LV (Syntactic and semantic features of collocations in advertising)

1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1

RATIONALE
Communicating is an essential part in our daily life. People have a great

variety of ways to exchange their thoughts, which may be made through
language, signs, gestures, body language, and so on. However, language
proves to be the most effective means, for it is capable of conveying all what
you want while the others might sometimes be impossible. Advertising is
among the many ways of conveying ideas in which language plays a very
important role.
Whenever you speak or write something, you make phrases and
sentences in such a way that it makes sense to the listener(s) or the reader(s),
though you may not be aware of this. And this is the role of syntax - studying
the structures of phrases and sentences. In addition, “part of the business of
semantics is to deal with ways in which syntactic structures can be interpreted.
Some scholars assume that for each syntactic rule determining how two or
more constituents are put together, there is a corresponding semantic rule
determining how the receptive meanings are to be composed”. [14, p.27- 28]
Knowing well the semantic and syntactic rules of a language does not
necessarily mean having mastered its uses. In some situation, a sentence
someone makes can be unnatural or unacceptable though it is grammatically
correct. This is the matter of collocations. “Collocation is the way words
combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing”.
Collocation runs through the whole of the English language, as in any other
languages. No piece of naturally spoken or written English is totally free of
collocation. Choosing the right collocation will make the speech and writing

more natural and more native-like [19]. For instance, in English you say


2

strong wind but heavy rain” [19, vii], though strong and heavy here both
mean a lot. You may say strong rain and can be understood but of course it
does not sound natural and sometimes your speech provokes a smile.
Similarly, we often see in some advertisements such collocations as smooth
hair / smooth skin in English but in Vietnamese mái tóc suông/ làn da mịn
màng not làn da suông. This may not be a matter at all to native speakers.
How a word goes with another is of no question to them because they are
living in the language environment and their language competence is the
result of what they have acquired since their very early ages. They are even
unaware of the fact that they are using collocations. On the contrary, learners
of English find it troublesome because there is no rule for them to know
which goes with which. And this creates a lot of difficulties for every
language learner.
Advertising is crucial in our modern society. It is designed to promote
the sale of a product or service... Since advertising is catchy and persuasive,
advertisers tend to vary their ways and language so as to draw the attention of
the potential consumers. This leads to the use of many different collocations
in advertising the same product or service. For these practical reasons, I
decide to do a research on the syntactic and semantic features of collocations
in advertising in English and Vietnamese.
1.2

JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Collocation runs through the whole of the English language. No piece

of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation. Choosing
the right collocation will make the speech and writing more natural and more
native-like [19]. A study of syntactic and semantic features of collocations
will be a contribution to the understanding and using collocations of the
learners.


3

1.3

PURPOSES OF THE STUDY
The study is to find out the syntactic and semantic features of

collocations used in advertising skincare products in English and Vietnamese
to point out the similarities and differences between them. Some suggestions
in the way of forming collocations will be made based on the analysis of the
findings so as to help the English learners with their collocation using.
1.4

OBJECTIVES
- To collect and systematize some theoretical background for the study

of collocations
- To analyze, synthesize, comment and illustrate the syntactic and
semantic features of collocations with examples taken from written
advertisements in English and Vietnamese.
- To point out the similarities and differences in collocations used in
advertising skincare products between these two languages.
- To make some suggestions on using collocations effectively for the

English learners.
1.5

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What are the syntactic and semantic features of collocations of “skin”

and “da” used in advertising skincare products in English and Vietnamese?
- What are the similarities and differences of these collocations in
English and Vietnamese?
- What is the distribution of these collocations in advertising in English
and Vietnamese?
1.6

SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study mainly focuses on collocations of “skin” used in advertising

skincare products in written form collected from advertisements in
newspapers, magazines, the Internet etc…both in English and Vietnamese and


4

is limited in analyzing and discussing the syntactic and semantic features of
these collocations.
1.7

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

1.7.1 Syntactic Features
“Syntactic features are the features involving the rules governing the

structure of a language such as the form of words, the structure of phrases,
clauses and sentences, word order, collocation....”
1.7.2 Semantic Features
Semantic features are the features that are used to define the meanings
of a word [14] or to differentiate individual lexemes in a particular domain
from one another in terms of meaning [27]. These features used to indicate the
sense relation between lexical units such as hyponyms, synonyms and
antonyms, semantic fields…
1.7.3 Collocation
In Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2003), collocation is defined as the
way words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and
writing. [19] or a particular combination of words used in this way.
“The term collocation refers to combinations of two lexical items each
of which makes a distinct semantic contribution” (Stephan Gramley and Kurt
–Michael Patzold, 2002) [10]
1.8

ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY
There are five chapters included in the thesis
Chapter 1 consists of the rationale, the justification, the purposes, the

objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, some definitions of
terms used in the thesis and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2 is the theoretical background which includes the literature
review, and some general features of syntax and semantics of English and
Vietnamese.


