The most frequent collocates in both datasets are given in Table 5.2.19 below:
METAPHOR NON-METAPHOR
R Collocate Freq. ptw. Left Freq. Right Freq. R Collocate Freq. ptw. Left Freq. Right Freq.
1 THE 15.15 152 79 1 THE 27.67 313 165 2 OF 11.09 66 103 2 OF 11.92 102 104 3 AND 8.40 62 66 3 AND 11.40 84 113 4 A 6.56 89 11 4 A 10.88 140 48 5 IN 5.05 36 41 5 IN 4.86 52 32 6 TO 4.2 42 22 6 TO 4.28 40 34 7 THAT 3.02 25 21 7 WITH 3.76 44 21 8 WITH 2.43 28 9 8 IT 3.07 26 27 9 HIS 2.36 20 16 9 AS 2.55 27 17 10 INTO 2.03 26 5 10 INTO 2.37 39 2
Remarkably, the lists show little difference in the order of frequency of the collocates. That and his are specific to the metaphoric set, whilst it and as are specific to the non- metaphoric set. As noted from the keyword list, the is much more frequent per thousand words in the non-metaphoric data (27.67 compared to 15.15 per thousand words). Although of is similar in frequency, its occurrence is more evenly spread on the left and right in the non-metaphoric set. This suggests a possible colligation amongst the metaphors. Further exploration shows the item occurs in R1 position in 43.20% of all metaphoric instances (and in 70.87% of all right-hand occurrences). The second most frequent position, with only 12.43% of instances occurring, is L1. In contrast, in the non- metaphoric data of occurs in R1 in 30.10% of instances, followed by L2 in 16.51% of all instances. Thus there is stronger association of flame with of in the metaphoric data. Table 5.2.20 below shows all items following flame of in the metaphoric corpus with a minimum frequency of three:
METAPHOR
R FLAME OF + noun Freq. Freq. ptw.
1 FLAME OF REBELLION 4 0.26
2 FLAME OF LOVE 4 0.26
3 FLAME OF HOPE 4 0.26
4 (THE) FLAME OF PASSION 3 0.20
5 FLAME OF FIRE 3 0.20
6 FLAME OF LIFE 3 0.20
Table 5.2. 20. Clusters of flame of + noun in metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 3)
All items are nouns, thus forming the colligation flame of + noun. With the exception of fire, each of these are abstract and human related. Instances of flame of + abstract noun are shown in more detail in concordance lines below:
163
Concordance 5.2. 8. Selection of flameof + noun occurrences in metaphoric dataset
The screenshot shows a wide array of abstract nouns such as hope, irritancy, joy, liberty, life and love. The action of the flame is often described in a sense associated with a non- metaphoric flame: often it is kindled, burned, spread, caught, extinguished or lighted. The majority of instances (36/72) of the cluster are preceded by the (e.g. the flame of gratitude).
In comparison, there are only three instances of the structure flame of + noun in the non-metaphoric dataset. Instead, there are 15 instances of flame of a + noun and 34 instances of flame of the + noun. Together, these colligations make up 82.26% of all instances of the collocation flame of. These do not show any abstraction and instead display a semantic association with flame in its non-metaphoric sense only. Reoccurring instances of flame of the + noun are shown below:
NON-METAPHOR R FLAME OF THE + noun Freq. Freq. ptw.
1 FLAME OF THE CANDLE 10 0.58
2 FLAME OF THE LAMP 7 0.41
3 FLAME OF THE MATCH 4 0.23
Table 5.2. 21. Clusters of flame of + noun in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 3)
Flame of the candle/lamp/match/torch refers specifically to a flame belonging to a concrete object, presumably visible to the writer, narrator, or characters in the case of fiction. To further illustrate the dependence on semantically related lexis amongst the non-metaphoric concordance lines, the table below shows every noun (both type and token, and not only collocates) occurring after flame of the. These can be divided into two semantic categories (fire creating or sustaining devices and types of fire):
Fire creating/sustaining devices Types of fire
furnace fire (x 2)
candle (x 10) dry brushwood
torch (x 2) bonfires gunpowder wood FLAME OF THE + Spirit-lamp oxy-hydrogen blowpipe lamp(s) (x 8) Match (x4)
Table 5.2. 22. All instances of flame of the + noun occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset
Returning to the top ten most frequent collocates table, the fourth most frequent collocate in both datasets is a. Despite this similarity in rank, the item is almost twice as frequent in the non-metaphoric dataset (10.88 per thousand words compared to 6.56). In both groups it occurs most often in L1 position, followed by L2 position. Whilst there is a 14.00% difference in L1 and L2 frequency in the metaphors, there is only an 8.51% difference between the same position frequencies in the non-metaphoric data. The remaining shared most frequent collocates show little difference in frequency and
165
left/right distribution. More interestingly, this is also the case for items specific to one dataset only. These are that and his in the metaphoric data and it and at in the non- metaphoric data.
Firstly, that has a frequency of 3.02 occurrences per thousand words in the metaphoric data, compared with 2.20 occurrences per thousand words in the non- metaphoric data. It occurs in no single position more frequently than another (17.39% of instances occurring each in L3, L2 and R1). Thus with no obvious differences in behaviour or frequency, it does not appear to reveal any tendencies or primings. Similarly, HIS occurs with more frequency in the metaphoric data (2.36 occurrences per thousand words, compared to 1.62 occurrences per thousand words). 30.55% of instances occur in L2 position suggests a weak colligation of his (modifier) + flame. Instances are given below:
Concordance 5.2. 9. All occurrences of hisXflame in metaphoric dataset
The most common modifier is old. There are also two instances of fair and two of sacred (though the first half of both these lines are repeated). In the majority of cases, the flame appears to be a specific person (usually an old or former lover). Interestingly this is not the case with HER: there are four instances, three of which contain clause breaks within the cluster, and one of them refers to her hymeneal flame.
Finally in reference to the top ten most frequent clusters, it and as are specific to the non-metaphoric dataset. It occurs 3.07 times per thousand words, with no fixed positioning either to the left or the right of flame. This compares with the item occurring only 0.09 times per thousand words in the metaphoric data, again, with no preference for a single position. As shown in the table, as occurs 2.55 times per thousand words in the non-metaphors, compared to 0.18 times per thousand words in the metaphoric data. It occurs in L3 and L2 18.18% and 15.91% respectively in the non-metaphoric data, whereas in the metaphors it occurs most often in R1 (25.93% of all occurrences), followed by L3 (14.81%). Thus despite the higher frequency in the non-metaphoric set, there is a stronger preference for a fixed position in the metaphoric set.
We now examine whether the cluster data provided by WordSmith can identify more colligations, as yet unexplored, that help to distinguish the datasets.