10th Anniversary Issue (2020) (PDF)

Foreword to the Issue

Günter Schmale (Lyon, France):

Polyfactoriality as a Defining Criterion of Formulaic Speech 

Abstract

Starting from the observation that the criteria generally applied to the definition of formulaic speech – polylexicality, (relative) stability and idiomaticity – no longer reflect the current state-of-the-art insight into the nature of prefabricated speech productions (and understanding), the present paper discusses a revised vision of formulaicity taking the pivotal defining criterion of polyfactoriality as its basis. This notion permits to take into account segmental, prosodic, corporal, contextual and situational elements in order to define an utterance or one of its units as being formulaic, even when it consists of one lexical item only. This notion also permits to considerably extend the scope of formulaic communicative manifestations, ranging from monolexical routine formula via sentence-based proverbs to formulaic texts and even to communicative events. As a hyperonym, polyfactoriality  equally is characterized by relative stability through its smallest common formulaic denominator, its semantic non-compositionality (due to its idiomatic footprint), and its multimodal character. Based on these reflections, a revised definition of the notion of formulaic sequence will be put forward.

Andreea Calude (Hamilton, New Zealand) & Gerald Delahunty (Fort Collins, CO, USA):

'Just because' Constructions in Spoken and Written New Zealand English

Abstract

Just because (JB) is widely used and has been a target of commentary and humorous use by English speakers and aroused some interest among linguists, who have investigated its syntax, semantics, and derivation. Some, based on researcher constructed data, have proposed construction analyses (Hirose 1991, Bender and Kathol 2001). Another (Hilpert 2005: 97), using a diachronic corpus, proposes that JB has been grammaticalized as a concessive marker via "the discourse function of inference denial." Our study, based on a corpus of New Zealand written and spoken English, demonstrates, amongst other significant findings, that JB occurs in a far broader set of grammatical contexts than the earlier literature recognizes, that JB constructions are significantly more frequent in spoken than in written English, that JB adverbial clauses are more likely to occur in pre-posed than in post-posed position, that the meaning of just because affects this distribution, that just because is far more likely to be followed by a clause than a prepositional phrase, and that JB constructions are extremely likely to occur in the discourse context of a negator.

Heinz-Helmut Lüger (Koblenz-Landau, Deutschland):

Subjektivität und Sprachgebrauch – Anregungen Michel Bréals für eine linguistische Pragmatik?

Abstract (English)

The role of Michel Bréal in the development of modern linguistics is judged very differently. Is Bréal the "inventor" of the word semantics (Touratier 2000), can his Essai de sémantique from 1897 even be considered as revolutionary (Tamba-Mecz 1988) or as the foundation of a new linguistic sub-discipline (Schmehl 2006)? Or did Bréal merely continue the tradition of historical-comparative linguistics (Brekle 1972) and produce hardly anything new (Coseriu 2000)? Irrespective of these assessments, the following article will examine to what extent a first approach towards linguistic pragmatics can be found in Bréal’s works. The focus will be on the reflections made on L'élément subjectif in his Essai de sémantique. At the same time, a chapter of this work will be presented in German translation for the first time.

Abstract (Français)

Le rôle de Michel Bréal dans le développement de la linguistique moderne est jugé de manière très différente. Bréal est-il "l'inventeur" du mot sémantique (Touratier 2000), son Essai de sémantique de 1897 peut-il même être considéré comme révolutionnaire (Tamba-Mecz 1988) ou comme le fondement d'une nouvelle sous-discipline linguistique (Schmehl 2006) ? Ou bien Bréal a-t-il simplement poursuivi la tradition de la linguistique comparative historique (Brekle 1972) et n'a-t-il pratiquement rien produit de nouveau (Coseriu 2000) ? Indépendamment de ces évaluations, cet article examinera la question de savoir dans quelle mesure on peut trouver les premières approches de la pragmatique linguistique dans l’oeuvre de Bréal. Pour ce faire, l'accent est mis sur les commentaires de L'élément subjectif de l'Essai de sémantique. En même temps, un chapitre de cet écrit est, pour la première fois, présenté en traduction allemande .

Shing-lung Chen (Kaohsiung, Taiwan):

Zur Konzipierung von Spielen im Unterricht Deutsch als Fremdsprache

Abstract (Deutsch)

Gemäß Jan & Chang (2018) sollen im Unterricht nicht nur Sprachkenntnisse vermittelt, sondern auch Fähigkeiten wie z.B. Kreativität, induktive Fähigkeiten und Problemlösungsfähigkeiten ausgebildet werden. Zur Zeit spielen die Lerner im Unterricht meist traditionelle fremdsprachlich orientierte Spiele und lernen eher passiv. In dem vorliegenden Artikel sollen die Lerner in einem ersten Versuch anhand einen gegebenen Lerninhaltes selbst ein fremdsprachliches Spiel entwickeln. Dabei können sie sowohl ihre Sprachkenntnisse zum Einsatz bringen als auch ihre Kreativität entwickeln. Die meisten fremdsprachlichen Spiele beschränken sich auf das Lernen des Wortschatzes oder auf die Satzbildung. Das Ziel des Fremdsprachenlernens besteht jedoch darin, in der Fremdsprache zu kommunizieren. In diesem Beitrag werden Spiele zu Förderung der fremdsprachlichen Kommunikation anhand des Design Thinking-Modells von Lernern selbst entwickelt. Anschließend wird mittels einer Umfrage analysiert, inwiefern das Entwickeln von Spielen die Lernmotivation, den Lernerfolg und die Problemlösungsfähigkeiten  der Lerner erhöhen kann.

  

Abstract (English)

According to Jan & Chang (2018), not only language skills should be imparted in class, but also skills such as creativity, inductive skills and problem-solving skills should be trained. At present, learners mostly play traditional foreign language oriented games in class and learn rather passively. In this article, learners are supposed to develop a foreign language game themselves, based on a given learning content. They can use their language skills as well as develop their creativity. Most foreign language games are limited to learning vocabulary or building sentences. However, the goal of foreign language learning is to communicate in the foreign language. In the present article, games to promote foreign language communication are developed by learners themselves, based on the Design Thinking model. Subsequently, a survey is used to analyze to what extent the designing of games can increase learners’ motivation, success and problem-solving skills.

Ulrich Schmitz (Duisburg-Essen, Deutschland):

Fremde Sprachen lernen durch die Lektüre öffentlicher Räume 

Abstract (German)

Öffentliche Räume bieten ein ideales Gerüst zur Unterstützung beim Erlernen fremder Sprachen (scaffolding), denn hier erscheinen kurze, oft standardisierte und in leichten Variationen häufig wiederholte Texte an Stellen, deren vorstrukturierter situativer Kontext nur wenige Deutungen zulässt. Oft geben international verständliche semiotische Gestaltung (Textdesign, Typographie, Farbe) sowie zugehörige realistische oder ikonische Bilder zusätzliche Hinweise zur Entzifferung der Bedeutung. Außerdem erscheinen manche Zeichen im öffentlichen Raum mehrsprachig, so dass man im Idealfall von einer bereits bekannten auf eine noch unbekannte Sprache schließen kann. So können Anfänger öffentliche Plätze, Straßen und Gebäude als ersten immersiven Einstieg in ein fremdes Sprachbad nutzen, Fortgeschrittene aber als einen zusätzlichen Weg, neue Vokabeln und Wendungen zu lernen. In diesem Beitrag werden anhand konkreter Beispiele vier didaktisch-methodische Settings dafür vorgestellt. Hier geht es um Deutsch als Fremdsprache; das Modell lässt sich jedoch ebenso gut auf andere Sprachen in anderen Ländern übertragen.

