Routine Formulae Research Articles

Eurolingwistyczny kontekst języków polskiego, niemieckiego, czeskiego, węgierskiego, niderlandzkiego, angielskiego, francuskiego, hiszpańskiego i łacińskiego w „Rozmowie” Christopherusa Warmera z końca XVII w. Część 2. Formy adresatywne i utarte zwroty w ekspresywnych aktach mowy

Warmer’s 1691 colloquy including ten languages – (Silesian) Polish, (Silesian) German, (eastern) Czech, (northern) Hungarian, (Flemish) Dutch, (northern) French, Italian, Spanish, English and Latin – is studied qualitatively and descriptively for the typical European character of address forms and routine formulae in expressive speech acts. All vernacular languages except Dutch are languages with an informal/formal (T/V) address pronoun distinction, with reciprocal V typical among adults, among students, and between adults and young (or inferior) females, and non-reciprocal V typical from (inferior) males to people of a higher generation. Kinship terms are frequent vocatives toward adult relatives. A kinship term for a concrete blood relationship is used to denote a non-first-degree family member in general. The expression “friend” for acquaintances and strangers is often used as well as “sir/lady”. Professional titles as vocatives are also frequent, though maidservants can be addressed by guests with intimate address terms. With respect to greetings, all languages use patterns with “God” and the pattern “(Be) welcome” in salutations and “good evening/night” in valedictions. Contrast or complementary response formulae are more common than echo responses. Echo responses are only found for elliptical patterns. Patterns with an illocutionaryforceindicating device (IFID) are absent in salutations and uncommon in valedictions. In contrast, with respect to thanks, IFIDs are common, potentially followed by echo responses. Of all languages analyzed, Latin shares the smallest number of European and regional features, mostly adhering to classical variants (after the loss of many lingua franca usages).

La fraseología como recurso estilístico y expresión identitaria: el ejemplo de L’empire du mensonge, de Aminata Sow Fall

In this paper, literature is considered as a corpus for the study of phraseology. Specifically, the novel analysed is L’empire du Mensonge by Aminata Sow Fall, one of the most outstanding figures in Senegalese literature. Applying the theoretical-methodological foundations initially proposed, the reading of this novel has allowed to create an inventory list of twenty-five phraseological units (locutions, proverbs, and routine formulae), not of French, but of the author’s first language, namely Wolof. With this work, and due to the peculiarity of the novel under analysis, in which an outstanding presence of words and statements of the Wolof language can be found, I contemplate a double purpose in its use of phraseology: as a stylistic resource used in order to be understood by the Senegalese reader, and as the expression of identity

Validating a test of L2 routine formulae to detect pragmatics learning in stay abroad

Abstract There has long been interest in the effect of stay abroad on pragmatic development in second language (L2) pragmatics research. However, few testing instruments exist to assess pragmatics learning in stay abroad and provide information about learners’ development to help institutions evaluate the success of stay abroad programs. In this study, we describe the adaptation and validation of Roever’s (2005) test of second language routine formulae to be used large-scale with Japanese stay-abroad learners. We follow Kane’s (2006) argument-based approach to validation, evaluating the first four inferences: Domain description, Evaluation, Generalization, and Explanation. We also investigate the test’s practicality within the institutional setting of intended use. We find evidence supporting the use of the test for providing information on pragmatics learning during stay abroad. The test can differentiate between low- and high-ability learners, shows adequate reliability, and reflects the roles of proficiency and exposure in pragmatics learning in stay abroad contexts. The test is also practical and requires few resources. Further steps, such as the investigation of the Extrapolation and Decision inference, are discussed.

Formulaic Expressions for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Foreign language teaching experts unanimously insist on the necessity of acquiring formulaic expressions in order to communicate successfully in the target language. However, many of the treatises in favour of phraseme use, including semantically non-compositional idiomatic expressions, by foreign language learners seem to be marked by an insufficient depth of reflection as to applied linguistic, methodological, and phraseodidactic[1] criteria. The present contribution therefore aims at a differentiated treatment of prefabricated communicative constructions, starting out from an extended definition and classification and by discussing the pros and cons of phraseme acquisition. These considerations will lead to the delimitation of formulaic language fundamental for an operative foreign language competence (routine formulae, collocations and “constructions”) as opposed to those types of phrasemes which are not essential or even inappropriate for non-native speakers.
 
