It's festive period! It's no longer newsQ, anyway. By now you'd have received a lot of Christmas messages. Well, let me add to it - Merry Christmas to all our readers.
However, have you noticed that none of the well-wishers have dared greeting you 'Happy Christmas' rather than 'Merry Christmas'? I am sure some would have been quick to greet you 'Happy New Year' in advance as well rather than 'Merry New Year'.
'Happy Christmas'? Odd! Isn't it?
Since 'happy' and 'merry' are rather synonymous, why does it sound so funny to say, 'Merry New Year' rather than 'Happy New Year' as well!
Let's Try and Solve the Puzzle
It isn't that it is sacrilegious to say, 'Happy Christmas' and 'Merry New Year'. However, saying so will be considered very unconventional because of what is referred to as COLLOCATION in English. Collocation? Yes. Collocation.
What's Collocation?
Collocation can be said to be the company that words keep. In other words, when you say two (or more) words collocate, it means these two (or more) words are like Siamese twins that must not and can never be separated. Another way to view collocation is to view it, for example, like a pair of shoes.
If, for instance, you say, 'Happy Christmas' instead of 'Merry Christmas', it is like putting on a black shoe on your left leg and putting on a brown shoe on the right leg. How awkward that will seem! A black shoe and a brown shoe on the same feet do not collocate. We'd say it doesn't make fashion sense, right?
So, this principle (collocation) applies to words. It is the reason we'd say, Deputy Governor, not Vice Governor. It's the same reason we'd say Vice President, not Deputy President, even though 'deputy' and 'vice' typify the same thing.
In what other Instances are Collocation Common?
1. Collocations are very common in phrasal verbs when certain verbs "are routinely combined with certain prepositions". For example, teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria will often encourage their students to 'buckle up' in a subject they are weak in. 'Buckle up', in this instance means 'to work harder' when the correct thing to say is 'buckle down'.
The implication of this is that 'up' does not collocate with 'buckle' to mean 'to work harder'.
2. Collocation also applies to affixes
Affixes refer to prefixes and suffixes. There are a number of prefixes, for example, that means 'not' in English. For example,
i. il- illegal, illogical, etc.
ii. ir - irregular, irrelevant, etc.
In the examples cited above, while it is correct to say, illegal, it is incorrect to say, irlegal, because the prefix ir- does not collocate with 'legal'.
3. Collocation also applies to nuance
What is nuance? In language use, it refers to subtle differences in the meaning of words. For example, the following words with subtle differences in meaning of the phrase 'to cut'.
*cut (to divide into pieces)
*amputate (to cut a part of someone's body through a surgical procedure)
*maim (to cut a part of someone's body often in a violent way)
*slice (cut into pieces without a surface to support what you're cutting)
*chop (cut into pieces, especially on a surface i.e. chopping board)
*fell (to cut down a tree)
*divide (to cut into different parts)
N.B. This is usually tested in exams. Students can relate with it or remember it as register/vocabulary development. Take for example the following questions:
1. The doctors are set to ... [A. cut B. maim C. slice D. amputate] the leg of the accident victim.
2. The government has warned that ... [A. cutting B. slicing C. felling D. hacking] of trees will now attract very punitive measures.
3. The rebels have been accused of ... [A. amputating B. maiming C. slicing D. cutting] innocent civilians.
4. Collocation also applies to the choice of adjectives with specific nouns
It is very similar to (3) above. For example, if you want to describe spoilt food item, there are different adjectives that collocate with each.
i. rancid butter
ii. rotten egg
iii. stale bread
iv. sour soup
Other examples in this category include:
v. beautiful/pretty girl/woman
vi. handsome boy/man
Thank you for reading.
The blogger, Ọlábánjì O. Odùrómbì, can be contacted via voice call, SMS, WhatsApp on 08037699294.
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