5.2 Characteristics of Collocation
Collocations can be characterized as follows.See Al-Qasimi (1979-29-30):
1. A collocation does not constitute a semantically or grammatical single indivisible unit.
2. The meaning of the collocation can be predicated from the meanings of the individual words themselves. The
meaning of the collocation “ المعاهدةخرق xaraq-a ?al-mu؟ahāda” can be predicated from the individual words to
mean “ انتهك الإتفاقية ?intahaka ?al-?itifāqyya” because “ خرق xaraq-a” means “ انتهك ?intahaka” and
المعاهدة “ ?al-mu؟ahāda” means “ الاتفاقية ?itifāqyya”. Unlike the idoms “ ى قدم المساواة؟عل alā qadam ?al-musawā-h”.
The meaning of this idiom can’t be predicated from the meanings of the individual words.
3. According to Arabic syntax, one lexical item can be understood without referring to the other lexical unit. The
word “ د سالق ?al-quds” can be understood without the other lexical item “ الشريف “?al-ŝarīf”.
4. Unlike idioms, collocations can’t be replaced by any lexical substitute/word. إنهمر المطر بغزارة
“?inhamar-a ?al-maţar-u bi-ghazāra” can’t be substituted by only one word. But the idiom قاب قوسين أو أدنى “qāba
qawsayni ?aw ?adnā” can be substituted by the one word “soon” وشيكا “waŝīkan” or قريباً “qarīban” .
5. Unlike idioms, collocations manipulate i.e. the individual lexical items can be substituted by similar words
without changing the whole meanings. In “ ثلة من الجيش θullat-un min?al-jayŝ” the individual words can be
substituted as: جماعة من الجنود jamā؟at-un min ?al-junūd” or مجموعة من العسكر “ majmū؟at-un min ?al-؟askar”. But
the individual words in the idiom “ بكرة ابيهم ؟ع ن an bakrati ?abīhim” can’t be substituted as “ فوق بكرة ابيهم fawqa
bakrati ?abīhim” or “ على بكرة والدهم ؟alā bakrati...