A01_RICH4603_04_SE_A01.QXD

(Chris Devlin) #1

formulaic expression n
another term for formulaic language


formulaic language n
also formulae(or formulas), formulaic expression, formulaic sequence
sequences of words that are stored and retrieved as a unit from memory
at the time of use, rather than generated online using the full resources of
the grammar of the language. Researchers have used many different terms
for this phenomenon, including prefabricated routines, routine formulae,
stock utterances, lexical phrasesor lexicalized phrases, institutionalized
utterances, and unanalyzed chunks. Formulaic sequences may be semantically
transparent and grammatically regular (e.g. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” “with
best wishes,” “thank you very much”) or irregular in their form and meaning,
as is the case with idioms. Formulaic sequences may be learned initially as a
unit, without an understanding of their internal structure, and later analyzed
so that internal elements can be used productively; formulaic sequences can
also be constructed from smaller units but stored as a unit for future use, a
process called fusion. Some formulae have open slots and are called lexicalized
sentence stems, e.g. “Who the [expletive] does [pronoun] think [pronoun]
is?” Formulaic language is believed to have several functions, including
conserving processing resources, enhancing both fluencyand idiomatic-
ity, and realizing specific interactional functions. Formulaic sequences that
primarily function to organize discourse (e.g. “In the first place,” “So what
you are saying is X”) are often referred to as conversational routinesor
gambits. Formulaic sequences associated with a specific speech act(e.g.
“I really like your [noun],” “If it’s not too much trouble, could you X?”)
are sometimes called politeness formulas.


formulaic sequence n
another term for formulaic language


formulaic speech n
another term for formulaic language


form word n
see content word


fortis adj
describes a consonantwhich is produced with a relatively greater amount
of muscular force and breath, e.g. in English /p/, /t/, and /k/. The opposite
to fortis is lenis, which describes consonants which are produced with


fortis
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