GraphColl: Reading Collocation Graphs

Collocation graphs display multiple dimensions according to the table settings. To find out more about a collocate, however your mouse over it to obtain a KWIC (concordance line) preview. This will show the occurrences of the collocate and the node in the corpus.

Interpreting the Collocation Graph:

• Edge length: By default, the edge (line) length is assigned to a default association measure to express the strength of collocation. The closer the collocate is to the node, the stronger the association between the node and the collocate (‘magnet effect’).
• Size: The size of circle value is by default assigned to frequency of the collocation value: Freq (coll). The more frequent the collocation is the larger the circle.
• Colour: Colour of the circle is by default assigned to the frequency of the collocate anywhere in the corpus: Freq (corpus). The frequency range is displayed in the legend .
• Position: The position of collocates around the node in the graph reflects the exact position of the collocates in text: some collocates appear (predominantly) to the left of the node, others to the right; others still appear sometimes left and sometimes right (middle position in the graph). For the ease of display (if multiple collocates appear in a similar position and hence overlap), the tool allows ‘spreading out’ collocates slightly.