Formal idioms and action: Toward a grammar of genres

William N. Salmon

doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2010.01.002

Formal idioms and action: Toward a grammar of genres

William N. Salmon

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bakhtin tells us that speech genres organize speech similar to the way that grammatical forms do. This essay takes Bakhtin at his word, and it explores the way this idea works out in one contemporary theory of grammar. The essay draws an analogy between the way rhetoricians have considered generic form in action-based theories of genre and the formal idiom constructions-i.e. form-meaning-function complexes-of construction grammar. It concludes that the constructional analogy provides a clear empirical guide for discussion of generic form that is both shared and unique and stable and unstable, in addition to facts regarding the learning and acquisition of generic form.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	211-224
Number of pages	14
Journal	Language and Communication
Volume	30
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2010.01.002
State	Published - Oct 2010
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Construction grammar
Formal idiom
Genre
New rhetoric

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Formal idioms and action: Toward a grammar of genres

Abstract

Keywords

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