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This course is an introduction to (English) phraseology. Specifically, we look at the use and functions of multi-word expressions MWE), i.e. “lexical units larger than a word that can bear both idiomatic and compositional meanings” (Masini 2005: 145). Examples of MWEs range from adjective-noun combinations (e.g. blue bird, teen spirit), collocations (e.g. strong tea) over fixed phrases (e.g. by and large) to idioms (e.g. kick the bucket).
In the course we will learn how to recognize and characterize multi-word expressions using corpus-based methods. Since the use of MWEs is very much context-dependent, we will look at various registers (e.g. academic, parliament speeches, fiction). While we focus on English, we will also look at other languages because from a translation perspective, MWEs may present difficulties, since there are often no one-to-one matches across languages. |