 

Abstract (English)

Public spaces provide an ideal framework to support learning foreign languages (scaffolding). This approach is fruitful because short, often standardized texts (sometimes repeated in slight variations) appear in places whose pre-structured situational context only permits limited interpretations. Internationally understandable semiotic designs (text design, typography, color) as well as realistic or iconic pictures often provide additional clues for learners to decipher meanings. In addition, some signs in public spaces are multilingual, so that ideally, learners can transfer knowledge from a language already known to new language. In this way, beginners can use public places, streets and buildings as a first immersive introduction to a foreign language, while advanced learners can use them as an additional way to learn new vocabulary and phrases. In this article, four methodological settings are presented and exemplified. the target being German as a foreign language. However, the model presented here can just as well be transferred to other languages in other countries.

Terry Lamb (London, UK):

Supplementary Schools as Spaces of Hope for a More Inclusive World: Challenging Exclusion and Social Injustice in Multilingual London 

Abstract

Following a contextualisation of multilingual London, I will explore the ways in which many of London’s – and indeed the UK’s – language communities and the languages they speak suffer marginalisation and exclusion. Based on an exploration of language education policy, the article employs the construct of “monolingual habitus” (Gogolin 2002), which, whilst tending to monolingualise multilingualism, also offers insights into how the habitus might be shifted. Despite the structural forces at play, I argue that, through their supplementary schools, the language communities themselves can be conceived of as “spaces of hope”, able to challenge the constraints they encounter in order to ensure that their languages continue to be spoken and learnt. I support this argument by first considering their creative educational and cultural practices, and then the ways in which they act as spaces of resistance to the challenges they face. However, I also maintain that they have the potential to play a role in shifting the monolingual habitus beyond their communities, co-creating a more linguistically inclusive society. Further research is needed, however, to understand the processes that may be conducive to this shift and lead to a more inclusive and socially just world. 

Wai Meng Chan (Singapore):

“I think I can see from another perspective now” – Short-Term Study Abroad and Intercultural Development

Abstract

Foreign language study abroad has the potential to contribute to learners’ culture learning and the cultivation of their intercultural competence, as it gives them first-hand experience in the target-language country and allows them to discover and partake in the local community’s sociocultural practices. This article presents a study of the impact of two short-term study abroad programmes in Germany on the intercultural development of German-language students from a Singapore university language centre. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach and collected both quantitative and qualitative data through pre- / post-programme questionnaires, journals, interviews, activity observations and document inspections. The data were analysed based on Byram’s (1997, 2008) model of intercultural competence, as well as Lave & Wenger’s (1991) Situated Learning Theory and their notion of legitimate peripheral participation. The findings suggest that the study abroad programmes, or “In-Country Language Immersions”, benefited learners in the development of the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for the cultivation of critical cultural awareness and intercultural competence. It was further found that such positive development is often precipitated by the learners’ legitimate peripheral participation in the local communities, although it is dependent on their motivation and willingness to take up such opportunities for interaction and participation.

 

Ines de Florio-Hansen (Kassel / Germania):

L’insegnamento dell’italiano in Germania nell’era digitale 

Abstract (Deutsch)

Der Fokus des folgenden Beitrags über den Italienischunterricht in Deutschland liegt auf Digitalisierung, Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und Robotik. Diese Bereiche müssen nicht nur mit Blick auf das Lernen hier und jetzt stärker berücksichtigt werden, sondern sind auch für das spätere Leben der Schülerinnen und Schüler ausschlaggebend. Es wird aufgezeigt, wann das Lernen mit Hilfe digitaler Medien sinnvoll und erfolgversprechend ist. Über die Mediendidaktik hinaus geht es aber vor allem um Medienpädagogik, d.h. um den Beitrag, den der Italienischunterricht zur Ausbildung von Medienkompetenz bzw. Medienbildung leisten kann. Den Ausgangspunkt bilden die Veröffentlichungen der KMK, der Referenzrahmen der Europäischen Kommission zu den Digitalen Kompetenzen von Lehrpersonen sowie kurze Hinweise auf die Vorgaben der Kultusbehörden einzelner Bundesländer. Im unterrichtspraktischen Teil werden zunächst wichtige Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die sich durch das Internet und das World Wide Web (WWW) für den Italienischunterricht ergeben. Aufgrund der rasanten Entwicklung der elektronischen Technologien genügt es nicht länger, sich auf Digitalisierung zu beschränken. Bereiche der KI und der Robotik sind angemessen einzubeziehen. Zum einen müssen die Schülerinnen und Schüler lernen, das Potential dieser Werkzeuge zu verstehen und für sich auszuschöpfen; zum anderen legt die Globalisierung einen internationalen Austausch über den Nutzen und die Gefahren elektronischer Medien unter (italienischen und deutschen) Jugendlichen nahe.  

Abstract (English)

The following article focuses on digitization, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics with regards to teaching Italian in Germany. These areas need to be given greater consideration not only with regard to learning here and now, but also for students’ future lives. It is shown how learning by means of digital media is meaningful and promising. In addition to media methodology, however, it is above all about media pedagogy, i.e. the contribution which the teaching of Italian can make to training students’ media literacy or media education. Our starting point are the publications of the German Conference of Minsters of Education (German: Kultusministerkonferenz; KMK), the European Commission's reference framework on the digital competences of teachers, as well as brief references to the requirements of the cultural authorities of individual German federal states. With regards to practical teaching, interesting opportunities for teaching that arise from the Internet are first shown. Due to the rapid development of electronic technologies, it no longer suffices to limit oneself to digitalisation. What may even be more important is to address relevant areas of Artificial Intelligence and robotics. On the one hand, students must learn to understand and make the best use of the potential of these tools; on the other hand, globalisation implies international exchanges of ideas on the benefits and dangers of electronic media among young (Italian and German) learners.  

Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching

10th Anniversary Issue (2020), pp. 5-7

Foreword to the Issue

The Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching saw the light of day in January 2010, i.e. ten years ago. Back then, I recognised the necessity to launch a new scientific journal which would feature not ,only’ linguistics and not ,only’ language teaching, but both fields combined, and which would thus put focus on the phenomenon that linguistics on the one hand and language teaching and, as its basis, language methodology, on the other are, more often than not, closely intertwined. The range of contributions JLLT has covered ever since, which reach from theoretical linguistics over applied linguistics to theoretical and empirical language methodology and further on to the description and analysis of practical teaching, has been proven to be fruitful, and time has shown that there is a demand for exactly this type of academic journal. Both linguistics and language teaching are not l’art pour l’art, but they do have a direct impact on how human beings master (foreign) languages and communicate with each other, with communication perhaps never having been as important, and never as complex, as is the case nowadays in view of all the new ways of information exchange via traditional and new media. Thus, making scientific reflections on language and language teaching seems to be even more important for the development of our world and the understanding of people(s) than ever before. It is in this vein that we now celebrate the 10^th year of JLLT’s existence.