 [1] A term as a direct translation from German Phraseodidaktik, employed in English language publications of non-native researchers, e. g. Gonzalez-Rey (2018), which we decided to adopt here for practical reasons.

In bocca al lupo! / Hals und Beinbruch! A contrastive analysis of wish formulae in German and Italian

Routine formulae are significant linguistic phenomena in the areas of foreign language teaching and bilingual lexicography. Nevertheless, few contrastive analysis of these units exist for the German-Italian language pair. The aim of this paper is a pragmalinguistic contrastive analysis of ‘wishing formulas’. The main criterion of contrasting is the pragmatic value of the units, i.e. the speech acts that can be performed through them, as well as the situational and sociolinguistic features of the formulae and the productivity of certain syntactic-lexical patterns in German and Italian. Equivalences and differences between groups of formulae as well as between the individual units of both languages are identified.

Spanish phraseology in formal and informal spontaneous oral language production

Abstract The study presented in this paper aims to perform a comprehensive analysis of the use of phraseological units (PUs) in contemporary Spanish according to two different levels of oral language production: (a) spontaneous informal (on the basis of conversations uttered among the contestants of the Spanish version of the reality show Big Brother), (b) spontaneous formal (on the basis of interviews performed on Spanish radio and TV programmes). The configuration of Spanish phraseology as it is used in formal and informal spontaneous oral language production will be investigated according to four variables: frequency distribution, typological distribution, stylistic distribution, and individual distribution. It will be shown that a) the more informal the discourse context, the higher the frequency of use of PUs, b) that idioms (and not routine formulae or proverbs) are clearly dominant in both formal and informal oral contexts, c) that there are speakers in formal discourse contexts who often utter informal PUs, d) that vulgar vs. non-vulgar PUs – and not so much informal vs. non-informal PUs – is the main disagreement between formal and informal spontaneous oral contexts, and e) that using vulgar PUs more or less frequently would be a highly individual issue.

Intraindividuelle Variation auf lexikalisch-semantischer Ebene bei unroutinierten Schreibern des 19. Jahrhunderts

Lexis and semantics are under-researched fields both in contemporary and historical sociolinguistics. This paper focuses on intra-speaker variation in texts written by unroutined writers of the 19th century and examines different types of variation in the areas of lexis and semantics. Our data are taken from a new corpus of historical patients’ documents (see http://copadocs.de), which is currently being compiled as part of our research project “Flexible Writers in Language History”. In order to analyse lexical-semantic variation, we combine a number of different methods. An onomasiological approach is used to explore one writer’s linguistic repertoire and use of terms for women, while a structural approach allows us to compare functionally equivalent structures, such as routine formulae and expressions of a writer’s origo (e.g. I, here, now). Finally, we examine the use of emotional lexis in texts by writers diagnosed with melancholia, which is found to be more frequent as compared to a control group. Our findings provide evidence for considerable intra-speaker variation in lower-class writing. In addition, the emphasis on lexis is shown to have particular value for the investigation of patients’ texts, as this approach provides insights into the stylistic repertoires of historical writers which would otherwise remain hidden.

Exploring the Validity of a Second Language Intercultural Pragmatics Assessment Tool

ABSTRACTPragmatics has been a key component of language competence frameworks. While the majority of second/foreign language (L2) pragmatics tests have targeted productive skills, the assessment of receptive pragmatic skills remains a developing field. This study explores validation evidence for a test of receptive L2 pragmatic ability called the American English Sociopragmatic Comprehension Test (AESCT), which is a Web-based assessment consisting of 54 tasks measuring knowledge of speech acts, routine formulae, and culture-dependent lexical differences. The AESCT is intended to be used as a learning-oriented assessment in university-level applied linguistics classes. This study collected evidence on construct validity supporting the AESCT design as a measure of pragmatic comprehension and for providing feedback in low-stakes learning contexts; 97 university-level English language learners took the AESCT along with the Cambridge Placement Test and a background questionnaire on their exposure to target language input. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and linear regression were used to analyze aspects of construct validity. Results indicate that the AESCT is sufficiently reliable. Overall, learners were found to perform as previous research suggests: sociopragmatic knowledge was related to L2 exposure and L2 proficiency. Alongside future research into L2 pragmatics test validation, implications for instruction-oriented utilization of the AESCT are discussed.

