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COLL - THE DILEMMA

A list of 189 words by gulyasrobi.

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Using an adequate set of collocates (in this case 20 words) and a permutation generator, you can easily generate hundreds of collocations. Possibly, the number of collocations in a given language is at least one if not two orders bigger than the number of words. If the number of distinct words in EN is estimated to be in the billions, the number of EN collocations must be in the ten to hundred billion range. Anyone knowing better? I am open for interesting arguments.

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  • gulyasrobi commented on the list coll---the-dilemma

    Using an adequate set of collocates (in this case 20 words) and a permutation generator, you can easily generate hundreds of collocations. Possibly, the number of collocations in a given language is at least one if not two orders bigger than the number of words. If the number of distinct words in EN is estimated to be in the billions, the number of EN collocations must be in the ten to hundred billion range. Is there a point in collecting and recording collocations? I am open for interesting arguments pro and con.

    October 2, 2012