Abstract
Formulaic expressions naturally convey affective content. The unique formal and functional characteristics of idioms, slang, expletives, proverbs, conversational speech formulas, and the many other conventional expressions in this repertory have been well-described: these include unitary form, conventionalized and non-literal meanings, and reliance on social context. Less highlighted, but potent, is the intrinsic presence of affective meaning. Expletives, for example, signal strong emotion. Idioms, too, inherently communicate emotional connotations, and conversational speech formulas allow for empathetic bonding and humor. The built-in affective content of formulaic expressions, in combination with their other unique characteristics, is compatible with the proposal that brain structures other than those representing grammatical language are in play in producing formulaic expressions. Evidence is presented for a dual process model of language, whereby a right hemisphere-subcortical system modulates formulaic language.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Applied Neuroimaging, a section of the journal Frontiers in Neurology
The built-in affective content of formulaic expressions, in combination with their other unique characteristics, is compatible with the proposal that brain structures other than those representing grammatical language are in play in producing formulaic expressions
Examination of monologs from persons with left hemisphere (LH) damage and aphasia reveal high proportions of formulaic expressions (FEs), while right hemisphere (RH) damage is associated with significantly lower proportions [26, 27]
Summary
The early impetus for recognizing the role of formulaic expressions (FEs) in speaking arose from observations in aphasia, using the term “automatic speech.” Starting with J. The early impetus for recognizing the role of formulaic expressions (FEs) in speaking arose from observations in aphasia, using the term “automatic speech.”. Hughlings Jackson in the nineteenth century [9, 10], clinicians with exposure to aphasia noted that fixed, holistic, known utterances are well-preserved despite severe language impairment [e.g., [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]]; these clinical observations were confirmed by systematic surveys [18,19,20,21]. Formal testing of persons with aphasia supported a preserved ability for FEs [29,30,31]. Experimental studies confirmed that AD speakers’ proportions of FEs are higher than healthy speakers, while PD speakers show deficient output [33,34,35,36]
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