CFL learners’ recognition and production of pragmatic routine formulae

A pragmatic routine formula is any expression with a stable form that is commonly repeated in the routinized social interactions of a given culture. Previous research has reported that such pragmatic routine formulae are often underused by foreign language learners, even when they have been studying the language for a long time. To explore the reasons for this underuse, this study investigated the development of 59 Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners’ recognition and production of pragmatic routine formulae in situations they might encounter in China. Results showed that length of stay in the target language country had a significant effect on recognition but not on production. CFL learners with longer periods of residence abroad were able to recognize more pragmatic routine formulae, but which specific formulae were recognized depended on the interactional settings in which learners had engaged. Further analysis revealed that learning challenges may arise in three kinds of situations: (1) those requiring a pragmatic formula in the target language but a different formula in the learner’s native language, (2) those requiring a routine formula in the target language but no remarks in the native language, and (3) those in which the learner overgeneralizes a more familiar form.

How Trainee Translators Analyse Lexico-Grammatical Patterns

Abstract: In this study, we examine the ability of advanced students of specialised translation to identify and analyse 'generic collocations' in a corpus of specialised multilingual texts (mostly technical or scientific texts in English, French and German). In general, we find that our students attach much importance to frequently-occurring 'clusters' or 'n-grams'. However the students find it difficult to see these fragments as productive patterns of wording, or to assign a rhetorical function to them. This rather fixed view of phraseology suggests that there may be shortcomings in the way that we as teachers conceptualise and problematise the concept of the 'lexicogrammatical pattern' for our students. In the second part of this study, we suggest a different way of identifying and conceptualising phraseological phenomena using the metalanguage of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG).Keywords: Discourse Function, Generic Collocation, Lexico-Grammatical Pattern, Phraseology, Systemic Functional GrammarIntroductionFor many years now, an increasing number of linguists and educationalists have argued the case for a 'corpus-informed' approach to language learning, based on the analysis of large-scale text archives. Following this trend, a more central place has been given to the study of idiomatic phrases, collocational patterns and other regularities of wording, as encapsulated by the term 'phraseodidactics' (Gonzalez Rey, 2005; 2008). Although phraseology as a subject has not yet become a central feature of the language syllabus, it is certainly the case that some key notions such as 'collocation' have become very widespread, most notably in areas such as second-language acquisition (Hasselgren, 2002), textbased terminology (Pavel, 1993) and Natural Language Processing (Williams, 1998; 2003). One of the reasons for the relative success of 'collocation' in these areas must lie in the way the notion is conceptualised. We would suggest that there are essentially two approaches to the notion within the field of phraseology: the phraseoriented and the pattern-oriented approach. For the phrase-oriented approach (adopted by many mainstream phraseologists, lexicologists and analysts who are interested in language as system), the key units of analysis are 'idiomatic phrases,' 'proverbs' or 'stereotypes', that is to say exceptional or idiosyncratic sequences which are pragmatically 'marked' can thus often be easily identified in a given text. Such phraseological units clearly have an important rhetorical role to play in a variety of text-types belonging to the general language (horoscopes, popular journalism, film titles, etc.). In contrast, for the pattern-oriented approach (adopted by many corpus linguists, lexicographers and those concerned with language as discourse), the key units of analysis are 'collocational frameworks', 'lexical patterns', 'clusters' and so on. In contrast to idiomatic expressions, these constructions are often routine formulae and fragments of expressions which often attract little attention, but which often make up the most typical wording of a particular genre or texttype (for a review of this approach, see for example Hunston and Francis, 2000; Frath and Gledhill, 2005; Legallois and Francois, 2006).We would suggest that it is this second, patternoriented, approach to phraseology has particular relevance to a range of applied and academic contexts, most notably in courses on language engineering, terminology, technical communication and so on. Let us take a specific example from our own teaching context: at the Universite Paris Diderot, we teach phraseology and corpus linguistics to first year and second students who are for the most part being trained to work in the language industries (including document design, text mining, technical writing, specialised translation, etc.). (The course we are referring to here is usually known by its French abbreviation: M2 ILTS, Industries de la langue et traduction specialisee = 'Language industries and specialised translation'). …

