Časopis pro Moderní Filologii (Jun 2015)

Kolokace a kolokabilita synsémantik : Collocations and Collocability of Czech Grammatical Words:

  • Čermák František

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 97, no. 1
pp. 51 – 57

Abstract

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While most attention is generally paid to lexical (autosemantic) words, the goal of this paper is to map grammatical (or synsemantic) words which have been largely neglected. The specific aim is to look into combinations of all types of grammatical words whose common feature, though they are widely different in most other respects, is their auxiliary role with regard to lexical words. This auxiliary role is to be viewed as having two functional interpretations: grammatical words may be seen either as linkers (serving as links between lexical words) or as substitutes or pro-forms (replacing lexical words in text to avoid their repetition in general). Since until now most authors have paid attention to various word classes in this area (see Bibliography), this paper focuses on the possibilities of their roles as substitutes and the limitations of their combinations with one another, a subject hardly ever mentioned, let alone researched. The investigation, involving pronouns and numerals, is based on a large corpus of Czech (SYN2010). Because of their special character and function, interjections are loosely added to the bulk of the grammatical words. It is shown that, contrary to simplified expectations, most grammatical words have a life of their own, i.e. they combine with each other and form collocations independently of lexical words.

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