The first ten years of any journal are definitely the most difficult ones, and fortunately, this first decade has been quite a fortunate one for JLLT, which I have every reason to be grateful for. We pay tribute to this first decade by publishing a special issue to feature the journal’s anniversary. I am very happy to announce that some of the members of the Editorial Advisory Board have been so nice as to contribute an article to this special issue, in which they give readers insight into their respective research fields. Their articles represent the full thematic range of the field and also convey their enthusiasm as scientists. This is one of those moments when journal readers see great minds at work and feel the advancement of science thanks to personal commitment. And this is also the moment for me to thank my dear colleagues very much indeed for having taken the time and made the effort of putting some words together for JLLT. This was very nice of you and will never be forgotten!

The eight articles published in this anniversary issue come in English, German, and Italian. They are grouped by topic, starting from linguistics itself and then going on via language methodology and cross-cultural methodology towards the very teaching of langues.

In the first article, Günter Schmale (Lyon, France) presents a new approach in the field of formulaic language, which he calls polifactoriality and which opens up new horizons in that it permits to define phenomena which could not be described as consistently as is now possible using this novel criterion. Including English, French and German in his analysis, he proves that his approach works for more than one language and also provides resourceful insights for linguists of various provenance. On top of that, readers may feel what has recently come to many researchers’ minds and what we all may feel when pondering our own everyday language usage, i.e. that when communicating, we are far less “inventive“ and a lot more “formulaic“ than we think, i.e. by using syntagmatic, phraseological or even syntactic patterns which have been used millions of times before.

Andreea Calude (Hamilton, New Zealand) and Gerald Delahunty (Fort Collins, CO, USA) remain in the realm of the lexicon, diving deep into one specific item: just because. The authors describe and analyse this highly frequent expression the way it occurs in spoken and written English in New Zealand. In their corpus-based study, they document that this expression is by far more powerful and of a far higher thematic coverage and frequency than had been found in research before. By describing and analysing the impressive quantitative and qualitative range of this construction and by doing so on the basis of an abundant number of examples, the authors show that this expression is so frequent just because it is highly multifunctional.

In a historic approach, Heinz-Helmut Lüger (Koblenz-Landau, Germany) focuses on Michel Bréal, a contemporary of Ferdinand de Saussure’s and an oft-neglected French linguist, who is considered as the founder of semantics by some, and his reflections on subjectivity and language use. Taking his famous essai de sémantique as the basis, the author wonders whether Bréal can also be seen as the founder of pragmatics. In doing so, he comes to an interesting conclusion which compares Bréal and de Saussure and which plausibly explains the weakness of the one and the forte of the other.

In the field of linguistics-based foreign language teaching, Shing-lung Chen (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) makes stresses the importance of games for teaching German as a foreign language. Her approach is not to incite learners to play games so as to learn this language, but to guide them to invent games on their own and to benefit from this conceptual work in such a way that their own mastery of German is increased en passant. The aim of Chen’s approach is not primarily to improve learners’ vocabulary or their sentence-building capacity, but to lead them towards real communication in the foreign language. The article comes with highly practical descriptions, convincing analyses, and with the empirical evidence that this approach leads to a considerable increase in learners’ success, motivation, and problem-solving skills. What is more, it can be taken as an inspiration for language instructors who might implement this approach in their own teaching.

Learning a foreign language by employing unconventional methods is also a topic which Ulrich Schmitz (Duisburg-Essen, Germany) addresses. The author suggests that learners use public places to increase their command of a given foreign language. This is a special kind of scaffolding and, at the same time, an approach which incites learners to consciously keep their eyes wide open, which not only helps them better understand the country whose language they are learning, but also offers them the „side effect“ of efficiently diving into its culture. The author describes and analyses this idea, exemplifying it in a highly accessible way and showing its great potential.

Also taking public places as the starting point of his reflections, Terry Lanb (London, UK) advocates inclusion and social justice in London as a multilingual city. Starting from the marginalisation and exclusion which numerous language communities suffer there and in the whole of Great Britain, he identifies supplementary schools as potential spaces of hope in which these communities’ languages can continue being learnt and spoken. The author’s hope is based on the creative practices and the potential of resistance these schools display, the end point of this development possibly – and hopefully – being a more inclusive world in the future.

The present issue is rounded off with an article by Inez de Florio-Hansen (Kassel, Germany) on learning Italian in Germany in the digital age. This article, written in Italian, focuses on digitisation, artificial intelligence and robotics and plunges into media pedagogy and its important role in the process of guiding students towards media literacy. In view of the more or less unlimited opportunities the Internet offers for teaching, students will need to learn how to use it in an informed way and, at the same time, gain awareness of the problems it entails.

These articles complete the 10^th anniversary issue of JLLT, which I am happy and proud to present. I am sure that many readers will be feel the same enthusiasm as I do about this wonderful scientific area which the continuum between linguistics at the one end and language teaching at the other covers and in which we work. And there are days when we all, as representatives of this area, have a feeling that somehow or other, we are doing the right thing.

Thomas Tinnefeld

JLLT

Editor

Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching

10th Anniversary Issue (2020), pp. 9-28

Polyfactoriality as a Defining Criterion of Formulaic Speech

 

Günter Schmale (Lyon, France)

 

Abstract

Starting from the observation that the criteria generally applied to the definition of formulaic speech – polylexicality, (relative) stability and idiomaticity – no longer reflect the current state-of-the-art insight into the nature of prefabricated speech productions (and understanding), the present paper discusses a revised vision of formulaicity taking the pivotal defining criterion of polyfactoriality as its basis. This notion permits to take into account segmental, prosodic, corporal, contextual and situational elements in order to define an utterance or one of its units as being formulaic, even when it consists of one lexical item only. This notion also permits to considerably extend the scope of formulaic communicative manifestations, ranging from monolexical routine formula via sentence-based proverbs to formulaic texts and even to communicative events. As a hyperonym, polyfactoriality  equally is characterized by relative stability through its smallest common formulaic denominator, its semantic non-compositionality (due to its idiomatic footprint), and its multimodal character. Based on these reflections, a revised definition of the notion of formulaic sequence will be put forward.

Keywords: Formulaic speech, definition, polyfactoriality, stability, smallest common formulaic denominator, idiomatic footprint, multimodal nature, revised definition of formulaic sequence.

