Investigating Intercollocations – towards an Archaeology of Text
Musashi Institute of Technology/Hoshi University hiroaki-otani{at}jcom.home.ne.jp
This paper explores the issue of how reciprocal, interdependent networks of words based on differences as described by Saussure are at work in the dimension of collocation. The investigation is carried out concerning how a verb (the verb conceal in its infinitive form is chosen as a point of departure) shares some of its most typical collocates (the top 10 collocates by t-score) with the other lexical verbs in BNC. Consequently, the lexical networks articulated by the differences in collocational patterns emerge. These networks consist of paired sets of nodes and collocates corresponding in a many-to-many way. Each set in the pair is observed to include words with multiple, complementary but indeterminate semantic orientations (polarities) towards the members of its corresponding set, thus delimiting the scope of the collocational dimension. The unique lexical profile of each word can be described as a bundle of several such collocational networks.