5

Chapter 3 is the one in which the methods of collecting, analyzing data
and describing data are presented.
Chapter 4 focuses on analyzing and discussing the syntactic and
semantic features of collocations of the words “skin”, “da” and their proper
adjectives and the equivalents based on the findings.
Chapter 5 is the conclusion of what has been found and discussed. It is
the summary of the syntactic and semantic features of collocations of “skin”
and “da” in advertising in English and Vietnamese and the implication of the
thesis.


6

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1

PRIOR RESEARCH
A review of literature on previous studies relating to collocations and

language of advertising is presented in this section.
Anna Braasch and Sussi Olsen (2005), in their paper “Formalised
Representation of Collocations in a Danish Computational Lexicon”, have
focused on a specific collocation type and dealt with a formalised, patternbased description of collocations for a Danish computational lexicon. They
have analyzed a selection of frequent collocations found in the corpus and
discussed a few selected morphological and syntactic constraints that apply to
verbal collocations.
English collocations have been studied and discussed in a variety of
books. Collocations have been listed in such a way that they are called “word
collocations” in Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2003).

Stephan Gramley and Kurt-Michael Patzold (2004) express their
viewpoints on the meaning, word classes, range of collocations and the
conditions and restrictions in collocations.
Maria-Violeta Seretan (2006), in “Syntactic and Semantic Oriented
Corpus Investigation for Collocation Extraction, Translation and Generation”
proposed experiment and evaluate linguistically motivated methods for the
treatment of collocations which will focus both on syntactic and semantic
features, as indispensable dimensions of collocation treatment in addition to
the traditionally, widely used statistical dimension and will be exploited for
collocation processing applications, mainly for collocation extraction,
translation and generation, by making an extensive use of the widely available
mono- and multilingual digital text collections.


7

In “The discourse of advertising” by Guy Cook (2003, 2nd edition), the
author provided a framework for analysis of advertisements as a discursive
genre. Concepts from discourse analysis; stylistics and linguistics are applied
to examine the ads textual and contextual features in a bottom-up approach
that allow identifying their interaction and combinations. Also, in this book,
the interaction between advertising messages, their substance and their
surroundings are discussed and their influence on the effectiveness of the
advertising is shown.”
There have been some researches done into language of advertising in
Vietnamese. In “A Discussion Concerning Linguistic Units and Meaning in
English Language advertisements” (1993) Dinh Gia Hung and Ho Si Thang
Kiet discussed the features of English linguistic units and semantic meaning
used in advertisements. Besides, from different views, some linguists
approached advertising and advertising language, examining the linguistic

usage on billboards and in advertisements, the correspondence between forms
and contents as well as the influence of cultural factors such as: “Về ngôn ngữ
trong quảng cáo” (Trần Đình Vĩnh, Nguyễn Đức Toàn, 1993), “Ngôn ngữ
quảng cáo-phương pháp sao phỏng” (Nguyễn Đức Dân, 1994), “Về lập luận
trong quảng cáo” (Mai Xuân Huy, 1999)
2.2

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1 Collocations and Syntax
Collocation is the way words go together to produce natural pieces of
language. And syntax concerns the combination of words into phrases and
sentences. In other words, when discussing collocations we cannot help
talking about common syntactic features like words, phrases, sentences…
2.2.1.1 Phrases
A phrase may be one or more words long [4, p.177]. That is to say, it
consists of at least a head word and optional modifiers. There are five phrase


8

types in both English and Vietnamese; however, Noun Phrase (NP) and
Adjective Phrase are the ones investigated in the thesis for what is discussed
within this paper is collocations of the word “skin”, “da” and their adjectives
and the equivalents.
a. The Noun Phrase
The noun phrase always consists of at least a noun which is its center or
head and optional modifiers [5]
Premodifier(s) + Head + Postmodifier(s)
(1)

