Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP

      Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in

      Oxford New York

      Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto

      With offices in

      Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

      OXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

      © Oxford University Press 2008

      The moral rights of the author have been asserted

      Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

      First published 2008

      2012 2011 2010 2009

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

      No unauthorized photocopying

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

      You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

      Any websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the content

      ISBN: 978 0 19 442245 1

      Printed in China

      Preface and Acknowledgments

      My aim in the present book and my previous work has been to assemble specific evidence regarding the nature of formulaic language and to develop theoretical models that can explain it. Part of that endeavour entails evaluating the applicability of an explanation at the extremes of its range, and that is why this book is about boundaries. As the Introduction explains, it is not to be expected that all linguists agree with my conclusions, nor does it matter. What matters is that we continue to extend our exploration until, by degrees, we establish clearer boundaries between what is and is not formulaic.

      The book has been in the planning for several years, during which I have talked to many people, engaged in huge amounts of email correspondence, read a lot of books and papers, and listened to a great many conference presentations. Some forums have been particularly valuable in inspiring new ideas, including the 2005 Phraseology conference in Louvain-la-Neuve, the 2007 Formulaic Language Symposium at Milwaukee, and the Cardiff meetings and international postgraduate conferences of the Formulaic Language Research Network. Even though I try to keep notes of conversations, useful quotes and so on, it is certainly possible that I have appropriated others’ ideas without realizing it. If I have, I apologize, and trust it will be construed as flattery.

      There are many people to thank for their various contributions. I have had inspiring and challenging conversations and/or email exchanges about formulaic language with, amongst others, Ben Bergen, Chris Butler, Georgie Columbus, Ding Yenren, Nick Ellis, Britt Erman, Charles and Lily Wong Fillmore, Tess Fitzpatrick, Lise Fontaine, George Grace, Jeff Holman, Martin Kayman, Kon Kuiper, Camilla Lindholm, Iain McGee, Eugène Mollet, Kazuhiko Namba, Christine Pegg, Ann Peters, Qi Yan, John Schumann, Mike Stubbs, Su Yanling, Paul Tench, Sam Tomblin, Gordon Tucker, Diana van Lancker Sidtis, Arie Verhagen, Ulrich Von Hecker, and Beatrice Warren.

      Susan Hunston, Mike Stubbs, and Gordon Tucker read and commented on an early draft of Chapter 3, and Chris Butler, Tom Cobb, and Henry Widdowson provided extensive very helpful comments on the entire manuscript. The final version is much the better for the efforts of these contributors, though any or all of them may, I fear, still take exception to some of the things I say. Benedetta Bassetti, Irina Dahlmann, Sioned Davies, Boyd Davis, Seza Dogruoz, Monika Dóla, Nick Ellis, Tony Fairman, Fanny Forsberg, Pauline Foster, Sylvia Grant, James Hegarty, Jeffrey Holman, Ragnhild Knutsson, Kon Kuiper, Ian MacKenzie, Richard Ogden, Rebecca Shaftman, Norbert Schmitt, and Alessandra Tanesini all came up with good ideas, sent me information, or answered questions on aspects of their work. With respect to trumpet and bugle calls, I have had much help from experts David Edwards, Major Richard Powell, Crispian Steele-Perkins, and Major Gordon Turner. Graham Rock kindly helped with the preparation of the musical figures. My limited understanding of motor sport flags was patiently