96 A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse
Texts comprise empty slots which can be fi lled by any lexical element that
obeys the abstract criterion of grammaticalness. This view, which Sinclair
labels the open-choice principle is as we have seen contradicted by the existence
of fi xed expressions and by Hunston and Francis’ fi nding that words have
patterns. To account for such observations Sinclair proposes the idiom
principle which states that:
a language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-
preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they
might appear to be analysable into segments. (Ibid. 110)He states (ibid. 114) that the open choice and idiom principles are incom-
patible; speakers must employ one or the other. Hunston and Francis
(2000: 23) provide an enlightening example taken, from the novel The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, of the difference in meaning between an
idiom principle reading and an open choice reading.
(18) Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something
important. Suddenly he realised what it was. ‘Is there any tea on
this spacecraft?’ he asked.
(Original emphasis)
The author, Douglas Adams, skilfully exploits two senses of miss in (18). The
fi rst of which is fail to comprehend, the second is to lack something. A reader (or
indeed a listener to the audio-book version) fi rst interprets the phrase he
was missing something important in line with the idiom principle as signalling
Arthur’s lack of comprehension. Yet the following mention of tea forces a
reinterpretation in line with the open-choice principal as signalling Arthur’s
lack of tea. Sinclair (1991: 114) suggests that the idiom principle is the
default case: people only interpret language according to the open-choice
principle when the idiom principle fails, or in marked genres of language
such as poetry and legal documents. Examples (19) and (20) code he was
missing something important according to the idiom and open-choice prin-
ciples respectively.
(19) he was missing something important (Idiom Principle)
N PHR-V(20) he was missing something important (Open-choice Principle)
N V V' N E