The beautiful picture on the wall

(2)

Tất cả mấy cuốn sách này

[27, p.68]

b. The Adjective Phrase
The adjective phrase contains a head adjective and optional intensifier
and complement in English
Intensifier + Head + Complement
(3)

He is quite unaware of any wrongdoing [4, p.179]

And in Vietnamese The adjective phrase consists of a head adjective
and optional modifiers
modifier(s) + Head + modifier(s)
(4)

Em này còn trẻ quá

[27, p.160]

2.2.1.2 Sentences
Generally, sentences are used as a means of exchanging ideas in
people’s communication.[24] How to make sentences follows certain
grammatical rules of a particular language though. Practically, countless of

sentences are made based on limited patterns.
Sentences are classified in many different ways depending on different
criteria. Regarding to types of verbs, According to Gerald P. Delahunty and
James J. Garvey (1994) there are 8 patterns while 20 patterns are described in
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2006) and 7 patterns according to


9

Quirk and Greenbaum (1976). This difference is up to different points of view
of linguists. Besides, sentences can be divided into simple, compound,
complex and compound complex for their complexity or declaratives,
interrogatives, imperatives and exclamations in forms of affirmative and
negative in terms of their purpose of discourse. [31]
Commonly, in Vietnamese sentences are categorized into simple or
complex based on the Subject – Predicate structure. That a sentence is simple
or complex based on the number of the subject-predicate structures as the
skeleton. The one consisting of one subject – predicate structure is called
simple and any other consisting of more than one such structure is named
complex.[25, p.90]
(5) a. Con cò lăn lội bờ sông
b. Ngày đi lúa chửa chia vè,

[31, p.97]
[31, p.97]

Ngày về lúa đã đỏ hoe cánh đồng.

(6) Vì trời mưa nên nó không đến được.

[31, p.106]

In sentences 5a and 5b there is only one subject-predicate structure so
they are simple while sentence 6 is a complex one for it contains two subjectpredicate structures.
In many cases, a sentence is simple though it contains more than one
subject-predicate structure. These are simple sentences contains complex
parts. These complex parts can be either basic sentence element like subject,
predicate or other such as complement, object. [31]
(7)Nước chảy mạnh làm trôi cầu
S

P
S

P

[31, p.101]


10

(8)

[31, p.101]

Cây mai này hoa nở đẹp quá

S
S

P
P

Chúng ta thi đua là chúng ta yêu nước
S

P

S

S

[31, p.102]

P
P

Sentences 7, 8, 9 are all simple but their main parts are complex. In
sentence 7, the subject is made complex. In sentence 8, the sentence part made
complex is the predicate. In sentence 9 both subject and predicate are subject
– predicate structures. That is to say, not all sentences which contain more
than one subject-predicate structure are complex. A sentence is considered
complex on condition that it has more than one subject-predicate structure and
these structures must be the skeleton of the sentence. Besides, we can identify
complex sentences thanks to coordinators và, rồi, hay, hoặc, còn, mà…and
subordinators vì, nếu, tuy, để…
(10) Anh ấy đã đi và căn phòng bỏ trống.

[31, p.106]

(11) Vì trời mưa cho nên nó không đến được. [31, p.106]
2.2.2 Collocations and Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic signs; words,
expressions, and sentences [39]. Collocations are, in fact, words combining
into phrases and sentences. Thus, they share all the features that semantics
deals with such as semantic properties, sense, hyponym, synonym, antonym
and semantic field.
2.2.2.1 Semantic Properties or Semantic Features
Accepting the fact that the meaning of an expression can be viewed as a
combination of features, we can decompose the meaning of a word into what
is called semantic features or properties. Such features can be used to define


