SERVICE
a) Keyness
The lemma ‘service’ was the fourteenth most significant key word in the BEC corpus.
|
N |
Word |
bec freq. |
bec.lst % |
bnc freq. |
bnc.lst % |
Keyness |
P |
|
14 |
SERVICE |
1,461 |
0.14 |
916 |
0.05 |
728.7 |
0.000000 |
Semantic Prosody
Left: Four main groups identified.
|
semantic prosody |
frequency/ 773& % |
example |
|
positive |
73 - 9.44% |
attentive service superior customer service innovative service |
|
people (who will receive/provide service) |
74 - 9.57% |
customer service client service |
|
type of service (line of business) |
145 - 18.75% |
insurance service information service sport service |
|
type of service (characteristics) |
42 - 5.43% |
annual service local service long-distance service |
Right: One small group identified.
|
semantic prosody |
frequency/ 773 & % |
example |
|
people |
39 - 5.04% |
service manager service engineer service agents |
c) Three-word clusters
|
N |
cluster |
Freq. |
|
1 |
the service sector |
11 |
|
2 |
product or service |
10 |
|
3 |
the civil service |
10 |
|
4 |
and customer service |
8 |
|
5 |
customer service assistant |
8 |
|
6 |
in the service |
8 |
|
7 |
service in the |
7 |
|
8 |
assistant western Europe |
6 |
|
9 |
ELT customer service |
6 |
|
10 |
Europe and Scandinavia |
6 |
|
11 |
in the civil |
6 |
|
12 |
of customer service |
6 |
|
13 |
service assistant western |
6 |
|
14 |
western Europe and |
6 |
|
15 |
a customer service |
5 |
|
16 |
of the service |
5 |
|
17 |
part of the |
5 |
|
18 |
service for the |
5 |
|
19 |
to service the |
5 |
|
20 |
customer service engineer |
4 |
|
21 |
debt collection service |
4 |
|
22 |
financial services debt |
4 |
|
23 |
for rural service |
4 |
|
24 |
foundation for rural |
4 |
|
25 |
franking service eliminate |
4 |
|
26 |
if you have |
4 |
|
27 |
if you like |
4 |
|
28 |
level of service |
4 |
|
29 |
of this new |
4 |
|
30 |
personname ELT customer |
4 |
|
31 |
product and service |
4 |
|
32 |
quality of service |
4 |
|
33 |
satellite aircom service |
4 |
|
34 |
service eliminate the |
4 |
|
35 |
service to our |
4 |
|
36 |
service to the |
4 |
|
37 |
service you may |
4 |
|
38 |
services debt collecting |
4 |
|
39 |
sport service manager |
4 |
|
40 |
the best personname |
4 |
|
41 |
the fixed service |
4 |
|
42 |
the service is |
4 |
|
43 |
the service to |
4 |
|
44 |
this new service |
4 |
d) Macro-generic
distribution
e) Colligation
Used overwhelmingly as a noun:
Verb: 19 instances - 2.45% of sample
Noun: 754 instances - 97.54% of sample
COBUILD Sense 1 (service provided by government in an organised way)
8 instances - 1.03% of sample
Patterns: Count noun
the fire service, the
prison service
COBUILD Sense 3 (a company providing a service: a job or type of work)
612 instances - 79.17% of sample
Patterns: Count noun
advisory service, collection service, food service, operational service
In this category examples of
companies providing a service in the
sense of something people want/need, and also in the sense when a company gives a product a service, i.e. maintains it,
have been included. COBUILD does not distinguish between the two.
COBUILD Sense 4 (the service sector - i.e, making money but not manufacturing/producing goods directly)
27 instances - 3.49%
Patterns: Noun (can also be plural as in ‘services’)
service organisation,
service sector, service industries
COBUILD Sense 5 (level or standard of service provided by a company)
73 instances - 9.44% of sample
Patterns: Uncount noun (semantic prosody left category 1 above)
provide a quality service, customers expect almost an instantaneous service
COBUILD Sense 6 (a bus/train service)
1 instance 0.12% of sample
Patterns: Count noun: usually noun-noun
communities have no
bus service
COBUILD Sense 8 (one’s service in a company)
11 instances - 1.42%
Patterns: Uncount noun: often noun-to-noun
basing redundancies on
length of service
for each year of
service starting with the fifth anniversary
COBUILD Sense 11(service in a restaurant)
4 instances - 0.51% of sample
Patterns: Uncount noun
at half-past twelve we
start service in the restaurant
COBUILD Sense 19 (verb: to service a debt)
2 instances - 0.25% of sample
Patterns: Verb/verb-noun
service billions in
debt
COBUILD Sense 20 (verb: providing something a company needs)
17 instances - 2.19% of sample
Patterns: Verb/verb-noun
to service that
account, service their own customer books
COBUILD Sense 25 (vehicle/equipment able to be/being used)
7 instance 0.9% of sample
Patterns: usually phrase after verb
with the next 8 on
order coming into service every 3/4 months ...
COBUILD Sense 26 (to be of service- useful)
2 instances - 0.25% of sample
verb link phrase
have the pleasure and
opportunity to be of service to you in future
Other COBUILD examples found :
the Civil Service: 14 instances - 1.81% of sample
room service: 6 instances - 0.77% of sample
the Prison Service: 3 instances - 0.38% of sample
National Service: 2 instances - 0.25% of sample
Other senses:
lip service: 1 instance - 0.12% of sample
jury service: 2 instances - 0.25% of sample
self-service: 3 instances - 0.38% of sample
public service: 3 instances - 0.38% of sample
fire service: 4 instances - 0.51% of sample
f) Associates
|
N |
WORD |
NO. OF FILES |
AS % |
|
1 |
SERVICE |
17 |
100.00 |
|
2 |
CUSTOMER |
7 |
41.18 |
|
3 |
BUSINESS |
6 |
35.29 |
|
4 |
OR |
5 |
29.41 |
|
5 |
INTERNET |
5 |
29.41 |
Comments
1. Obvious from the above is the wide usage of ‘service’. It seems to have a slightly positive prosody, or rather the sample shows companies advertising their services in a positive way and there is little talk of problems with service.