Alison Wray

The Functions of Formulaic Language: An Integrated Model.

1. Introduction1.1. The nature of formulaic language‘Formulaicity’ and ‘formulaic sequence’ will be used in this paper to describe, in aneutral way, a phenomenon that encompasses various types of wordstring whichappear to be stored and retrieved whole from memory. Our working definition ofthe formulaic sequence will be:a sequence, continuous or discontinous, of words or other meaning elements,which is, or appears to be, prefabricated: that is, stored and retrieved wholefrom memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation oranalysis by the language grammar.This includes, at the one extreme, tightly idiomatic and immutable strings, such asby and large, which are both semantically opaque and syntactically irregular, and, atthe other, transparent and flexible ones containing slots for open class items, like NPbe-TENSE sorry to keep-TENSE you waiting (Pawley and Syder, 1983, p. 210).Perkins (in press) defines formulaicity as follows: ‘‘manifested in strings of linguisticitems where the relation of each item to the rest is relatively fixed, and where thesubstitutability of one item by another of the same category is relatively con-strained’’. If we take formulaicity to encompass, as some do, also the enormous setof ‘simple’ lexical collocations, whose patterns are both remarkable and puzzlingfrom a formal grammatical point of view (e.g. Sinclair, 1991), then possibly as much

Projects in linguistics: a practical guide to researching language

Projects in Linguistics is a unique and essential guide for anyone doing a research project in language and linguistics. With orientation overviews of the main areas of enquiry typically targeted by students, it offers practical help in identifying a topic, finding background reading, planning and designing a study, collecting and analysing data, and writing a convincing account. With over 300 practical ideas for projects that can be used directly or adapted to suit different contexts and interests, and with chapters on how to reference and how to avoid plagiarism, Projects in Linguistics belongs on the bookshelf of every student studying language and linguistics. Aimed at undergraduates, it will also be invaluable to both pre-university and postgraduate students.

What Do We (Think We) Know About Formulaic Language? An Evaluation of the Current State of Play

This article briefly summarizes key developments in formulaic language research over the past 5 years, before exploring certain assumptions typically made, regarding the coherence of formulaicity as a phenomenon, the significance of frequency as a property, and the location of subtypes of formulaic language along various continua. It is argued that we do not yet have the full measure of how different features associated with formulaicity fit together. The challenge lies in reconciling the range of evidence types within an explanation that is rooted not only in usage itself, but in the underlying motivations that determine usage.

We've Had a Wonderful, Wonderful Thing: formulaic interaction when an expert has dementia

This study describes how the participants in a singers’ master class weekend collaborated with their teacher, an internationally renowned former opera singer in her mid-80s, to compensate for the difficulties in communication caused by her dementia. The workshop’s success was due to the teacher’s professionalism and personal dignity; the high esteem and affection in which she was held by the participants; the shared assumption that she had information to impart; her unimpaired musical abilities; the scope for singing, text recitation and gesture to convey complex ideas; and the legitimate formulaicity of the teaching activity. The nature and role of her predominantly formulaic language is examined from the perspective of its function in the very specific context of her teaching, with reference to features from Orange’s (2001) strategy framework for communicating successfully with people with dementia.

Pushing learners to the extreme: the artificial use of prefabricated material in conversation

Abstract Adult second language learners often come across as proficient but not native-like, with a command of the words and grammar of the language, but not of its idiomaticity. Idiomaticity resides in selecting the most native-like turn of phrase from a larger set of ways in which a particular message might be grammatically expressed. This article investigates what happens when learners are pushed to use native-like phrases in conversation. In an experiment inspired by TALK (a computer-assisted speech aid for the disabled), L2 learners of English were provided with native-like ways of expressing specific messages for targeted conversations. Both TALK and the L2 study represent artificial approaches to conversational interaction, retaining characteristics of ‘normal’ conversation along with a range of additional features arising from the limitations of being forced to rely on prefabricated material. Comparative evaluations of the two types of interaction indicate that even entirely fixed formulaic language can be highly effective in conversation. However, the extreme conditions of language use explored here also expose persistent weaknesses inherent in relying too heavily on formulaic material. The study exemplifies the value of research at the interface of lexical and grammatical processing and identifies related implications for the language learner.

Accessing second-order collocation through lexical co-occurrence networks

The volume contains articles focussing on the role of prefabricated items in language. It provides both a discussion of Sinclairs seminal work including unpublished pieces of his manuscripts as well as articles from linguists of various fields demonstrating the relevance of this topic in theoretical as well as more applied contexts.

