THE USE OF ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS IN READERS DIGEST.

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THE USE OF ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS IN

READER’S DIGEST

A THESIS

Submitted to the English Department of UNIMED in partial as a

fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

By:

YUDITA PUTRI NURANI SINAGA

Registration Number: 082222810015

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

MEDAN

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ABSTRACT

Sinaga, Yudita Putri Nurani. The Use of English Collocations in Reader’s Digest. A Thesis. English Department, FBS-UNIMED (State University of Medan) 2013

This descriptive qualitative study is aimed at identifying and describing the types of free collocations found in the articles of Reader’s Digest. By taking a sample of ten articles from different months for each year since 2003 up to 2012, it was found all the four productive free collocations were in the data. Type 4 (Determiner + Adjective + Noun) was the dominant type (53.92 %). This was possible because the adjective in the pattern included the present participle and past participle of verb as adjectives. The other types have the following percentages (in order of the highest level to the lowest level): Type 1 (33.40 %), Type 2 (10.06 %), and Type 3 (2.62 %). The largest number of free collocations was found in the book of Feeding My Fashion (13.48 %). The data analysis also indicated that all the articles contain free collocations. As free collocations are abundant in text, it is suggested that this grammatical construction be introduced as part of strategy to master English.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful thanks be to the Almighty God for blessing, love and care which gave to the writer power for this thesis accomplishment. Though there were a lot of challenges in doing this thesis, God encouraged her to get up and did it again. The writer realizes that without God’s Hands, she could not have finished it. For this purpose also, she wishes to convey her heartiest greatest thankfulness:

• Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., as the Rector of State University of Medan.

• Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts for her leadership and administrative assistance during the process of writing this thesis.

• Dra. Meisuri, M.A., as the Head of English Department, Rika S.Pd., M.Hum., as Secretary of English Department, and Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., as the Head of English Literature Department for their administrative assistance and guidance during the academic years.

• Drs. Lidiman Sahat Martua Sinaga, M. Hum, her thesis consultant, for the advice, guidance, moral support, constructive comment, valuable knowledge, and precious time he spent in correcting and supervising the draft of writing during the completion of this thesis. Dra. Sri Juriaty Ownie, M.A., her academic consultant, and also to all the lecturers at the English Department for their knowledge which was conveyed to the writer through the courses.

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• Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., Ph.D., Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd, and Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed. for the valuable advice and suggestion as the reviewers at Seminar Proposal and Sidang Meja Hijau.

• Her beloved parents: Joriaman Sinaga and Ida Nurmala Sitanggang, her little brother (G. Torang Parulian Sinaga), her older sisters (Ns. Jenni Safitri Sinaga, S.Kep and Martha Reniwati Sinaga, Amk.) and her younger sisters (Duma Kristiani Sinaga, Amk. and Hotmian Sinaga) for their prayers, love, moral and material support during her academic years at the University.

• Her boyfriend Ambrosius Dohardo Simanihuruk, and also to all her best friends especially her classmates SasIng 08 B who have always encouraged her to keep trying her best in finishing the academic duties. • Her friends in Keluarga Mahasiswa Katolik (KMK) Santo Martinus

Universitas Negeri Medan and Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Katolik Republuk Indonesia (PMKRI) Cabang Medan – Santo Bonaventura for their prayers, loves and helps.

The writer can’t forget and repay anyone who was helped her. Her only words of thanks she can give would only be, may God Bless Us.

Medan, September 2013 The Writer,

Yudita Putri Nurani Sinaga

Reg. No. 082222810015

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………... ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……….. iv

CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Background Of The Study……….. 1

1.2 The Problem Of The Study………. 4

1.3 The Scope Of The Study………. 4

1.4 The Objective Of The Study……… 5

1.5 The Significance Of The Study………... 5

CHAPTER TWO : REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Theoretical Framework……… 6

2.2 Collocations……….. 6

2.2.1 Types of Collocation……… 10

2.2.1.1 Free Collocations……….. 11

2.2.1.2 Fixed Collocations……… 13

2.3 Texts………. 14

2.4 Reader’s Digest………. 17

2.5 Use……… 19

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CHAPTER THREE : RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design……….. 20

3.2 Source Of Data……… 20

3.3 The Procedure of Collecting Data……….. 20

3.4 The Procedure of Analyzing Data………... 21

CHAPTER FOUR : THE DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.1 The Data Analysis……….. 22

4.2 The Research Findings……… 24

4.2.1 Types of Collocations found in Reader’s Digest…. 24 4.2.2 Dominance of Collocations in Reader’s Digest….. 26

4.3 The Discussion……… 27

CHAPTER FIVE : CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 The Conclusions……… 30

5.2 The Suggestions……….……… 30

REFERENCES……….. 32

APPENDIX 1……… 33

APPENDIX 2……… 40

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CHAPTER ONE

I N T R O D U C T I O N

1.1 The Background of the Study

English as an international language has a large vocabulary which often confuses students or readers in understanding the language. The size of the vocabulary in this language is larger than that of Indonesian language. As a result, those who want to study or master English should be familiar with the thousands of words available in its stock of lexicon. This is then a big challenge for students to understand the various texts written in English.

It is clear from the linguistic point of view that when the vocabulary of the English language is familiar to the students, then, the problems of comprehending the written texts will be solved to some extent. In addition to mastering the grammar which includes the sentence structures and pronunciation, the students are supposed to understand the various and rich meanings of words in the language. In its real number, there are over four million words in English as compared with the one hundred thousand words in Indonesian. The difference in the lexical number can cause many problems in understanding texts in English.