 

1 Introduction

Research on prefabricated or formulaic language or speech, to use generic terms(1), generally recurs to three defining criteria so as to delimit customary lexical from spontaneous or “free choice” combinations. These defining criteria are:

• Polylexicality, i.e. “multi word” combinations (Wood 2015: 3) which consist of at least two lexical auto- and / or synsemantic items;

• Stability of its lexical elements and their combination, which can be defined by their frequency of use and / or their formal or psychological fixedness  (Burger 2015: 15-19);

• Idiomaticity defined by semantic non-compositionality, the sum of the meaning of its constituents not being equivalent the phraseological meaning, and / or the syntactic irregularities (Like father, like son # *Like potatoes, like pasta) or the transformational restrictions (Peter dropped a brick. # *The brick that Peter dropped.) of a given expression.

In a wide sense, phrasemes are defined by the criteria of polylexicality and stability, in a narrow sense by polylexicality, stability and idiomaticity. In the first case, phrasemes are semantically transparent, in the second, they are not, However, the existing definitions of verbal and (strictly speaking) non-verbal  prefabricated communicative units based on the aforementioned criteria no longer reflect the current state of research on formulaic speech language since highly relevant aspects have not been taken into account. The purpose of the present article is therefore to present and discuss the three central defining criteria in view of new insights into the treatment of prefabricated constructions. These considerations are based on the pivotal concept of polyfactoriality which comprises several other defining elements of formulaic speech (Section 2). These are the scope of formulaicity (Section 3), the stability of formulaic expressions (Section 4), their idiomaticity (Section 5) and their multimodal nature (Section 6). Finally, a revised definition of what we call formulaic sequences will be presented in lieu of a conclusion (Section 7).

 

2 Polyfactoriality as a Pivotal Defining Criterion of Prefabricated Speech

2.1 Polyfactoriality of Monolexical Routine Formulae

The much-used criterion of polylexicality, which stipulates that the presence of at least two auto- or synsemantic lexical items is a prerequisite for the attribution of the label ‘prefabricated’ to an expression, actually entails the exclusion of monolexical routine formulae such as Hello, Bye, Thanks, Shit (Hallo, Tschüss, Danke, Mist, in German; salut, merci, merde in French) from the category of formulaic language. However, it seems inconsistent to include Good morning, Bye-bye, Many thanks or Bloody hell (guten Morgen, auf Wiedersehen, verflixt und zugenäht in German; au revoir, merci beaucoup, nom de d’Zeus in French) into the class of pragmatemes, but to exclude their monolexical equivalents, considering that they have exactly the same communicative functions in specific situational contexts. As opposed to simplicia like chair, dog, table or wall, whose usage is by no means limited to any specific situational environments, precise contextual and contextual factors of use can be identified for Hello, Bye or Thanks. The following table, whose sole aim is to demonstrate the polyfactorial nature of monolexical routine formulae, shows some of these factors, which are possible not complete in number, for the routine formulae Thanks and Hello!

Defining Criteria	Routine Formula
Lexical form	Thanks.	Hello!
Defining Cotextual and Contextual Factors
Situation / Speech Act	Expressing gratitude	Greeting someone
“Stability”	Highly foreseeable and expected in the respective situation
Sequential Position	Following a beneficiary act towards the producer of the formula	Opening act of an encounter
Following Activity	You’re welcome etc.	Hello!, Hi! etc.
Kinesic Activities	Loking at the benefactor, smiling, friendly facial expression, handshake, kissing	Looking at the interlocutor, friendly expression or smiling
Non-Defining Factors
Semantics	Compositional / transparent	Transparent
Prosody	Vocative chant or unmarked terminal intonation	Vocative chant or unmarked level intonation
Stylistic Level	Neutral, informal rather than formal	Predominantly informal
Relationship between the participants	Relative proximity or neutral	Relative proximity or neutral

Table 1: Polyfactoriality of the Routine Formulae Thanks and Hello!

It can therefore be concluded that even though the pragmatemes Thanks and Hello are monolexical, several cotextual and contextual factors are closely related to their production. They perform specific speech acts, have a well-defined sequential position in a given situation, entail another specific speech act and are frequently accompanied by conventional Kinesic activities; a considerable number are also organized as adjacency pairs of a first pair part and a highly expectable second pair part (hello – hello!; thanks – you’re welcome; sorry – never mind). Further factors, (e.g. their idiomatic or non-compositional nature, prosody, stylistic level or the relationship between the participants involved) can be described but are not a constitutive part of the criteria that may represent a defining factor. Given that specific cotextual and contextual elements are very closely linked to the production of a formulaic speech act by way of a monolexical routine formula, the central defining criterion of polylexicality should be replaced by the criterion of polyfactoriality. Within this paradigm, the monolexical form can be included in the class of formulaic expressions, given that further factors of use are so closely linked to the production of routine monolexemes that these can be described by means of several linguistic and co- and contextual factors. The use of the pragmateme in question is this reduced to a limited number of situations. Such a limitation does not exist for simplicia such as chair or table for which the number of possible cotexts and contexts is unlimited. Even if non-defining additional factors (i.e. connotations) could be described for simplicia, these would by no means permit to attribute a formulaic nature to these mono-lexematic items.

In order to limit our research field, we are obliged to exclude from the class of prefabricated expressions such metaphorical monolexical items (be they simple or composed) as scapegoat, mainstream, breeze (into the room), spearhead, dovetail; pied de biche, chien assis, coup de lapin in French; Warmduscher, Hammelsprung, Himmelfahrtskommando in German, notwithstanding their idiomatic non-transparent meanings. As stated above (Table 1), semantics is not part of the defining factors of monolexical routine formulae and, thus, not sufficient for the definition of a monolexical linguistic item as opposed to polylexical formulaic expressions where idiomaticity can be a distinctive factor that permits to distinguish idioms from collocations, or proverbs from commonplaces.

 

2.2 Polyfactoriality of Polylexical Formulaic Expressions

A polyfactorial approach towards the description and analysis of formulaic language is equally necessary and beneficial as far as other, polylexical and stable, types of formulaic expressions, such as common places, proverbs, idioms or collocations, are concerned. In fact, in order to facilitate their adequate reproduction by foreign language learners, their syntactic, prosodic, semantic and situational conditions of use have to be described in detail.

Some examples may suffice to illustrate this hypothesis, which obviously needs further corpus-based investigations in order to be substantiated and gain scientific status. The German commonplace Was sein muss, muss sein(2), for instance, whose usage is very close to a routine formula in that it is closely linked to a situation-specific speech act. Syntactic, lexical and situational factors are listed in the following table using the same criteria as for monolexical routine formulae:

Defining criteria	Commonplace
Lexical form	Was sein muss, muss sein.
Defining syntactic and lexical factors
Polylexicality	Five lexical units: sentence or utterance value
Stability	Expression predominantly used in this form
Semantics	Transparent, tautological
Non-defining situational factors
Sequential Position	Following a preceding action which needs to be justified or which could be challenged – oftentimes as a final statement
Situation / Speech Act	Underlining – resignedly, ironically or quizzically – the necessity of a preceding action considered by the speaker himself or by somebody else as cumbersome or even of unfavourable implications(3)
Following Activity	None if the speaker’s final statement, otherwise: accepting (I understand) or challenging (I don’t agree)
Kinesic Activities	Depending on the communicative modality: mimics or gestures expressing regret, amusement or irony
Prosody	According to communicative modality
Stylistic Level	Informal, to be used in everyday situations
Relationship between the participants	Familiar rather than distant (symmetrical), if used by  a hierarchically superior speaker

Table 2: Polyfactoriality of the German Commonplace Was sein muss, muss sein.