The Peculiarities of Gratitude Expression Use in the Foreign Language (on the Example of English)

It is known that expressing gratitude is one of the most frequently occurring communicative acts in most languages in the world. According to Nofsinger [1999:29], thanking is a speech act, specifically classified under expressive, which are “expressions of the speaker’s psychological state about something (an event, an object, a behaviour, or whatever).” Also, the general idea is that thanks maybe viewed as unimportant routine formulae. This paper attempts to investigate the linguistic and semantic characteristics of gratitude expressions’ use in the English language by Kazakhstani EFL students of higher school. In addition, the paper tries to determine the impact of social factors on the way the gratitude is expressed and also show the importance of thankfulness when it is missing in situations in which it is expected. To do so, the practical analysis of gratitude expressions’ use in oral speech has been done. Sixty people were selected from among students of Gumilyov Eurasian National University to collect data through a discourse completion task (DCT) adapted from Eisenstein and Bodman (1993). The results of the study show that the most frequently used gratitude expressions by Kazakhstani EFL students are expressions of happiness, thankfulness and best wishes in oral speech informal style.

Learner background factors and learning of second language pragmatics

AbstractLearner background factors have been shown to affect learning of L2 pragmatics, which has been demonstrated especially for proficiency and length of residence. However, these factors have generally been investigated individually, not allowing conclusions as to their relative contributions. In this study, we use Poisson regression to investigate the effect of proficiency, length of residence, gender and multilingualism on learners' comprehension of implicature, recognition of routine formulae and production of speech acts in English. 229 ESL and EFL learners completed a web-based pragmatics test with 12 items per section. We found that only proficiency significantly affected implicature comprehension, length of residence and proficiency were significant factors in the recognition of routine formulae, and proficiency and gender significantly impacted speech act production. Although the effect of proficiency in our study is far greater than for any other background factor, we caution against overemphasizing its importance to learning of pragmatics overall.

Hacia una definición de las unidades fraseológicas coloquiales

Abstract Phraseology is often examined within the context of colloquial language. Given the figurative nature of both of these areas, it is easy to view all phraseology as colloquial. But not all idioms or proverbs can be used in informal contexts. Some are only appropriate for neutral or even formal settings. In this article, the author proposes a series of criteria for identifying colloquial phraseological units (PUs) in Spanish and distinguishing them from standard units. She focuses on idioms, routine formulae and proverbs, given that colloquial collocations have been defined in a previous work (Travalia 2008). Different guidelines for determining register are proposed for each group of PUs, based on their defining characteristics. The author analyzes examples of each class of PUs, using the suggested criteria, in order to test their validity.

Sample size determination through power simulation; practical lessons from a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial (SW CRT)

Results Assuming the statistical power needs to be 80% or higher, a total of 6400 simulations will estimate the power to a standard error of 0.5%, In the present study, a total of 24 clusters and 5 time periods were required to give a study power of approximately 85% assuming a type I error rate of 5% and a 20% [RR=1.20] increase in lung cancer diagnosis rates attributable to the intervention within 6 months. Hence, 6 clusters will receive the intervention per each time period in a delayed intervention fashion and all clusters will act as controls during the first time period. Study power was insensitive to distributional assumptions under consideration in this case. Conclusions The stepped wedge CRT design is robust, flexible, offers a more practical alternative in evaluating intervention in routine practice than other designs and provides an opportunity to model time trends. Despite this, its implementation in routine practice is being hampered by complex statistical issues including sample size estimation. However, we have demonstrated that sample size calculation through power simulation is a simple and efficient approach when the use of routine formulae is impossible. Moreover, it is straightforward to assess sensitivity to issues such as heterogeneity across clusters, including the impact of design constraints such as centre or learning effects. We propose simulation-based power calculations should be considered routine practice in such circumstances. Finally, using a computer is easier than finding a book with the right formula.