Proverbs and formulaic sequences in the language of elderly people with dementia

Some types of formulaic (routine and familiar) language seem to remain fairly intact in people with language and memory disturbances, making it a useful tool for both testing language skills and supporting language retention and use. Proverbs can reasonably be considered a subset of formulaic language, and while it is known that the ability to understand proverbs is compromised in dementia, completing them ought to be relatively easy, if proverbs are stored holistically like other kinds of formulaic language. However, this study reports how three people with dementia often struggled to complete proverbs in a game used in a day-care centre to stimulate the memory and language skills. By examining their responses and relating them to the causes of formulaic language patterns, it is argued that these games are not as appropriate a tool for stimulating memory and language skills as might be first thought. Although they do provide a much-needed opportunity for sustained patient-carer interaction that transcends the basic delivery of physical care needs, the games contravene some of the guidelines offered by Orange (2001) regarding the best way to support people with Alzheimer’s Disease in constructive interaction.

‘Needs only’ Analysis in Linguistic Ontogeny and Phylogeny

Recently, linguists from several quarters have begun to unpack some of the assumptions and claims made in linguistics over the last 40 years, opening up new possibilities for synergies between linguistic theory and the variety of fields that engage with it. A key point of exploration is the relationship between external manifestations of language and the underlying mental model that produces and understands them. To what extent does it remain reasonable to argue that all humans ‘know’ certain things about language, even if they never demonstrate that knowledge? What is the status of knowledge that is only stimulated into expression by particular cultural input? Many have asked whether the human’s linguistic behaviour can be explained with recourse to less innate knowledge than Chomskian models traditionally assume.

The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body, by Steven Mithen. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005. ISBN 0-297-64317-7 hardback £20 & US\

Why are humans musical? Why do people in all cultures sing or play instruments? Why do we appear to have specialized neurological apparatus for hearing and interpreting music as distinct from other sounds? And how does our musicality relate to language and to our evolutionary history? Anthropologists and archaeologists have paid little attention to the origin of music and musicality — far less than for either language or ‘art’. While art has been seen as an index of cognitive complexity and language as an essential tool of communication, music has suffered from our perception that it is an epiphenomenal ‘leisure activity’, and archaeologically inaccessible to boot. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Steven Mithen; music is integral to human social life, he argues, and we can investigate its ancestry with the same rich range of analyses — neurological, physiological, ethnographic, linguistic, ethological and even archaeological — which have been deployed to study language. In The Singing Neanderthals Steven Mithen poses these questions and proposes a bold hypothesis to answer them. Mithen argues that musicality is a fundamental part of being human, that this capacity is of great antiquity, and that a holistic protolanguage of musical emotive expression predates language and was an essential precursor to it. This is an argument with implications which extend far beyond the mere origins of music itself into the very motives of human origins. Any argument of such range is bound to attract discussion and critique; we here present commentaries by archaeologists Clive Gamble and Iain Morley and linguists Alison Wray and Maggie Tallerman, along with Mithens response to them. Whether right or wrong, Mithen has raised fascinating and important issues. And it adds a great deal of charm to the time-honoured, perhaps shopworn image of the Neanderthals shambling ineffectively through the pages of Pleistocene prehistory to imagine them humming, crooning or belting out a cappella harmonies as they went.Why are humans musical? Why do people in all cultures sing or play instruments? Why do we appear to have specialized neurological apparatus for hearing and interpreting music as distinct from other sounds? And how does our musicality relate to language and to our evolutionary history? Anthropologists and archaeologists have paid little attention to the origin of music and musicality — far less than for either language or ‘art’. While art has been seen as an index of cognitive complexity and language as an essential tool of communication, music has suffered from our perception that it is an epiphenomenal ‘leisure activity’, and archaeologically inaccessible to boot. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Steven Mithen; music is integral to human social life, he argues, and we can investigate its ancestry with the same rich range of analyses — neurological, physiological, ethnographic, linguistic, ethological and even archaeological — which have been deployed to study language. In The Singing Neanderthals Steven Mithen poses these questions and proposes a bold hypothesis to answer them. Mithen argues that musicality is a fundamental part of being human, that this capacity is of great antiquity, and that a holistic protolanguage of musical emotive expression predates language and was an essential precursor to it. This is an argument with implications which extend far beyond the mere origins of music itself into the very motives of human origins. Any argument of such range is bound to attract discussion and critique; we here present commentaries by archaeologists Clive Gamble and Iain Morley and linguists Alison Wray and Maggie Tallerman, along with Mithens response to them. Whether right or wrong, Mithen has raised fascinating and important issues. And it adds a great deal of charm to the time-honoured, perhaps shopworn image of the Neanderthals shambling ineffectively through the pages of Pleistocene prehistory to imagine them humming, crooning or belting out a cappella harmonies as they went.

25.2; ix+374 pp.

ABSTRACT It is argued that future research capacity building for the social sciences needs to incorporate methods to accelerate the acquisition by researchers of holistic expertise relevant to their roles as researchers and as developers of others. An agenda is presented, based on a model of learning that highlights missing elements of current provision, and two approaches currently under development are described.