Probably less closely linked to specific communicative situations, yet producing commentative speech acts, are proverbs such as Strike while the iron is hot – a saying which also exists in German as Man soll das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist or in French as Il faut battre le fer tant qu’il est chaud. The same grid of different types of criteria is used to describe the conditions of use pertaining to this proverb:

 

Defining Criteria	Proverb
Lexical Form	Strike while the iron is hot
Defining syntactic and lexical factors
Polylexicality	Six lexical units: sentence or utterance value
“Entrenchment”	Expression mainly used in this form
Semantics	Non-transparent, but metaphorical, thus interpretable via the image employed (if one knows about forging)
Non-defining situational factors
Sequential Position	Preceding, accompanying or following a course of desirable, necessary of logical actions
Situation / Speech Act	Advising or commenting on the necessity to act while it is possible to act or when one has the greatest chance of success(4)
Following Activity	Absence, acceptance, rejection, challenge (of form or function) by recipient
Kinesic Activities	Possible gesture to emphasize the expression; “amused” mimics in order to attenuate its rather ossified nature
Prosody	Specific prosody to stress the importance of the advice or, on the contrary, to signal distance as to its possible datedness
Stylistic Level	Neutral, not familiar, rather elevated type of register
Relationship between the participants	The speaker has to be in a (situational or hierarchical) position to give advice or to comment on others’ actions

Table 3: Polyfactoriality of the Proverb Strike while the iron is hot

Finally, the same grid of describing criteria is applied to an idiomatic, thus semantically non-compositional expression on a syntagmatic level which does not have utterance or sentence value: add fuel to the fire / flames, jeter de l’huile sur le feu in French, Öl ins Feuer gießen in German: 

Defining criteria	Idiomatic Expression
Lexical form	Add fuel to the fire / flames
Defining syntactic and lexical factors
Polylexicality	Five lexical units of syntagmatic value
“Entrenchment”	Expression mainly used in this form
Syntax	Syntagmatic form: at least a subject is needed to use it within an utterance
Semantics	Non-transparent, but metaphorical, thus interpretable via the image employed (provided participants know elementary facts about the impact of adding fuel to fire)
Non-defining situational factors
Sequential Position	Preceding, accompanying or following a course of actions considered as potentially dangerous
Situation / Speech Act	Advising against or commenting on the activity mentioned, which has detrimental effects on the action under way(5)
Following Activity	Absence, acceptance, rejection, challenge by the recipient
Kinesic Activities	Expressive mimics or gestures emphasizing the expression
Prosody	Neutral or expressive suprasegmental activities
Stylistic Level	Neutral register
Relationship between the participants	Undefined, any type of relationship

Table 4: Polyfactoriality of the i+Idiom Add fuel to the fire / flames

As mentioned above, the polyfactorial description polylexical phrasemes is necessary in order to provide for an adequate use of idioms, proverbs or commonplaces by learners. The only major phraseological class whose usage cannot be closely linked to specific situations seems to be collocations such as brush one’s teeth (se laver les dents, sich die Zähne putzen), make a decision (prendre une décision, eine Entscheidung treffen) or pack a suitcase (faire ses valises, einen Koffer packen). For these relatively stable lexical combinations, which, however, are not semantically compositional for the non-native speaker as verb choice is arbitrary, none of the above-mentioned defining criteria can a priori be described. Yet, corpus-based studies might reveal that collocations are used within certain recurrent types of constructions and thus have a more or less stable form. Generally speaking, such constructions are form-meaning pairs having the form of syntactic frames which is more or less lexically provided (Section 3). Only studies having large corpora as their basis can identify the types of constructions and tokens which are really employed by language users.

 

3 Scope or Extension of Prefabricated Language

As demonstrated above, prefabricated expressions can consist of a simple lexical item, provided additional situational elements guarantee its polyfactoriality. But how far can prefabrication or formulaicity go? Burger’s (2010) widely employed classification of polylexical, stable and idiomatic expressions, comprising referential, communicative and structural phrasemes, does not go beyond syntagmatic value (to drop a brick), sentence value (All that glitters is not gold.) or utterance value (Like father, like son; Good morning)); textual phraseme structures are mentioned (Burger 2010: 37) without being dealt with in detail. Prefabricated texts were studied by Gülich (1988), who analysed German obituary notices or acknowledgements in doctoral dissertations. Günthner (2006) and Luckmann (1988) went even further and extended the notion of text to communicative genres, such as wedding ceremonies, religious services or court trials, defined as “culturally and historically specific socially conventionalized and formalized solutions to communicative tasks” (Luckmann 1988: 281). As opposed to printed texts, which can also recur to pictorial elements, communicative genres comprise any type of symbolic interaction (and probably certain kinds of objects and settings) and therefore possess a fundamentally multimodal nature (e.g. wedding ceremonies)..

Traditional phraseological research has also studied certain types of syntactic patterns (Burger 2010: 44-45 or Fleischer 1997: 31ff for German), providing slots for completion through certain types of lexical items that belong to specific paradigmatic classes. To illustrate this point, a few items from English, French and German are listed below:

Type	Tokens
English
xNP after xNP	Day after day; year after year; time after time; night after night…
xNP/Adj by xNP/Adj	Step by step; little by little; inch by inch; word by word; letter by letter…
xV like + xNP	Sleep like a log; work like a horse; drink like a fish; swear like a sailor; stink like a sewer...
What a + xNP!	What a mess / stupid idea / load of nonsense, rubbish / drag…!
French
xNP/V c’est xNP/V	La retraite c’est la retraite !; un ami c’est un ami (Schafroth 2014: 76); promis c’est promis…
xNP après / par xNP	Jour après jour; année après année; semaine par semaine…
bête comme + xNP	Bête comme ses pieds / ...une oie / (un) chou / un âne / une cruche / un manche…
C’est à + xGInf!	C’est à pleurer / s’arracher les cheveux / désespérer / mourir de rire / hurler…
German
xNP/VB/Part ist xGN/VB/Part	Bier ist Bier und Schnaps ist Schnaps; vorbei ist vorbei; versprochen ist versprochen; geschenkt ist geschenkt…
xNP an / auf / für xNP	Schulter an Schulter; Schlag auf Schlag, Schritt für Schritt…
x hin, x her	Geld hin, Geld her; Krise hin, Krise her;
Was für ein(e) + xNP! / So ein(e) + xNP!	Was für / So ein Glück / Pech / Mist!

