kollokáció

Kollokáció refers to the natural and habitual co-occurrence of words in a language. It describes words that frequently appear together, forming a predictable and idiomatic pairing. For example, in English, "strong coffee" is a common collocation, while "powerful coffee" sounds unnatural to native speakers. Similarly, "make a mistake" is a standard collocation, whereas "do a mistake" is not. These combinations are not dictated by strict grammatical rules but rather by convention and usage patterns established over time.

Understanding collocations is crucial for language learners as it helps them to sound more fluent and natural. Using appropriate collocations can significantly improve the clarity and effectiveness of communication. Conversely, incorrect collocations can lead to misunderstandings or make speech sound awkward and non-native. Lexicographers often include information about common collocations in dictionaries, recognizing their importance in vocabulary acquisition. The study of collocations falls under the broader field of lexicology and corpus linguistics, where large collections of text are analyzed to identify these recurrent word associations. Different languages have their own unique sets of collocations, reflecting the specific ways words are used and combined within that linguistic system.