Abstract
This chapter investigates the role of idiosyncratic multi-word expressions (MWEs) in adult second-language (L2) learning in the wild. MWEs are typically argued to be the source of rule derivation in L2 acquisition ((Bardovi-Harlig K, Stringer D, Second Lang Res 33(3):61–90, 2016; Wray A, Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002),), but to date, there have been few studies on how idiosyncratic MWEs are routinized from a usage-based perspective embedded in a material and sequential context; and such studies mostly account for routinization as the result of frequency effects. Accordingly, the aim of the present research is to examine how routinization processes are affected by the participants’ in situ sense-making practices and by the material world. Data for this study were drawn from 79 h of video recordings of service encounters that were collected at a convenience store in Honolulu over a 30-month period. The study focuses on one adult Korean shopkeeper and the simultaneous use of one idiosyncratic L2 English MWE and a printed notice of the store’s policy in service encounters. Multimodal conversation analysis revealed how customers’ knowledge of the store’s policy, and the participants’ orientations vis-a-vis the notice, contributed to customers’ successful recognition of the use of MWE with the printed notice as an action. The findings show the process of routinization as comprised of embodied, sequential, and experiential phenomena that were co-constructed in a particular material context.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Eskildsen and Cadierno (2007: 91) define an MWE as a “recurring sequence of words used together for a relatively coherent communicative purpose.”
- 2.
The participants voluntarily agreed to participate in this study and provided consent.
- 3.
All merchants in the U.S. have been legally free to set a minimum card-purchase amount of up to $10 since October 1, 2011.
References
Auer, P. (2005). Projection in interaction and projection in grammar. Text-Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 25(1), 7–36. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2005.25.1.7.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2006). On the role of formulas in the acquisition of L2 pragmatics. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, J. C. Félix-Brasdefer, & A. S. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (pp. 1–28). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Stringer, D. (2016). Unconventional expressions: Productive syntax in the L2 acquisition of formulaic language. Second Language Research, 33(3), 61–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658316641725.
Brouwer, C. E., Rasmussen, G., & Wagner, J. (2004). Embedded corrections in second language talk. In R. Gardner & J. Wagner (Eds.), Second language conversation (pp. 75–92). London: Continuum.
Collins, L., & Ellis, N. C. (Eds.). (2009). Input and second language acquisition: The roles of frequency, form, and function [special issue]. The Modern Language Journal, 93(3), 329–335.
Ellis, N. C. (2015). Cognitive and social aspects of learning from usage. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 49–74). Berlin/Boston: DE Gruyter.
Ellis, N. C., & Ferreira–Junior, F. (2009). Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function. The Modern Language Journal, 93(3), 370–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00896.x.
Eskildsen, S. W. (2012). L2 negation constructions at work. Language Learning, 62(2), 335–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00698.x.
Eskildsen, S. W., & Cadierno, T. (2007). Are recurring multi-word expressions really syntactic freezes? Second language acquisition from the perspective of usage-based linguistics. In M. Nenonen & S. Niemi (Eds.), Collocations and idioms 1: Papers from the first Nordic conference on syntactic freezes (pp. 86–99). Joensuu: Joensuu University Press.
Eskildsen, S. W., & Cadierno, T. (2015). Introduction. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 1–15). Berlin/Boston: DE Gruyter.
Eskildsen, S. W., & Wagner, J. (2015). Embodied L2 construction learning. Language Learning, 65(2), 268–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12106.
Eskildsen, S. W., & Wagner, J. (2018). From trouble in the talk to new resources: The interplay of bodily and linguistic resources in the talk of a speaker of Engish as a second language. In S. Pekarek Doehler, J. Wagner, & E. González-Martínez (Eds.), Longitudinal studies on the organization of social interaction (pp. 143–171). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2015). The language of service encounters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feminism. (n.d.). Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism.
Francis, D., & Hester, S. (2004). An invitation to ethnomethodology: Language, society and interaction. London: Sage.
Gardner, R. (2004). On delaying the answer: Question sequences extended after the question. In R. Gardner & J. Wagner (Eds.), Second language conversations (pp. 246–266). London: Continuum.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Garfinkel, H., & Sacks, H. (1986). On formal structures and practical action. In H. Garfinkel (Ed.), Ethnomethodological studies of work (pp. 157–189). London/New York: Routledge.
Goldberg, A. E. (2009). The nature of generalization in language. Cognitive Linguistics, 20(1), 93–127.
Goodwin, C. (2007). Participation, stance and affect in the organization of activities. Discourse & Society, 18(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507069457.
Goodwin, C. (2013). The co-operative, transformative, organization of human action and knowledge. Journal of Pragmaics, 46(1), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.09.003.
Günthner, S. (2011). Between emergence and sedimentation: Projecting constructions in German interactions. In P. Auer & S. Pfänder (Eds.), Constructions: Emerging and emergent (pp. 156–185). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Hall, J. K., & Pekarek Doehler, S. (2011). L2 interactional competence and development. In J. K. Hall, J. Hellermann, & S. P. Doehler (Eds.), L2 interactional competence and development (pp. 1–15). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Han, Z. (2004). Fossilization in adult second language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Han, Z. (2013). Forty years later: Updating the fossilization hypothesis. Language Teaching, 46(2), 133–171.
