34 Discourse traditions and formulaic language studies

Abstract

As a defining model, the concept of Discourse Traditions (DTs) has been well received in the field of linguistic variation and change within contemporary Romance studies. However, it has received scant attention so far beyond these fields, e. g. in Germanic linguistics or in linguistics in general, particularly in the field of formulaic language studies. Since the 1960s, formulaic language research has spanned phraseology, spoken language research/interactional linguistics, text and discourse studies and Construction Grammar, to name just a few. Concepts developed in these areas enable an exchange of ideas, but this dialogue has not yet, to my knowledge, commenced. The present chapter is an initial attempt to establish analytically the common aspects and the differences between the concept of DTs and formulaic language. It focuses on the question whether it is possible and - most importantly - theoretically beneficial to regard these two concepts as related and how the differences between them, if any, can be mediated. Section 1 gives a brief outline of the main features of the concept of DTs (for further discussion see the contributions in Part I of this Manual). Hence, the following section 1 is restricted to those aspects that appear to provide a particularly promising connecting link to the concept of formulaic language. This latter concept is the focus of section 2. The selection of research directions presented in 2.1-2.4 is guided by their comparability with the concept of DTs. Section 3 sums up the findings.