Table 5: Phraseological Models in English, French and German

Recent studies from corpus linguistics and construction grammar have considerably enlarged the panel of lexicogrammatical patterns or constructions which Fillmore, Kay & O’Connor (1988) first described in their seminal “Let Alone”-paper. They distinguish substantive idioms, which correspond to classical idiomatic expressions whose syntactic frame is lexically provided and more and less stable, on the one hand, and formal idioms, whose morphosyntactic frame provides slots which are not or only partly lexically filled. These offer a wider lexical choice to the user which, however, is not unlimited as certain paradigms must be respected. Such formal idioms or constructions comprise the aforementioned patterns. However, constructions are more than the latter, as co(n)textual and situational factors have to be taken into account (analogously to the polyfactorial description of phrasemes in Sectioln 2.2). Below are some more constructions of this type, i.e. syntactic frames offering slots for more or less open choice in terms of lexical completion:

Ÿ The Incredulity Response Construction of the [PP + (und; for German) + NP / Inf / Adj (+ Comp)]? type, which is used in English, French and German:

Ø Me, lie / a lier? Her, sing arias? Me, crazy?

Ø [Moi INF?; Schafroth 2014 : 76) : Lui avocat ? Moi abandonner ? Lui s’excuser ? (ibid. : 77).

Ø Ich und zu spät? Du und verlässlich? Er und ein Freund?

Ÿ The exclamatory / emphatic construction:

Ø [How + Adj + is / are + Comp!] in English: How strange / weird / stupid is that!

Ø [Wie + Adj + V_sein + CompNom + denn!] in German: Wie geil is das denn? (Auer 2016: title); Wie krass wär das denn? (ibid.: 71); Wie schlecht / beschränkt is das denn? (ibid.: 74).

Ø An equivalent French structure does not really exist, but constructions like [Qu’est-ce que c’est + Adj !] : Qu’est-ce que c’est idiot / bête / nul / pénible ! express the same idea.

Ÿ The desperation-construction in French and German:

Ø [C’est à + Inf + (Comp) !] (Schafroth 2014 : 76) : C’est à mourir de rire / désespérer / se les mordre / se taper la tête contre un mur ! (ibid. : 77). 

Ø [Es / das ist + (ja) + zum + Comp + werden!]! Es ist zum Haare ausreißen! Es / das ist (ja) zum wahnsinnig werden! Es ist zum Verzweifeln!

Ÿ The dissatisfaction construction in French: 

Ø [Qu’est-ce qu’il a à + Inf ?] : Qu’est-ce qu’il a à me regarder comme ça ? Mais qu’est-ce qu’il a à vouloir tout changer ? (Schafroth 2014 : 76-77).

Ø In English [Why + are you etc. + PP +V-ing + Com?], e.g. Why are you staring at me? or Why are you saying that?

Ø Or in German: [Was + V + PP + Com.], e.g. Was glotzt du mich so an? or Was redest du da?

These are only a very limited number of constructions which have so far been described since Filmore, Kay & O’Connor’s (1988) and Goldberg’s (2006) seminal work on construction grammar. In order to circumscribe the field of study for practical purposes, we suggest limiting constructions to polylexical and / or polyfactorial lexicogrammatical expressions, thus excluding patterns of the morphematic, monolexical (except for one-word routine formulae; Section 2.1) and monofactorial type, included in Goldberg’s influential approach. Even though composition, derivation and borrowing from other languages are still highly productive in English, French and especially German, it would go far beyond the scope of the above construction paradigm to include patterns of word formation.

On the other hand, it is likely for lexicogrammatical form-meaning pairs, i.e. constructions, to go far beyond of what has been researched on and described in this field. In fact, corpus analyses reveal that numerous syntactic features appear in recurrent forms, and many lexical phenomena appear in recurrent combinations of lexical units. This fact leads to the the daring hypothesis that almost any phenomenon pertaining to polyfactorial language production, including prosody and corporal expression, can be described as a construction when examined on the basis of vast corpora when considering different textual or communicative parameters such as personal, diatopic, diastratic and diaphasic aspects. This hypothesis will, of course, have to be substantiated by extensive corpus research.

 

4 Stability vs Smallest Common Denominator of Formulaic Expressions

Lexical and / or structural fixedness or stability of expressions, allowing their recognition and interpretation, is generally stipulated as the main defining criterion of formulaic language (Section 1). However, stability consists of relative fixedness, allowing for a great number of modifications, according to Burger (2010) and Elspass (1998):

Almost any operation which would a priori seem impossible following one’s own intuition can be found in authentic texts, be they spoken or – which would seem even less likely – in written productions. (Burger 2010: 23; our translation)

Elspass is even more outspoken:

I start out from the hypothesis that basically no phraseological category, no phraseological type is exempt from the possibility of modification of whatever kind. However, assertions on modifiability have to be based invariably on authentic language use. (Elspass 1998: 161; our translation)

Mel’čuk, who considers stability as a gradual property of phrasemes, prefers the use of the term constraint in order to define degrees of relative fixity:

A phrase is non-free (= phraseologized), if (i.e. if and only if as a necessary and sufficient condition; GS) at least one of its lexical components L is selected by the speaker in a linguistically constrained way – that is, as a function of the lexical identity of other component(s). (Mel’čuk 2012: 33)

But on what grounds can the phraseological nature of an expression be discerned or recognized if it deviates considerably from the dictionary version? Provided that the hearer is familiar with an existing form of a given phraseme, which is being modified, the presence of specific lexical and / or structural elements of the generally known version allow him to interpret its phraseological form in the given context. The interpretation of modified phrasemes is thus based on the smallest common formulaic denominator for the expression in question which, in fact, is the decisive criterion for the more or less stable nature of a phraseme. Different types of lexical and / or structural phenomena may constitute this smallest common denominator:

• Archaic or “cranberry” lexical units, unique words surviving within idiomatic expressions exclusively, permitting an immediate interpretation of the respective idiom, such as spick and span, happy as a sandboy, on tenterhooks, make headway (Trawinski et al. 2008: 2). German has auf Anhieb, das Hasenpanier ergreifen, Tacheles reden, die Spendierhosen anhaben, and keinen Hehl aus etwas machen. In French, there are avoir la berlue, avoir maille à partir (avec qqn), battre la chamade, chercher noise, conter fleurette, se mettre martel en tête (Lamiroy 2010: 12). Any one of these isolated elements primes the corresponding idiom for the phraseoliterate language user.

• „Phraseological patterns, models or moulds, following a structural format and displaying a constant semantic interpretation whose auto-semantic components can be lexically filled more or less freely”. (Burger 2010: 44-45; our translation) (Table 5 for instances of such models).

• Lexicogrammatical Constructions as form-meaning pairs that provide paradigmatic lexical slots within syntagmatic recurrent models (Section 3 for examples).. 

• Word-play procedures based on phraseological expressions in print advertising (Schmale 2015, Jamet & Schmale 2018, Schmale (forthcoming)) show that advertisers resort to a large variety of different types of modifications of phraseological expressions in order to achieve their goals, in particular to attract the observer’s attention. Below are some of the means employed (occurrences from our personal collection of print adverts):

Ø Homophones in adverts for hamburgers – Pleased to meat you or Meat the new burger (Appendix: Figure 1) in English, Lard et la manière in French, Bäcker mit Laib und Seele in German. Such homophones easily invoke the phonetically corresponding lexical units meet, l’art or Leib.

