Annotation guidelines
corpora annotated for multiword expressions

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Verbal multiword expressions versus collocations

Collocations are not considered VMWEs in this task and should not be annotated. However, the boundary between both categories is not always easy to define and should be handled with care.

We understand collocations as combinations of words whose idiosyncrasy is purely statistical. In other words, tokens in collocations tend to co-occur with each other more often than expected by chance, but they show no substantial orthographic, morphological, syntactic and (most notably) semantic idiosyncrasy. In this way we oppose MWEs to collocations.

Note that other authors understand collocations slightly differently. E.g. for Sag et al. (2002), collocations are any statistically significant cooccurrences, i.e. they include all forms of MWE. For Baldwin and Kim (2010), collocations form a proper subset of MWEs. According to (Melcuk, 2010), collocations are binary sematically compositional combinations of words subject to lexical selection constraints, i.e. they intersect with what is here understood as MWEs.

Some combinations happen to be very frequent and are perceived as "frozen":

سؤالعلى أجاب answer a question
كتاب إشترى buy a book
وجبة قدمserve a meal
качвам цената raise the price
eine Frage beantworten to answer a question, die Graphik zeigt the grahpic shows, einen Bus nehmen to take a bus
παίρνω το λεωφορείοperno to leoforio take-1SG the bus
drastically drop
the graphic shows
to take a bus
responder a una pregunta to answer a question
el gráfico muestra the graphic shows
coger el autobús to take the bus
interesa agertu interest show to show interest
galdera bati erantzun question one-to answer answer a question
autobusa hartu bus take to take the bus
riješiti dvojbu to solve a dilemma, pripremati jelo to prepare a meal
rispondere a una domanda to answer a question
il grafico mostra the graphic shows
prendere un bus to take a bus
de bus nemen to take the bus
zalać rynek to flood the market to dominate the market
bater um recorde to break a record (bater to beat has a regular sense of to overcome in addition to the litteral sense)
entrar em cartaz enter into poster arrive in theaters (for a movie) (the MWE is em cartaz in poster in theaters, the verb just usually collocates with this MWE)
lua un autobuztake a bus
drastičen upad drastical drop, graf prikazuje graphic shows, vzeti taksi to take a taxi
графикон приказује grafikon prikazuje the graph displays, дијаграм илуструје dijagram ilustruje the diagram illustrates
古人 云 the-ancient say the ancient people said
据 报道 according-to report according to what is reported

However, applying regular lexical alternations to them does not markedly impact their meaning.

الاستبيانعلىأجابanswer a questionnaire
فطور القدم serve a breakfast
جريدة إشترى buy a newspaper
вдигам цената raise the price, увеличавам цената raise the price, качвам залога raise the bet, качвам температурата raise the temperature
eine Anfrage beantworten to answer a request, das Diagramm zeigt the diagram shows, mit einem Bus fahren to go by bus
παίρνω το πλοίοperno to plio take the ship
παίρνω το τραίνοperno to treno take the train
significantly drop, drastically decrease, the diagram shows, the graphic illustrates, to take a coach
responder a una petición to answer a request
el diagrama muestra the diagram shows
coger el tren to take the train
interesa erakutsi interest show to show interest →'erakutsi' and 'agertu' are synonyms in this context in Basque
zalantza bati erantzun doubt one-to answer answer a doubt
trena hartu train take to take the train
riješiti dilemu to solve a dilemma, pripremati obrok to prepare a meal
rispondere a una richiesta to answer a request
il diagramma mostra the diagram shows
met de bus gaan to go by bus
zdominować/zarzucić/zapełnić/nasycić rynek to dominate/overwhelm/fill/saturate the market
quebrar/bater/ultrapassar/estabelecer um recorde to break/beat/overcome/establish a record
o recorde foi quebrado the record was broken
entrar/estar/permanecer/ficar/continuar/ter em cartaz enter/be/remain/stay/continue/have in poster
lua o mașină
občuten upad significant drop, drastično zmanjšanje drastical decrease, diagram prikazuje diagram shows, slika prikazuje picture shows
насецкати лук / насецкати першун / исецкати сланину naseckati luk / naseckati peršun / iscekati slaninu to chop onions / to chop parsely / to chop bacon
古人 说 the-ancient say the ancient people said 圣者 云 the-saint say the saint said 据 称 according-to report according to what is reported 有 报道 have report there are reports

The difficulty of distinguishing collocations from VMWEs lies in the fact that lexical variability is relevant to some VMWEs:

نصيحةأعطى/أسدى to give / weave an advice , كلمة /خطابألقىthrew a word / speech give a word/speech
нямам пукната пара/пукнат грош to not have a single penny, to be very poor
имам твърда/дебела глава to have a thick head, to be stubborn and not listen to advice
einen Willen/Menschen brechen to break a will/person
παίρνω / λαμβάνω απόφασηperno / lamvano apofasi take / take decision to decide
to come in handy/useful, to stand firm/fast, to break someone's spirit/will, to take the cake/biscuit
dar un paseo/una vuelta give a walk / a turn to go for a walk
darse/tomar una ducha give.self/take a shower take a shower
min eman/egin pain give/do to hurt (somebody)
eskola/klasea eman class give to give a class →'eskola' and 'klasea' are synonyms in Basque
περὶ πολλοῦ / ἐλάττονος ποιέομαιperi pollou / elattonos poieomai above much.GEN / more.GEN / little.GEN do.1SG to hold in high / higher / low esteem
slomiti čiju/čiji volju/duh to break someone's will/spirit
cogliere/prendere di sorpresa, dare/fornire un contributo
zapisać się złotymi literami/zgłoskami to record iteself with golden letters/syllables to be remebered and commemorated for a merit
zamarznąć na kość/lód/sopel to freeze to bone/ice/icicle to freeze strongly
levar em conta/consideração take into account/consideration
chutar o balde/pau da barraca to kick the bucket/the tent's stick to act irresponsibly
lua o decizie/hotărâremake a decision
imeti nekaj na voljo/razpolago to have something available/at disposal, odpreti nekomu pot/vrata to open a way/a door (for someone) to give someone an opportunity to do something
крити нешто као змија ноге/крити нешто као гуја ноге kriti nešto kao zmija noge/kriti nešto kao guja noge to hide (sth.) like a snake hides its legs/to hide (sth.) like a serpent hides its legs to hide something with extreme caution

However, the extent of the vocabulary concerned by this variability is different for collocations and VMWEs. Namely, a head verb in a collocation usually selects a whole semantic class for each of its required arguments. For instance, the verb to take to use a vehicle to travel selects a whole semantic class of means of transport. Similarly, the verb to drop can select a large set of adverbs describing the degree: drastically/significantly/remarkably/slightly/reasonably drop. Conversely, lexical variability in a VMWE is limited to a closed list of lexemes, sometimes only loosely semantically related. For instance, the VMWEs to take a cake/biscuit and to stand firm/fast do not keep their idiomatic readings with semantically close complements: #to take a cookie/wafer, *to stand hard/rigid/solid etc. See also Test VID.2.

Some Light-verb constructions (LVCs) and multiverb constructions (MVCs) belong to the gray zone between MWEs and collocations in the sense that some operator (light) verbs seem to select large classes of nouns, as in to make a speech/declaration/remark/etc. However, some studies (e.g. Bonial 2014) show that there is no such thing as truly productive light verbs (e.g. to give a look vs. to give a stare). Therefore, we do include LVCs and MVCs in our annotation scope.

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