11

the meanings of a word. And the method involving the use of these properties
is called “componential method”.[14] In componential analysis, lexemes that
have a common range of meaning constitute a semantic domain. Such a
domain is characterized by the distinctive semantic features (components) that
differentiate individual lexemes in the domain from one another, and also by
features shared by all the lexemes in the domain. Such componential analysis
points out, for example, that in the domain “seat” in English, the lexemes
“chair,” “sofa,” “loveseat,” and “bench” can be distinguished from one
another according to how many people are accommodated and whether a back
support is included. At the same time all these lexemes share the common
component, or feature, of meaning “something on which to sit” [39].
Similarly, we can take a much used example from standard literature on
semantics to clarify what is being mentioned. [14]
man

woman

girl

boy

Male

+

-

-

+

female

-

+

+

-

adult

+

+

-

-

human

+

+

+

+

Features

2.2.2.2 Sense Relations
Meaning and sense are always making us confused. Sense is sometimes
distinguished from meaning. The meaning of a word is seen as part of the
language system; whereas, sense is the realization of this meaning in speech.
[14] By this way, sense should be paid much attention in the study for what is
being investigated is of language in use not the one in the dictionary.
Obviously, words cannot be defined independently of other words that
are semantically related to them and delimit their sense. For example, among
the members of the set look, stare, glance, gaze, glimpse…exist some sense


12

relation. Imagine a situation where for some reason all the members of the set
disappeared except for look. Then look would acquire all the differences now
expressed by other members. In other words, the network of sense relations
would disappear altogether. According to the analogy of J. Lyons (1995), the
lexical structure of a language is like a web in which each strand is one such
relation and each not is a different word or expression. From time immemorial
investigation of meanings has borne the hallmark of sense relations e.g
synonyms, hyponyms, antonyms, semantic fields… [14]
a. Semantic Fields
“The theory of semantic fields was put forward by a number of German
and Swiss scholars in the 1920s and 1930s such as Ispen (1924) and Trier
(1934). Trier’s theory is based on Saussure’s theory of language of a system
of networks held together by differences, oppositions and values.”
Basically, this is an attempt to define the structure of the lexicon. The
vocabulary of a language may appear chaotic, but in fact, there exists some
form of organization inside it. The value of a word then is determined by
defining it in relation to the value of neighbouring or contrasting words. Thus,
the vocabulary of a language is viewed as an integrated system of lexemes
interrelated in sense. For example the colour terms may constitute a field.
They cover various areas on the colour spectrum, which is the conceptual field
of colour. Because members of a semantic field divide up a conceptual field,
they are incompatible. For example, we cannot refer an animal as a lion and
an elephant at the same time. Semantic field is, therefore, a set of interrelated
senses based on a conceptual field or spectrum. Words can be grouped either
thematically or ideographically. [14]
“Thematic groupings contains words of the same part of speech which
cover the same conceptual field”
(12) Semantic field of human body: head, arm, leg, face … [25, p.147]

13

“Ideographic groupings may contain words of different parts of speech
but thematically related”
(13) Semantic field of hand: warm, cold…, clap, grasp... [25, p.159]
Basically, words are divided into fields depending on their semantic
features. In a way, this helps find words that are synonymous in the same field
[13]. Synonyms are to be mentioned in the following part.
b. Hyponyms, Synonyms and Antonyms
b1. Hyponyms
The relation of hyponym is often defined in terms of inclusion. The
hyponym is the member whose intensional meaning is specific enough to
cover the meaning of the superordinate whereas the superordinate member is
the one whose extensional meaning is broad enough to cover the hyponym.
This relation can be exemplified by such pair as “flower” and “rose” of
which “rose” is the hyponym of “flower” and “flower” is the superordinate.
The sense of “rose” includes the sense of “flower”, not necessarily the other
way round. A rose is a flower, but not every flower is a rose. “Rose, tulip,
daffodil…” are co-hyponyms of “flower” [14]
b2. Synonyms
Synonyms are actually words of the same parts of speech which have
similar meaning, but not identical meanings. They may share a similar
denotational or connotational meaning. They can differ from each other in
terms of denotation and connotation. Father and dad differ in terms of
connotation rather than denotation; on the other hand, misfortune and
accident, catastrophe will be different in denotation [14]
As mentioned above words that have the same semantic features are
grouped in fields. Thus, synonyms can only be found within fields or words
are synonymous when they are in the same fields.

