Re: [Corpora-List] formulaic sequences

From: Chris Butler (csblists@telefonica.net)
Date: Wed May 31 2006 - 23:06:09 MET DST

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    Dear Joanna,

    I don't know the source of the suggestion, but I don't think you should
    assume that a sequence which would be treated as formulaic without a
    hesitation in the middle of it is necessarily non-formulaic because of the
    hesitation. A lot, of course, depends on how you define formulaic sequences.
    You might be interested in the following references which contain material
    on pausing in relation to formulaic strings:

    Erman, B. (forthcoming) Pauses as evidence of cognitive effort in
    prefabricated and non-prefabricated structures. International Journal of
    Corpus Linguistics.

    Raupach, M. (1984) Formulae in second language speech production. In H. W.
    Dechert, D. Möhle and M. Raupach (eds.) Second Language Production.
    Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 114-137.

    Wray, A. (2004) 'Here's one I prepared earlier': formulaic language learning
    on television. In N. Schmitt (ed.) Formulaic Sequences: Acquisition,
    Processing and Use. (Language Learning and Language Teaching 9). Amsterdam
    and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 249-268.

    Best wishes,

    Chris Butler
    Honorary Professor, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Wales
    Swansea, UK

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Joanna Jendryczka" <joanna.jendryczka@gmail.com>
    To: <CORPORA@UIB.NO>
    Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 8:15 PM
    Subject: [Corpora-List] formulaic sequences

    > *** Apologies for multiple postings! ***
    >
    > Dear list members,
    >
    > As a part of my M.A. thesis, I am investigating multi-word units
    > (otherways called recurrent sequences, word bundles, etc.) in non-native
    > English speech.
    >
    > I remember having read somewhere that if such a string of words contains
    > repeats (of the same words) and/or hesitation (like erm, mm, uhu) within
    > it, it cannot be treated as a formula, for the very inclusion of
    > repetition or hesitation proves the sequence was not processed as a
    > whole but rather as a set of words.
    >
    > Unfortunately, I do not remember from which scolar the idea comes and I
    > need it for justification of my very study.
    >
    > I'll appreciate any hints or direct reference to the source.
    >
    > Best regards,
    >
    > Joanna Jendryczka
    > ------------------
    > ------------------
    > M.A. English Linguistics student
    > A.Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland
    >



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