Hauser, E. (2013). Stability and change in one adult’s second language English negation. Language Learning, 63(3), 463–498. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12012.
Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Heritage, J. (2013). Action formation and its epistemic (and other) backgrounds. Discourse Studies, 15(5), 551–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445613501449.
Heritage, J., & Atkinson, J. M. (1984). Introduction. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 1–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holt, E. (2010). The last laugh: Shared laughter and topic termination. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(6), 1513–1525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.01.011.
Hopper, P. (1998). Emergent grammar. In M. Tomasello (Ed.), The new psychology of language (pp. 155–175). NJ: Mahwah.
Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the wild. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Jefferson, G. (1983). Two explorations of the organization of overlapping talk in conversation: Notes on some orderliness in overlap onset. In Tilburg papers in language and literature (Vol. 28, pp. 11–38).
Jefferson, G. (1984). Notes on a systematic deployment of the acknowledgement tokens “Yeah”; and “Mm Hm”. Paper in Linguistics, 17(2), 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818409389201.
Jefferson, G. (1987). On exposed and embedded correction in conversation. In G. Button & J. R. E. Lee (Eds.), Talk and social organization (pp. 86–100). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Kääntä, L. (2014). From noticing to initiating correction: Students’ epistemic displays in instructional interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 66, 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.02.010.
Kasper, G., & Wagner, J. (2011). Conversation analysis as an approach to second language acquisition. In D. Atkinson (Ed.), Alternative approaches to second language acquisition (pp. 117–142). New York: Routledge.
Klein, W., & Dimroth, C. (2009). Untutored second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 503–522). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). Second language acquisition and the issue of fossilization: There is no end, and there is no state. In Z. Han & T. Odlin (Eds.), Studies of fossilization in second language acquisition (pp. 189–200). Frankfurt Lodge: Multilingual Matters.
Levinson, S. C. (2012). Action formation and ascription. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 103–130). West Sussex: Blackwell.
Limit. (n.d.). In OED. Retrieved June 29, 2017, http://www.oed.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/view/Entry/108478?rskey=IjqUhn&result=2&isAdvanced=false#eid
Long, M. (2003). Stabilization and fossilization in interlanguage development. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 487–536). Oxford: Blackwell.
Macbeth, D. (2011). Understanding understanding as an instructional matter. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(2), 438–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.12.006.
Mauranen, A. (2009). Chunking in ELF: Expressions for managing interaction. Intercultural Pragmatics, 6(2), 217–233. https://doi.org/10.1515/IPRG.2009.012.
Mondada, L. (2011). Understanding as an embodied, situated and sequential achievement in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(2), 542–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.08.019.
Nguyen, H. T. (2008). Sequence organization as local and longitudinal achievement. Text & Talk, 28(4), 501–528. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2008.025.
Nissi, R., & Lehtinen, E. (2016). Negotiation of expertise and multifunctionality: PowerPoint presentations as interactional activity types in workplace meetings. Language & Communication, 48, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2016.01.003.
Ortega, L. (2014). Ways forward for a bi/multilingual turn in SLA. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 32–53). New York/London: Routledge.
Perdue, C., & Klein, W. (1992). Why does the production of some learners not grammaticalize? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14(3), 259–272.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on Conversation (Vol. 2). Malden: Blackwell.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696–735.
Schegloff, E. A. (1991). Conversation analysis and socially shared cognition. In L. R. Resnick, J. M. Levine, & S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Socially shared cognition (pp. 150–171). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Schegloff, E. A. (1992). Repair after next turn: The last structurally provided defense of intersubjectivity in conversation. American Journal of Sociology, 97(5), 1295–1345.
Schmid, H. J. (2015). A blueprint of the entrenchment-and-conventionalization model. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association, 3(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1515/gcla-2015-0002.
Schmidt, R. (1983). Interaction, acculturation, and the acquisition of communicative competence: A case study of an adult. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 137–174). Rowley: Newbury House.
Seidlhofer, B. (2009). Accommodation and the idiom principle in English as a lingua franca. Intercultural Pragmatics, 6(2), 195–215. https://doi.org/10.1515/IPRG.2009.011.
Shively, R. L. (2011). L2 pragmatic development in study abroad: A longitudinal study of Spanish service encounters. Journal of Pragmaics, 43, 1811–1835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.030.
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wagner, J. (2015). Designing for language learning in the wild: Creating social infrastructures for second language learning. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 75–101). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Funding Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5B5A01033037)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Transcription Conventions
Verbal conduct | Visual conduct |
|---|---|
˙hhh: hearable exhaling | GZ: Gaze directed toward |
PT: Pointing at | |
F(number) refers to a specific frame in the transcript. | |
RH: right hand | |
LH: left hand |
Description of the Tier System
The verbal transcription is presented in courier. Above the verbal transcription, marked in bold Calibri, is the description of the speaker’s visual conduct. Below the verbal transcription, marked in bold Calibri, is the description of the recipient’s visual conduct.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kim, S. (2019). “We Limit Ten Under Twenty Centu Charge Okay?”: Routinization of an Idiosyncratic Multi-word Expression. In: Hellermann, J., Eskildsen, S., Pekarek Doehler, S., Piirainen-Marsh, A. (eds) Conversation Analytic Research on Learning-in-Action. Educational Linguistics, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22165-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22165-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22164-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22165-2
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)