(14) Thấp and lùn are synonyms in the field of body appearance [25.p.147]


14

However not all words in a field are synonymous. No matter how many
semantic features words have in common, they will not be synonymous if
there exist contradictory features between them.[25]
(15) Push and pull both of them belong to the same “field of exerting a force
on X to make X move” but push is of the subfield to make X move farther
while pull is of the one to make X get nearer. [25] In this case, though pull
and push are in the same semantic field, share some same features but they are
actually antonyms.
b3. Antonyms
“It is common knowledge that the meaning of a word may be partially
defined by saying that what is not. Male means not female and dead means
not alive. Words that are opposite in meanings are called antonyms. Two
words can be antonyms though they share all but one semantic property.
Therefore, there is reason to say that antonyms belong to the same semantic
fields, nearly identical in distribution for instance, married and single; small
and big.” [14]
2.2.3 Collocations and their Classification
The term collocation is used differently by different linguists. Stephen
Gramley and Kurt-Michael Patzold (2004) refer this term to combinations of
two lexical items, each of which makes a distinct semantic contribution,
belongs to different word class and show a restricted range. This definition
may confuse the learners because the different word criterion together with
the lexical items only criterion excludes the important noun-noun
combinations such as a light source, a pride of lion or the verb-verb ones like
be free to choose. Thus, the way to divide collocations into different following

types of combination presented in Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2003) is
preferred in this thesis.
a. adjective + noun


15

(16) bright / strong / harsh / intense light
b. quantifier + noun
(17) a beam / ray of light
c. verb + noun
(18) cast / shed / provide/ give/ emit light
d. Noun + verb
(19) light gleams / glows/ shines
e. Noun + noun
(20) light source
f. Preposition + noun
(21) by the light of the moon
g. Noun + preposition
(22) the light from the window
h. adverb + verb
(23) choose carefully
i. verb + verb
(24) be free to choose
j. verb + preposition
(25) choose between two things
k. verb + adjective
(26) make / keep / declare sth safe
l. adverb + adjective
(27) perfectly safe

m. adjective + preposition
(28) safe from attack
However, what is studied in this paper are collocations between the
headword “skin”, “da” and their proper adjectives and equivalents thus the
first above-mentioned type is applied in the investigation.


16

In addition, collocations are grouped based on their range from “weak”
collocation see a film through “medium strength” see a doctor to “stronger”
collocation see danger [19]
Most of the collocations can be called “word collocations”; that is,
these are the precise words that combine with each other small fortune cannot
be changed to little fortune. There is another area of collocation that might be
called “category collocation” where a word can combine with any word from
a readily definable set in which the members are predictable like words of
nationalities, colors, measurements… three – minute / five - minute walk [19]
2.2.4 Typical Features of Advertising Language Viewed from the
Psychological Perspective
It is commonly accepted that language is among many important factors
including images, sounds, colours…helping make a successful advertisement.
In many cases, whether an advertisement is successful or not is decided by
language.
The language of advertising can be viewed from different perspectives:
social, cultural, economic, strategic, technological, effective...Once the
communication of advertising is analysed from the psychology of the
consumers, advertising language has the following typical characteristics.
Language of advertising is obviously purposeful and practical. It is not
merely for giving information but exerting a deliberate influence on the

consumer. Advertising is to achieve a certain commercial or economic target.
On account of its deliberate influence, language of advertising is
usually striking, desire arousing, persuasive and sometimes competitive.
Turning to the language structure, advertising discourse is short and
coherent. An advertisement may be just a phrase which is carefully selected
to make an impression on the consumer.


17

Psychologically, advertising is a process of psychological interaction
between the advertiser (the producer, distributor, service provider…) and the
consumer in which the psychology of every advertiser is the same; that is to
publicize and persuade the hearer or the reader. Meanwhile, that of the
consumer is of much complexity which reflects the diversity of individual
psychology. This explains why the same advertising stimulation receives
different responses from different consumers. [33]


18

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study on the syntactic and semantic features of collocations of
“skin”, “da” and their adjectives or the equivalents was carried out based on
the collection, selection and analysis of advertisements of skincare products in
both English and Vietnamese.
3.1

METHODOLOGY OF STUDY

To get a reliable and objective result, I was of the opinion to collect a

wide variety of samples taken from different sources with the number of 200
skincare product advertisements in English and the same number of that in
Vietnamese
3.2

RESEARCH DESIGN
Descriptive, qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted in

this study.
Samples were collected, selected and categorized into groups for the
analysis of syntactic features and semantic features.
Books for reference and other materials were collected from different
sources.
Listing, selecting, systematising information from materials and books
for the study and the analysis.
3.3

DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE
Samples were taken from many different sources so as to eliminate the

element of subjectivity in the findings of the study that results in a good
conclusion and implication.
English samples were taken from some popular magazines such as
NewIdea, People, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Time and Woman’s Day. Also, the
Internet proved to be a good source in providing English samples for the study


19

especially such websites as http//www.loreal.com, http//www.lancome.com,
http//www.revlon.com,

http//www.dove.com,

http//www.shiseido.com,

http//www.olay.com, http//www.neutrogena.com.
English samples taken from English magazines and the Internet.
(1)

To purify oily skin, Sparkling Gel Cleanser with salicylic acid does the job.

