ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with word associations, although it should be noted that studying why words do not associate can also offer insights into register, style and semantics. The study of multi-word units of meaning has led to many new and interesting findings which in turn have pedagogical implications. Most of the studies of multi-word units have focused on n-grams. N-grams, which have attracted a variety of labels such as 'lexical bundles', 'chunks' and 'clusters', are frequently occurring contiguous words that constitute a phrase or a pattern of use. Sinclair's criticisms raise fundamental issues about what he terms the phraseological tendency in language (1987), and he proposes his own model for identifying and describing 'extended unit of meanings', or 'lexical items'. The widespread use of collocational frameworks suggests that Sinclair and Renouf deserve greater attention from researchers, teachers and learners. The future exploration of multiword units in corpus linguistics promises to tell readers much more about how meaning is created.