Part of the vocabulary in English is found in the formation of collocations. In fact, collocations have created confusion for Indonesian students because their

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meanings are not achieved through translation. It is obvious that many students love translating words from English into Indonesian and vice versa. The results of the translation are not satisfactory and even funny in the sense that native speakers of English will not understand the translation of the collocations. For example, the collocation “take medicine” is equal to “minum obat” which, if translated into English, will produce “drink medicine”. This collocation is not acceptable because there is no such collocation in English. In other words, there are acceptable collocations in terms of the cultural understanding of the language.

The acceptable collocations can be found in various texts in English such as a magazine and books. Reader’s Digest is a popular, international magazine that can provide the rich texts with collocations. If the students can understand the feature stories and articles written in this magazine, it is obvious that they have grasped some understanding of the language. There can be many unfamiliar words or collocations that they should read in the process of understanding the texts. This magazine can be an ideal source of information for students who one day will read many kinds of texts in their university studies. Therefore, it is good for them to be familiar with the many collocations available in the magazine.

To be familiar with the forms of collocations, students must read a lot. The collocations are many in different textual backgrounds. There are collocations for general purpose which are called the fixed collocations or idioms. Other collocations are flexible in the sense that their formation follows certain cultural norms of the language.

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It is difficult to determine the rules of the formation. However, there are certain forms or patterns of collocations already established by linguists. There are seven common patterns of collocation. Each of these forms may be more productive than the others. It is important to find out which pattern is dominant so that in the teaching or mastery of the vocabulary, students can easily choose which pattern to be recognized and developed.

To master a foreign language, of course, includes the mastery of its vocabulary. In this case, collocations are part of the major vocabulary that must be familiar to all students who want to master English for communication. In writing, for instance, they should often use collocations to show their native understanding of the language. In other words, collocations can be an indication of how well the students have mastered the language. If they translate the collocations from Indonesian into English, the results will be meaningless. When the students can use the appropriate collocations in expressing their ideas, thoughts and feelings, then, they are in the process of mastering the vocabulary of the language. They need to know the various patterns and be able to recognize them as they read various texts in English.

The writer has observed the use of collocations in various written texts in English. As they are very often used to express certain meanings, she believes that collocations must receive the wide attention of students who want to develop their vocabulary. English is rich in collocations. This fact must be taken into account when learning or teaching the language for its mastery. The formation of

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collocations must be familiar to the students so that they can easily identify them and use them in writing.

1.2 The Problem of the Study

Since this study is concerned with the formation of collocations, the problem or research question to be addressed would be:

1) What is the dominant collocation used in Reader’s Digest ?

2) What is the contextual background of the collocations used in Reader’s Digest?

1.3 The Scope of the Study

This study is limited to the investigation of only 4 patterns of collocations namely 1) Verb + Noun (e.g. take medicine), 2) Verb + Adverb/Adjective (e.g. work hard ), 3) Adverb + Adjective (e.g. physically impossible, 4) Determiner +Adjective + Noun (e.g.a beautiful woman ). The other 3 patterns are 1) Subject +Verb (e.g. the bell sings), 2) Count Noun + of + Mass Noun (e.g. a loaf of bread), and 3) Collective Noun + Count Noun (e.g. a bunch of keys). Idioms will be also included in the investigation according to the given patterns.

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5 1.4 The Objective of the Study

This study is aimed at describing and explaining the use of English collocations with their contextual backgrounds in Reader’s Digest.

1.5 The Significance of the Study

The findings in this study will be useful for:

1) Those who teach a foreign language like English by comparing the formation of collocations between two languages.

2) Those who want to master the vocabulary of English as a foreign or international language.

3) Those who are interested in linguistics especially investigating the formation of collocations.

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 The Conclusions

The study has identified the types of free collocations in Reader’s Digest. From the 10 articles in different months and years, there are 497 free collocations identified. All the types are the four productive free collocations. Type 4 (Determiner + Adjective + Noun) is the dominant type of free collocations. The percentages of the types are as follows (from the highest to the lowest) : Type 4 (53,92 %), Type 1 (33.40 %), Type 2 (10.06 %), and Type 3 (2.62 %). The largest number of free collocations are in the article of Feeding My Fashion (13.48 %).

5.2 The Suggestions

Free collocations seem to be abundant in texts. Based on the findings in this study, it is suggested that:

1. The readers especially students should master all types and how to use all of The Collocation in order easier to understand an articles.

2. In mastering The Collocation should be often read various of articles continuously.

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3. The article in Reader’s Digest should contain all the seven types of free collocations and fixed collocations to make the articles more interesting. 4. The type of free collocations should be evenly distributed in the articles in

Reader’s Digest.

5. The number of articles in this study should be increased for a more detailed result of the analysis on collocations.

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REFERENCES

Bolinger, D. 1975. Aspects of Language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Cowie, A.P., English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners, Oxford University Press

1999:54-56

Gledhill C. (2000): Collocations in Science Writing, Narr, Tübingen

Herbst, T. and Klotz, M. 'Syntagmatic and Phraseological Dictionaries' in Cowie, A.P. (Ed.) The Oxford History of English Lexicography, 2009: part 2, 234-243

Larson, M.L. 1984. Meaning-based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence. Boston: University Press of America

madja F. A & McKeown, K. R. (1990): “Automatically extracting and representing collocations for language generation”, Proceedings of ACL’90, 252–259, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Mish, F.C. 1994. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster

Richards,J.et.al.1985. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. London: Longman

Sinclair J. (1996): “The Search for Units of Meaning”, in Textus, IX, 75–106. Stubbs, M. 1983. Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis of Natural

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Www user survey. (Anonymous, n.d ) http:// Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia. Retrieved August 27,2013

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