reflects on the practical and theoretical implications of such findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019