What learners get for free: learning of routine formulae in ESL and EFL environments

Routine formulae are highly frequent, situationally bound chunks that are beneficial to L2 learners? pragmatic performance. These formulae are usually more easily acquired in the target language setting but they are to some extent also learnable in foreign language classrooms. This study investigates the effect of different lengths of residence abroad on the recognition of situational routine formulae. A total of 262 ESL and EFL learners completed a test battery which included assessment of receptive knowledge of routines. Learners with even short-term residence of two months had increased knowledge of routines, and further residence led to further improvement in knowledge in this area. Even EFL learners without residence knew some routine formulae but knowledge of routines was independent of general proficiency. Learners in the L2 setting get routines �for free� through exposure to contextualized L2 discourse, but which specific routines are acquired depends on the interactional settings in which learners communicate.

Apology routine formulae in Hungarian

This paper describes the forms and functions of Hungarian apology routine formulae (RF) used by Hungarian adults in a written Discourse Completion Test. Five apology RF types are identified, their choices being influenced by such factors as the offence type and its severity, the social role of the interlocutor and the offender's gender. Two main apology RF types, Ne haragudj `Don't be angry' and Elnézést `Excuse me' are shown to perform complementary communicative functions of restoring harmony in familiar vs. unfamiliar settings. Gender differences in the use of RF types present on various levels of analysis demonstrate that males and females choose different ways to restore social harmony and may attach importance to different aspects of the context.

Beyond Grammar and Vocabulary: German and American Differences in Routine Formulae and Small Talk

In recent years the study of pragmatics, which attempts to account for language meaning and use, has led to the understanding that language strings are interpreted and used differently by people in different situations or subcultures. Human beings, although they may be speaking the same language, do not necessarily interpret that language in the same way and can misunderstand each other (e.g., Green, Blum-Kulka et al., Tannen). When people attempt to speak or understand a foreign language, miscommunication becomes that much more feasible. A case in point is the middle class American English usage of routine formulae such as Hi, how are you? in service encounters (e.g., at the cashier at the supermarket), a convention widely used by U.S. Americans, and widely misunderstood by native speakers of German, who do not use it with strangers. Applied linguistics has also recently seen the need for an understanding of pragmatics in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Scholarship in the teaching of German in the United States has produced some excellent articles which address this need (e.g., Lovik, Webber, WildnerBassett, Byrnes). Yet, the study of pragmatic uses of language often does not reach the textbook or the classroom even today. German students of English, and American students of German often come away from the classroom poorly equipped to understand the target language's differing uses and interpretations of specific language strings or specific situations.

Language and revolution: Formulae of the Cultural Revolution

ABSTRACTFrom the hypothesis that routine formulae code cultural norms, it follows that social change will reveal itself in the formulaic inventory of a language. We test this prediction by looking at some of the changes to formulaic speech which took place in postrevolutionary China, particularly during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. We first examine some generally used politeness formulae, comparing them with prerevolutionary equivalents. We then examine the Public Criticism Meeting as a revolutionary ritual and show that its structure and formulaic language arose directly out of revolutionary imperatives. We attribute the changes in the formulaic inventory of Chinese directly to the need to code new social facts, although old social norms can also be discerned in the new formulae, thus showing that social changes are built on a previous social order. (Oral formulaic performance, routine formulae, situational constraints, Cultural Revolution)

Recent concepts regarding the resuscitation of the burned patient

THERE is considerable discussion regarding immediate plasma, electrolytes and fluid replacement in the acute phase after burns. Intravenous input of saline was begun by Reiss in 1880, and later in 1897 was advocated by Tommasoli (Hauben et al., 1981), when hypovolaemic shock and its sequelae were under study. Plasma, electrolytes and fluids have been established as routine formulae (e.g. Evans, Brooke, Parkland and Odstock formulae), differing from each other in their various constituents. The aim of this paper is to present the four main contemporary concepts regarding the efficient and ideal treatment to be given during the shock period in the acute phase after burns, as expressed by four teams treating burns in their acute and critical phase.

On the sociolinguistic relevance of routine formulae

Routine formulae are expressions whose occurrence is closely tied to types of recurrent social situations. In providing the verbal means for mastering such situations in a generally accepted manner, they carry a great deal of social meaning. It is argued in the present paper that the pragmatic conditions for their appropriate usage as well as their communicative functions can only be explicated in terms of cognitive systems of beliefs, wants, wishes, preferences, norms, and values. The problem of translation of routine formulae is discussed, and it is demonstrated that a proper analysis can only be reached on the basis of a contrastive pragmatic approach. An attempt is made at explaining in what sense routine formulae are typical of a given sociocultural system.