Ø Homoiophones, i.e. lexical units which are phonetically and / or scripturally close to homophones, such as Visez juste! (visez = target) for Vissez juste! (vissez = tighten / loosen à screw; French advert for screwdrivers; (Appendix: Figure 2), Schweiz gehabt! for Schwein gehabt! (advert for a casino in Switzerland; Appendix: Figure 3); Chip Chip Hooray for Hip Hip Hooray (advert on a London bus). Such homoiophones, based on phonemic change, equally trigger an easily accessible interpretation of the phonetically close lexical item belonging to the phraseological unit.

Ø Lexical substitution is the most common means of wordplay with idiomatic expressions in the three languages in question. Heavy as a feather Appendix: Figure 4) for Nike mountain jackets immediately suggests the phraseological comparison light as a feather; and Have an ice day (West ice cigarettes advert) evokes the routine formula have a nice day. In French, the same observation holds true for prêts-à-partir (Toyota sales) which directly alludes to prêt-à-porter, whereas in German Kann ich Sie mal unter sechs Augen sprechen? (ntv German political talk show), the phraseoliterate hearer cannot but think of unter vier Augen (i.e. including four eyes = in private).

Ø Contextual and iconographic elements in particular, which facilitate the interpretation of a slogan calling on a modified idiom. Even if, due to the fact that the original phraseme is easily recognizable, modified idioms might be interpretable on the sole segmental level, pictorial components of print advertisements are requisite to unravelling the meaning of the modified formulaic expression

The part of an advert for Icelandic hamburgers in Figure 1 promotes eight different types of meat burgers. As the slogan Pleased to meat you! in itself does not make sense, the verb to meat being inexistent, the observer cannot but interpret the homophonic verb meet within the routine presentation formula Pleased to meet you! expressing his – desired – satisfaction when being offered a large choice of hamburgers.

The slogan Vissez juste ! (Figure 2) might point to a technical activity but is by no means unambiguous. It is only the picture of a set of socket spanners which disambiguates this imperative construction by alluding to the collocation viser juste (‘shoot straight’, ‘aim right’, ‘be on the right track’) so as to express the meaning ‘use these socket spanners is the right way to work’.

The Swiss advert for the Schaffhausen Casino resorts to the slogan Schweiz gehabt! (Figure 3), which is uninterpretable on the sole textual level. The photo of a stylized pig(gy bank) helps the reader to attribute a logical meaning to the catch line by invoking the idiom Schwein gehabt (‘be very lucky’) so as to express the meaning ‘play in this casino successfully’.

The Nike advert for mountain jackets, finally, modifies the phraseological comparison light as a feather to heavy as a feather (Figure 4). The slogan in itself does not reveal what is as heavy or rather as light as a feather; it is the picture of the jacket in combination with the text which reveals that it is the Nike jacket which is very light. What is more, the bold representation of the adjective heavy is made up of feathers, which by definition are very light. As in Figure 3, it is thus the (pictorial) context of the print advertwhich helps readers to disambiguate the slogan and, at the same time, the interpretation of the underlying phraseological expression. 

The aforementioned phenomena represent but a selected number of elements triggering off the recognition of a formulaic expression, be it an idiom, a collocation or a routine formula. They consequently constitute what we decided to call the smallest common formulaic denominator, which permits (however, not guarantees as the hearer does have to be familiar with the corresponding expression) the recognition and interpretation of the respective locution. This possibility to interpret a more complex structure from one of its constituents, even a minimal one, seems to coincide with a general principle of language use. As a matter of fact, participants in communicative interaction have the capacity to anticipate and / or complete not only formulaic sequences, but also how partners’ speaking turns will continue or be terminated in general. Their ability to complete their interlocutor’s incomplete utterances appropriately, thus producing “collaborative sentences” (Jefferson 1973: 69) or “joint sentences” (Sacks 1992: 185), demonstrates the fact that much of what speakers verbally produce is indeed prefabricated in a certain way: specific elements put us on the right track of how our interlocutor’s utterance could be terminated and / or interpreted. Lexical, structural and co(n)textual phenomena help us to do so!

 

5 Idiomaticity vs the Idiomatic Footprint of Prefabricated Language

Whereas formulaic sequences are generally defined by polylexicality and relative stability or polyfactoriality and a smallest common formulaic denominator, phraseological research calls upon the criterion of idiomaticity so as to delimit formulaicity in a narrower sense. As a rule, the determination of the idiomatic character of a phraseme recurs to the gradual phenomenon of semantic non-compositionality (e.g. Mel’čuk 2011 : 47).(6)

Burger (2010: 36- 58) distinguishes (full) idioms (e.g. push the daisies, manger les pissenlits par la racine, die Radieschen von unten begucken; partial idioms like most phraseological comparisons (proud as punch, fier comme Artaban, stolz wie Oskar); and collocations having a priori compositonal semantics (make a decision, prendre une décision, eine Entscheidung treffen). However, even within these compositional collocations, the verbs employed are by no means semantically mandatory. They are rather based on conventions of the respective language. Otherwise, it would be possible to simply translate them from one language into another, i.e. make > faire > machen; prendre > take (more common than make) > nehmen; treffen > meet > rencontrer. Obviously, this is impossible (although it is frequently done even by advanced foreign language learners).(7) Hausmann (1997) thus rightly points out that for non-native speakers, everything is idiomatic (i.e. non-compositional) in a foreign language as almost any formulaic expression is subject to combinatorial and selective preferences. Feilke (1998: 74) therefore advocates the term idiomatic footprint which, to a greater or lesser extent, affects any language production. As a consequence, even Sinclair’s (1991) open choice principle, which permits free structural and / or lexical choices as opposed to the idiom principle which entails single choices, is prone to preferences which are not necessarily transparent or obvious for the non-native speaker.

The idiomatic footprint – a term which we prefer to idiomaticity generally linked to non-compositionality, structural deviations or transformational limitations  – thus is a gradual phenomenon affecting language productions in general and formulaic expression in particular, which makes it arduous to differentiate idiomatic from non-idiomatic locutions: for a German learner of English, the understanding of make a decision would certainly be effortless, but would he produce it if he had not learned it before? We therefore agree with Cowie et al. (1983) who posit:

There is no clear dividing-line between idioms and non-idioms: they form the end-points of a continuum. (Cowie et al. (1983: xiv)

 

6 Multimodality of Formulaic Speech

Like any oral communication, the production and reception of formulaic expressions proceed in a multimodal way, recurring to segmental, prosodic and corporal means of coding and decoding utterances in general and prefabricated ones in particular. What is more: any enunciation takes place in specific cotexts and contexts which deliver  important cues for the interpretation of formulaic utterances, especially when they are modified.