Fresh Foaming Cleanser has humectants to bind moisture to normal skin and Rich
Cleanser calms, hydrates and conditions drier, more sensitive skins.[55]

(2)

Infuse your skin with moisture! This ultra-charged moisturizer delivers 16

skin-essential elements including Calcium, Zinc and Manganese to keep skin
hydrated all day. Oil-free, water-smooth texture leaves skin glowing with health.

[67]
Vietnamese samples were taken from some magazines like Hoa Học
Trò, Mỹ Phẩm, Người ĐẹpViệt Nam, Người Tiêu Dùng, Sành Điệu, Thế Giới
Phụ Nữ and Thời Trang Trẻ.
(3) Kem dưỡng da chống nắng Olay@ White Radiance không chỉ làm trắng da mà
còn làm giảm các vết nám và se lỗ chân lông. Các chất bức xạ và các thành phần

làm trắng da giúp làn da sáng hơn. [71]

(4) Công thức chống nắng SPF 19 bảo vệ làn da khỏi các tia bức xạ UVA/UVB
nguyên nhân chính làm da sạm đen và kém tươi sáng. Sử dụng kem cho làn da
thường hoặc da khô, sử dụng sữa nếu bạn có làn da hỗn hợp. [72]

3.4

STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS
- Perceiving a broad problem.
- Reading literature on relevant theoretical and empirical work (looking

for ways of narrowing the problem).
- Discussing with the supervisor to define a researchable problem.
- Defining the context of the problem to be researched.
- Reviewing any comparable case studies, especially for research
questions and methodology.
- Framing research questions.


20

- Designing an investigative procedure.
- Selecting and retrieving appropriate data.
- Proceeding with analysis and interpretation.
- Comparing the findings and interpretations with other relevant studies
reviewed earlier.
- Drawing tentative conclusions relating to the research questions.
3.5

RESEARCH SCHEDULE
The research time is sensibly divided for each activity of the study.
Table 3.1 The Time Frame for Research Activities

Date
Activities
Orientation
Choice of

2005

2006

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
√

√

topic
Library

√

√

√

√

√

√

work
Working

√

√

√

√

√

with the
supervisor
Preliminary

√

literature
review
Writing the

√

research
proposal

Data

√

√

√

√

√

√

collection
1st seminar

√

√


21

Data

√

√

√

√

analysis
Result
analysis
Writing
draft
chapters
2nd seminar
Revising
Printing

√
√

√

√

√

√

√

√
√

the thesis
and
correcting it
Completing

√

the thesis
Presentation
of the thesis
at the MA.
Thesis
Evaluation
Council of
the University
of Danang

√


22

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1

COLLOCATIONS AND THEIR SYNTACTIC FEATURES

4.1.1 Adjectives Collocate with “skin”, “da”
As it can be seen from the classification of collocations, such parts of

speech as adjectives, quantifiers, verbs, nouns and prepositions can combine
with “skin”. Within this thesis as mentioned in the scope of the study, only
collocations between the word “skin”, “da” and their adjectives and the
equivalents are to be investigated.
4.1.1.1 Adjectives Collocate with “skin” in English
Because of the fact that advertising is meant to convince people to buy
or use some product or some service and to get them interested, remember and
never feel bored with the brand, the advertiser keeps changing supporting
pictures as well as words used. This leads to a good collection of adjectives
used with the word “skin” and “da” found in the corpus.
According to Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaun (1976), adjectives
are either attributive or predicative. They are attributive when they premodify
nouns
(1) …It’ll add essential moisture to dry skin without leaving residue.. [59]
(2) A special formulated cream that combines 2% pure, stabilised Vitamin C with
other active ingredients. Apply daily to enjoy softer, younger-looking skin. [58]

