Rethinking Idiomaticity: A Usage-based Approach

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Being presented with phrases of the kind, 'take the plunge' and 'write a letter', native speakers of English tend to agree that the former is more idiomatic that the latter.What exactly is it about these two phrases that guide speakers' judgements Adopting a usage-based perspective, this study addresses the question 'which factors do speakers rely upon when assessing the idiomaticity of a construction'.

Rethinking Idiomaticity is the first study to bring together a quantitative corpus-linguistic approach and quantitative judgement data to explore the nature of idiomaticity as a complex concept that comprises semantic and formal variation parameters. Wulff's fascinating book is suitable for researchers and postgraduates in the fields of lexicography, phraseology, corpus linguistics and those who are employing quantitative approaches.

Cognitive linguists interested in the empirical underpinnings of their theoretical assumptions will also find this required reading.

Reviews

'This book is a valuable addition to the field, for it offers many innovative perspectives on issues in idiomaticity research. All in all, it is an interesting and useful read and one that is highly recommended to researchers of idiomaticity and formulaicity.' -- The LinguistList
The study's approach to idiomaticity, as well as the results it generates, it truly innovative...The book is a truly original contribution to the field and one that will make a considerable impact on the area of idioms research. -- International Journal of Corpus Linguistics
Rethinking Idiomaticity is a rigorous investigation of the relationship between idiomaticity and performance data which speakers may draw on in making idiomaticity judgments. A number of innovative methods for measuring variables such as compositionality, are presented, which will no doubt inform future research. This work also makes some persuasive arguments for factors that influence idiomaticity judgments which might be tested on different data sets. -- LINGUIST

Author Bio

Stefanie Wulff is Assistant Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Technological Communication, University of North Texas, USA.