It seems that routine formulae (pragmatemes in Mel’čuk’s (2011) terms) have a multimodal nature in that specific corporal activities are concomitant to their production, as shown for Thanks and Hello (Table 1 above). However, like any utterance, a formulaic one may be prone to be accompanied by corporal activities. Schmale (2005), studying the conversational treatment of idiomatic expressions in German talk shows, observed that nonverbal activities frequently serve to illustrate idioms in various ways: participants gesture to symbolise inverted commas. A talk show host may produce a movement with his right hand from left to right in order to illustrate or underline his statement concerning a gradual or slow process; he may also make a gesture using both hands first to the left then to the right to stress the meaning of to go from one extreme the other.

While it is basically impossible represent an idiomatic expression in its integrity using gestures (Imagine doing so for Like father like son or push the daisies), a gesture might help disambiguate a metaphorical expression by visually creating a referent for part of the idiom. This is the case when a talk show guest utters mir ist SO ein Stein vom Herzen gefallen (I was so tremendously relieved), simultaneously making a big circle with both arms stretched out over her head in order to indicate the strength of her feeling of relief, thus semantically filling the otherwise non-referential lexeme so.

As for Burger’s (2010) kinegrams like wrinkle one’s nose, rub one’s hands (with glee), land on one’s feet, knit one’s brows, which verbally depict a corporal activity, it is necessary to distinguish genuine kinegrams (which can be executed nonverbally, alone as an emblem or by accompanying their verbal production) from pseudo-kinegrams (pull sb’s leg, tear one’s hair, lose one’s head) which normally are restricted to the verbal form, a corporal activity being impossible. Following Baur, Baur & Chlosta (1998), certain gestures endowed with a phraseological equivalent like have it up to here or to the eyeballs as well as obscene gestures using one or two fingers, which do not have to be verbalized when produced, are phraseogestures in a narrow or strict sense.

Dausendschön-Gay, Gülich & Krafft (2007: 469) even believe that stereotyped mimogestual patterns or models exist alongside with verbal formulaic sequences. Greeting or leave-taking sequences are a suitable instance for recurring corporal activities which are even more or less compulsory: smiling, handshaking, embracing, hugging, kissing, waving or distancing.

 

7 Towards a Revised Definition of Formulaic Sequences

Following these reflections as well as the efforts undertaken in Schmale (2011, 2013, 2018), a new definition of formulaic sequences is finally put forward for discussion. As opposed to our previous definitions, we abandon the notion of prefabricated turn-construction unit (PTCU) on account of its limitation to a single formulaic construction, in favour of the notion of formulaic sequence (= FoS), which allows the inclusion of any type of prefabricated construction from the phrase to a communicative genre, and define it as follows:

A formulaic sequence is, in a wider sense, stamped by its polyfactorial nature and the presence of a smallest common formulaic denominator, and, in a narrower sense, by the existence of an idiomatic footprint.

The following elements are vital to the definition of formulaic sequences:

(i) A formulaic sequence is characterized by its polyfactorial nature, i.e. a foreseeable combination of at least two verbal and / or corporal and / or situational elements.

(ii) The FoS is recurrently (re)produced in a more or less foreseeable lexicogrammatical form and recognized as such by competent members of the speech community on the grounds of a smallest common formulaic denominator .

(iii) The formulaic sequence can be subject to an idiomatic and pragmatic footprint, i.e. susceptible to be embossed by syntactic or semantic deviances from the norm  or else by specific conditions of use and connotations.

The following specifications are necessary:

(ad i) The criterion of polyfactoriality is applicable when at least one of the following combinations of factors exists:

- at least two lexical units,

- a lexical unit closely linked to a situational factor,

- a lexical item accompanied by a stereotyped kinesic activity,

- a nonverbal and a closely linked situational parameter.

Formulaic sequences can, thus, extend from a monolexical routine formula via a syntagmatic idiom or collocation and a proverb to a prefabricated text (e.g. an obituary notice) or a communicative genre (e.g. a wedding ceremony), equally including phraseological models (Section 3, Table 5) as well as constructions (Section 3) or morphosyntactic frames.

(ad ii) The smallest common formulaic denominator allows the recognition and interpretability of a formulaic sequence even in case of considerable variation from its conventional form. Recognizability by the speaker’s speech community implies that any degree of dissemination and durability of the formulaic sequence in question is imaginable: a formulaic sequence can thus be limited to a small in-group and even be used recurrently during one single encounter.

(ad iii) The idiomatic footprint infers that a formulaic sequence can be semantically totally transparent or completely opaque, regularly built in terms of its structure or subject to morphosyntactic irregularities or transformational restrictions, even prone to pragmatic constraints.

Based on this enlarged definition of linguistic formulaicity, studies of large corpora have to be carried out in order to describe the polyfactorial nature of prefabricated expressions. A comprehensive description of the conditions of use is the conditio sine qua non for adequate lemmatization and usage by learners.

 

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(1) Wray & Perkins (2000: 3) list a great number of different labels for formulaic language.

(2) Semantically close equivalents seem to exist in English: What has to be, has to be; What will be, will be; What must be, must be or, rather archaic, Needs must (when the devil drives). American English: That’s the way the cookie crumbles; also: A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. However, detailed corpus analyses are necessary in order to establish whether these commonplaces are pragmatically equivalent. The same applies to French: Il faut ce qu’il faut; On ne peut pas faire autrement or Qu’est-ce que tu veux que j’y fasse.

(3) Semantically close equivalents seem to exist in English: What has to be, has to be; What will be, will be; What must be, must be or, rather archaic, Needs must (when the devil drives). American English: That’s the way the cookie crumbles; also: A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. However, detailed corpus analyses are necessary in order to establish whether these commonplaces are pragmatically equivalent. The same applies to French: Il faut ce qu’il faut; On ne peut pas faire autrement or Qu’est-ce que tu veux que j’y fasse.

(4) Cf.: “to take advantage of an opportunity as soon as it exists, in case the opportunity goes away and does not return”. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ fr/dictionnaire/anglais/strike-while-the-iron-is-hot; 19-10-2019). Again, this definition, even though semantically more or less adequate, neglects necessary conditions of use pertaining to this proverb.

(5) Once again a definition taken from a dictionary, e.g. to make an argument or bad situation worse is insufficient to describe implications of usage exhaustively. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/fr/dictionnaire/anglais/add-fuel-to-the-fire; 19-10-2019).

(6) Syntactic irregularity (Like father, like son) and transformational restrictions (He kicked the bucket, but not: *the bucket was being kicked by him) are further characteristics of idiomaticity. However, even if frequently focused upon by idiomatic research, these only affect a minority of formulaic expressions. In fact, the majority follow “regular” syntax and semantics.

(7) In our translation classes from French to German, most corrections bear on inadequate verbs within collocations, e.g. eine Entscheidung *nehmen instead of treffen, translation of the French prendre une décision.

Author:

Professor Günter Schmale

German Linguistics

Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3

Faculté des Langues

Manufacture des Tabacs

Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3

1C avenue des Frères Lumière

CS 78242

F – 69372 Lyon

Email : gunter.schmale@univ-lyon3.fr