And they are considered to be predicative when they function as subject
complements or object complements
(3) Skin looks smoother, firmer, more radiant. [59]
(4) Formulated with essential vitamins and minerals, this luxuriously foaming,
cleansing mousse improves the appearance of skin texture, rinses easily and
leaves skin refreshed and comfortable. [55]


23

There are quite a large number of adjectives and compound adjectives
seen in a corpus of 200 skincare product advertisements. Some of them, in the
corpus, function as both attributive and predicative. Others are either

attributive or predicative.
Table 4.1 Adjectives and Compound Adjectives Collocate with “skin”
(i: attributive; ii: predicative; iii: both)
Adjectives

i

ii

iii

+

-

-

-

+

-

-

-

+

bare, dehydrated, distressed, delicate, fatigued, frazzled,

mature, normal, perfect, pimple/ acne-prone, premature,
sensitive, subtle, thirsty, vibrant, youthful, plump, fine
(finer), new (newer),freshly-cleansed, pimple/ acneprone, sun-dried, wind-dried
comfortable, cool, even, glowing, renewed, sensual,
silky, supple, young, uneven, natural, greasy, old
(older), good (better), rested, less- lined, , silky-soft,
silky-smooth, velvety-smooth, well-rested, younglooking, healthy-looking
beautiful, dry, dull, firm, greasy, smooth, soft, healthy,
fresh, oily, clean, tight, flawless, radiant, tired, clear,
balanced, fair, bright
It is shown in table 4.1 that most adjectives and compound adjectives
describing the bad conditions or appearance of skin are used attributively in
skincare product advertisements. Exceptionally, some of this sort used
predicatively with the intensive verbs “to be” or “to feel” like greasy, dry,
dull, uneven and tired on condition that they are made negative or with the
complex transitive verb “make” for example.


24

(5) Deep cleansing action works without drying or stripping even the most delicate
skin. Skin feels soft and smooth, never dry or tight. [59]

(6) … silky soft skin that never feels greasy. [59]
(7) The sun causes photodamage, increasing melanin production and darkens
your skin. Dust and pollution, on the other hand, make your skin dull and uneven.

[57]
On the contrary, those figuring the good condition or appearance of
skin are used either attributive or predicative or both. The verbs used with

adjectives to show the improvement of skin are make, leave, become, keep and
these adjectives function as complements.
(8) This moisture-rich cream is specially formulated to instantly hydrate dry skin
and help it to maintain its optimum moisture balance… Enriched with signs of daily
stress and full hydrated, your skin becomes beautifully soft and smooth all day
long. [55]

In addition, there exist some participles in the corpus used as adjectives
combining with “skin” to form collocations. This identification of participles
is made based on what is classified in the 7th edition Oxford Advanced
Learner’s.
(9) This rich-foaming, oil-free gel cleanser water-activates to instantly remove
makeup, excess oil and impurities. Specially formulated to deep cleanse skin
without stripping essential oils. Leaves skin feeling clean, wonderfully refreshed
and refined. [55]

(10) This innovative formula features dermo-bonding peptides to significantly
reduce the appearance of wrinkles and results in tighter, firmer, more lifted
skin.[55]


25

Table 4.2 Participle Adjectives Collocate with “skin”
Participle adjectives

Attributive

Predicative

Both

+

-

-

-

+

-

-

-

+

damaged, de-stressed, plumped,
tightened, cushioned,
clarified, hydrated, invigorated, refined,
moisturized, refreshed, renewed, rested,
revitalized, soothed, strengthened,
toned, energized, stressed
lifted

As what can be seen from table 4.2, most of these participle adjectives
are predicative. There are only one out of twenty put into use both

attributively and predicatively and other five attributively.
Among the above-listed adjectives, compound adjectives and participle
adjectives, some are gradable and can be modified by adverbs which convey
the degree of intensity of the adjective (very, absolutely...) and have the ability
to be compared. It might be expected that comparative and superlative are of
extremely common use in advertising. Nevertheless, not all of them are used
in compared forms there are only 27 of them are in comparative or
superlative.
(11) This rich, dermatologist-recommended formula adds back moisture every
time you use it. Skin is left more moisturized, so it retains resiliency and
suppleness. [67]

(12)…Specially formulated for dry skin, this moisture-rich formula helps restore
skin softness and smoothness with medium coverage to blend away imperfections.
Skin looks smoother, firmer, more radiant. [59]