Formulaic Phrase

A Formulaic Phrase is a multiword expression that is stored and retrieved as a whole unit rather than generated compositionally.

• AKA: Formulaic Expression, Prefabricated Phrase, Formulaic Sequence, Lexical Bundle.
• Context:
  • It can typically be processed as a Holistic Unit in language production.
  • It can often demonstrate High Frequency in language corpus.
  • It can frequently serve Pragmatic Functions in discourse context.
  • It can generally exhibit Syntactic Fixedness with limited variation.
  • It can usually facilitate Fluent Communication through ready-made expressions.
  • It can commonly occur across Language Registers and discourse genres.
  • It can sometimes show Cultural Specificity in usage patterns.
  • It can range from being a Completely Fixed Formulaic Phrase to being a Semi-Fixed Formulaic Phrase, depending on its variability degree.
  • It can range from being a Transparent Formulaic Phrase to being an Opaque Formulaic Phrase, depending on its semantic analyzability.
  • It can range from being a Short Formulaic Phrase to being a Long Formulaic Phrase, depending on its word count.
  • It can range from being a Grammatical Formulaic Phrase to being a Lexical Formulaic Phrase, depending on its functional role.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Communication Phrases for discourse management.
  • Idiomatic Expressions for figurative meaning.
  • Collocations for lexical co-occurrence.
  • Routine Formulas, such as:
    • "How do you do?" for formal greeting.
    • "Once upon a time" for story opening.
  • Academic Formulas, such as:
    • "On the other hand" for contrast marking.
    • "In conclusion" for section closing.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Novel Expression, which is newly generated.
  • Single Word, which lacks multiword structure.
  • Free Combination, which allows unlimited variation.
  • Syntactic Rule, which generates infinite expressions.
• See: Multiword Expression, Communication Phrase, Idiomatic Expression, Fixed Expression, Collocation, Lexical Bundle, Phraseology.

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