Chapter 10
The only good snowclone is a dead snowclone
A cognitive-linguistic exploration of the frayed ends of proverbiality
This chapter proposes that some snowclones (schematic stock phrases) display some degree of proverbiality to the extent
that it can be argued that they occupy a grey zone between proverbs proper and semi-schematic idioms. Drawing on theoretical insights
from construction grammar and cognitive-semantic approaches to socio-cultural cognition, this chapter also presents three case studies
of snowclones within the English language that are based on corpus-data and corpus-linguistic methodology. More specifically, this
chapter studies patterns of use, such as productivity, epistemic status marking, and co-occurrence with co-textual topics, of
the only good X is a dead X, one does not simply X into Y, and in X no one can hear you
Y so as to address their potential proverbial nature.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Proverbial snowclones as constructions
- 2.1Snowclones
- 2.2Proverbiality
- 2.3Proverbial snowclones
- 3.Data and method
- 4.Only good as a marker of social attitude
- 5.Difficulties in Mordor
- 6.Screaming in space and bread with Ripley
- 8.Concluding remarks
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Notes
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References
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Appendix