摘要：Research on collocations in the Croatian language has mostly been directed towards issues relating to linguistics and lexicography, while research on their use is scarce and mostly directed towards second language speakers (Burić & Lasić, 2012; Ordulj, 2016; Petrović, 2007). This paper brings forth the results of research on the use of collocations among native speakers of the Croatian language. Based on the corpus analysis of characteristics of collocations and investigation of native Croatian language speakers, the influence of two factors on the use of collocations was researched: frequency of collocations and associative strength of collocation elements. The use of collocations in a morphologically unmarked form (nominative) and in dependent cases, along with their use in the narrower and broader context was researched. The research results indicate that the key factors for using collocations by native speakers are factors of frequency and associative strength, while the morphological form of the collocation is irrelevant to native speakers. The research also showed stronger influence of context on the use of less frequent collocations and weaker associative strength from the use of collocations of high frequency and strong associative strength. The results obtained are relevant for understanding general processes in the acquisition of the Croatian language as the mother tongue and suggest a starting point for considering more efficient ways of teaching the Croatian language.
关键词：associative strength of collocation; frequency; context; mother tongue attainment.
