Phraseology and Culture in English

Collocations involving go
they was goin singing on the way 
‘they were singing on the way’ 
me and Jody bin go and getting grapes 
‘Jody and I got some grapes’ 
[I was] standing on the pipe going along 
‘I was walking along the pipe’ 
The verb ‘go’ commonly collocates with another verb so that the activity im-
plied in the second (and dominant) verb is associated with a sense of ongoing 
motion. This has been observed by Koch (2000: 48–54) to be characteristic 
also of Central Australian Aboriginal English and he has referred to it with the 
term ‘associated motion.’ Koch attributes this feature in his data to the influ-
ence of the Kaytetye language. 
Collocations involving walk (and go)
We went for walk long way 
‘We walked for a long time’ 
They went walkin along 
‘They were walking along’ or ‘They started 
walking’ 
we ‘as goin walking 
‘we were walking’ 
We went walkin along 
‘we were walking along’ 
It is apparent that go readily collocates with the verb walk, and also with an-
other marker of ongoing movement, long/along. The term walk may, indeed, 
in Aboriginal English, be used to refer to land travel without necessarily im-
plying that it is on foot and, thus, can be used synonymously with go. The 
salience of the long/along marker is made particularly apparent in some (more 
remote) areas through its highlighting with elevated pitch and vowel lengthen-
ing. 
Collocations involving get
them two bin get scared 
‘the two of them were scared’ 
the little lamb was getting scared 
‘the little lamb was scared’ 
they get cheeky 
‘they behave aggressively’ 

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Multiword units in Aboriginal English
391
e get stiffened out every time 
‘he/she is always getting hurt’ 
Are they gunna be get you doin goat 
mustering 
‘Will they have you mustering goats’ 
S was getting big shame 
‘S was deeply embarrassed’ 
The verb get tends to collocate with some other verbs or with adjectival ex-
pressions to add an inchoative sense to the action described.