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FORMULAIC LANGUAGE AND THELEXICON

Patterns of Formulaicity inChildren Using a SecondLanguage

Alison Wray

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Children aged five to ten

individual child exists as one of many, expected tobe self sufficient in meeting his or her own needsthe class as a group gives learner a moment-by-moment agenda of activitiessets up types of interaction which would not occur inone child-one situation

desire to be part of the group is stronger in this age-rangecompetition for the attention of adults and friendsmay promote attention-getting devices

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Nora- one of five SpanishspeakingMexican immigrant studied by Wong

Fillmore

acquire English in a naturalistic setting(kindergarden& school) over 9 monthsshe had spectacular success as a laguagelearner her own personality

her environmenther conscious actions undoubtedly supportedbeneficial effects

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Factors include:

no inhibitions about using a form from the moment itwas learnt

preference for play that used a large quantity of languagean uninhibited personal interactional stylepreference for the company of adults over childreninability (disinclination) to postpone the need tocommunicateability to play with language at a syntatic levelgenerally analytic mind (ability to see patterns)

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How did the learners get things done ?

understanding how formulaic sequences contributeto acquisition entails recognizing what alternativesolutions the learner has access toOne= using L1 (but it does not always work)given limitations of L2 knowledge kids were more or less obliged to adopt formulaically learned strings toexpress manipulative messagesdifferent story when it comes to manipulatingbehaviour of other children

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Repertoire of formulaic sequencesWode children accumulated a sizeable one for use between them andoccasionally addressing to their parents too (youre crazy, stupid idiot, come on, wait a minute,knock it off, shuddaup you, come here, hurry up hurry up, be quiet you, dont cry, etc)

magic words are more a feature of child-to-adult manipulative speech( used sporadic in the data due to learning situation)several politeness routines (have a nice day, thank you, thank you very much, please , excuse me, im sorry )common use of manipulative formulaic sequences to gain informationfor these manipulative functions formulaic sequences were also createdand fused by those who could not remember a suitable sequence

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How did they demonstrate Group

Membership ?

social integration seems extremely importantchildren use chunks to enact a socially significant event in

order to construct identities as competent studentsalso in order to construct collaborative relations with oneanother desire to sound like an L2 speaker is one of the most powerfulcatalysts for the adoption of formulaic sequences

imitate linguistic patterns used in group activitiesroutines associated with group gamesconformity with the group culture (particularly relative to adults)

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How did they gain control of the

language ?

some sort of silent period was followed by a period of imitation without full comprehension

next a period of apparent competence characterized byfluent and accurate output made up of formulaicsequences used in pragmatically appropriate wayssubsequently the children increasingly attempted toexpress novel ideasone obvious tactic fro gaining access to the linguistcsystem is to use translationnone of the kids was disposed to use L1 much after thefirst few weeks

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Gaining Control of language (2)in language acquisition, referential naming has been identifiedas a sign of analytic style

probably as a function of age (learning mostly vocabularyitems)almost no interest in socializing with English speakersFor Nora, fantasy and role-playing were major means of gaining wide-ranging linguistic experience

repeated material could also take on its linguistc form ( take theoencil... pencil ?, no Paul, this way, please... this way ? etc)a sophisticated version of imitation involved using input as abasis for an expanded response (used by several children)

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Discussionbasic needs are all the same for five-year-olds entering a newcountry

looks for securitydesires friendswants to explore the surrounding world and his ownimaginationsatisfy basic needs

express their personalitiesthis is not a question of which formulaic sequences aidlanguage acquisition but rather HOW formulaic sequences enable learners to construct positive identities and relations

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Discussion

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