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Article published In:
Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 25:3 (2024) ► pp.467–498

Formulaic language in Old English prose

A corpus-driven functional analysis

ORCID logo | University of Łódź
 | University of Opole
 | University of Łódź
Although there has been a plethora of research on formulaic language in contemporary English, conducted with various purposes in mind (descriptive, applied and otherwise), studies of formulaic phrasings in Old English texts are rare. In this paper, we employ selected corpus linguistic methods to identify and explore the use and discoursal functions of recurrent multi-word items that contribute the most to the formulaicity of homilies, chronicles and biblical translations, which are the Old English text types under scrutiny. The findings of this primarily descriptive and exploratory research provide new insights into the pragmatic functions of Old English recurrent phraseological units as well as into the structure and communicative functions of the analysed text varieties. Finally, the results of the study cast some new light on the role those formulaic phrasings play in Old English prose.
Keywords: corpus-driven approach, discoursal functions, formulaic language, Old English prose, recurrent n-grams, text types
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Corpus linguistics and formulaic language
  • 3.Studies of Old English texts from a discourse perspective
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Research material
    • 4.2Research questions
    • 4.3Research procedures and study stages
  • 5.Empirical part: Results
    • 5.1Homilies
    • 5.2Chronicles
    • 5.3The Bible
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.21008.cic
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