2009 Reviews

Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries

Hall, Timothy Merrick

As the construct of formulaic language gains sway in language acquisition theory and pedagogy, the number of publications on corresponding theoretical treatises and empirical research has also been on the grow. Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries is the most recent monograph of one of the field’s authoritative figures, Alison Wray. Formulaic expressions or sequences, in simple terms, are linguistic units composed of multiple words. According to Sinclair (1991), they are subsumed under a model of language processing called the Idiom Principle, which postulates that “a language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices” (p. 110). These single, multi-word choices in effect are mediators for human language competence and idiomatic language use.