Formulaic Language and the Lexicon

by Alison Wray

• ISBN13: 9780521773096
• ISBN10: 0521773091
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

A considerable proportion of our everyday language is 'formulaic'. It is predictable in form, idiomatic, and seems to be stored in fixed, or semi-fixed, chunks. This book explores the nature and purposes of formulaic language, and looks for patterns across the research findings from the fields of discourse analysis, first language acquisition, language pathology and applied linguistics. It gradually builds up a unified description and explanation of formulaic language as a linguistic solution to a larger, non-linguistic, problem, the promotion of self. The book culminates in a new model of lexical storage, which accommodates the curiosities of non-native and aphasic speech. Parallel analytic and holistic processing strategies are the proposed mechanism which reconciles, on the one hand, our capacity for understanding and producing novel constructions using grammatical knowledge and small lexical units, and on the other, our use of prefabricated material which, though less flexible, also requires less processing.

Author Biography

Alison Wray is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, Wales

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	vii
Preface and Acknowledgements	ix
Part I. What Formulaic Sequences Are
The Whole and the Parts	3	(16)
Detecting Formulaicity	19	(25)
Pinning Down Formulaicity	44	(25)
Part II. A Reference Point
Patterns of Formulaicity in Normal Adult Language	69	(24)
The Function of Formulaic Sequences: A Model	93	(12)
Part III. Formulaic Sequences in First Language Acquisition
Patterns of Formulaicity in Child Language	105	(23)
Formulaic Sequences in the First Language Acquisition Process: A Model	128	(15)
Part IV. Formulaic Sequences in a Second Language
Non-native Language: Overview	143	(7)
Patterns of Formulaicity in Children Using a Second Language	150	(22)
Patterns of Formulaicity in Adults and Teenagers Using a Second Language	172	(27)
Formulaic Sequences in the Second Language Acquisition Process: A Model	199	(18)
Part V. Formulaic Sequences in Language Loss
Patterns of Formulaicity in Aphasic Language	217	(30)
Formulaic Sequences in Aphasia: A Model	247	(14)
Part VI. An Integrated Model
The Heteromorphic Distributed Lexicon	261	(22)
Notes	283	(18)
References	301	(26)
Index	327