A Study On Binomials In Maritime Conventions From The Perspective Of Co-selection Theory

As a common language phenomenon,binomial is closely related to rhetoric,metrics and semantics.Since Malkiel put forward this term in 1959,an increasing number of scholars have begun to conduct theoretical and empirical research on it.The research objects of this study are 172 binomials chosen from a self-constructed corpus of maritime conventions.Based on the co-selection theory and the model of extended units of meaning,this study attempts to make qualitative and quantitative analysis about the distribution features,the external form features and the internal semantic relations of binomials,as well as the co-selection features of node words.The former three aspects are investigated by taking all binomials in corpus as a whole while the last one mainly focuses on seven representative high-frequency binomials.The co-selection features of node words and the connection between node words and binomials are investigated by observation of their respective collocates,colligation patterns and semantic preference.The results show that N and/or N binomials have the largest proportion and the highest frequencies among all binomials in maritime conventions;some binomials allow for changing of linking word and changing of word order;most of the node words are antonymous,synonymous and semantically-related;binomials can share collocates,colligation patterns and semantic preferences with node words to some extent.Study from the perspective of co-selection theory and the model of extended units of meaning can help to break the limitations of single words,and thus further reveal the reasons for the formation of binomials in maritime conventions.This research explores a new mode for studying binomials and therefore there are certain innovative value and academic significance.The analysis of features of binomials in maritime English can also help learners better understand the function and the significance of binomials.