Phraseology and Culture in English (Topics in English Linguistics 54) (Topics in English Linguistics)

Mouton de Gruyter. 2007. 511 pages. ISBN: 3110190877 The proposition that there is a correlation between language and culture or culture-specific ways of thinking can be traced back to the views of Herder and von Humboldt in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is generally accepted today that a language, especially its lexicon, influences its speakers' cultural patterns of thought and perception in various ways, for example through a culture-specific segmentation of the extralinguistic reality, the frequency of occurrence of particular lexical items, or the existence of keywords or key word combinations revealing core cultural values. The aim of this volume is to explore the cultural dimension of a wide range of preconstructed or semi-preconstructed word combinations in English. The 17 papers of the volume are divided into four sections, focusing on particular lexemes (e.g. enjoy and its collocates), types of word combinations (e.g. proverbs and similes), use-related varieties (such as the language of tourism or answering-machine messages), and user-related varieties (such as Aboriginal English or African English). The sections are preceded by a prologue, tracing the development of the study of formulaic language, and followed by an epilogue, which draws together the threads laid out in the various papers. The relation between language and culture in general has been explored in a number of important works over the past ten years. However, the study of the relation between English phraseology and culture in particular has been largely neglected. This volume is the first book-length publication devoted entirely to this topic. Developments In The Study Of Formulaic Language Since 1970: A Personal View /andrew Pawley -- Focus On Particular Lexemes Reasonably Well: Natural Semantic Metalanguage As A Tool For The Study Of Phraseology And Its Cultural Underpinnings / Anna Wierzbicka -- Australian Perceptions Of The Weekend: Evidence From Collocations And Elsewhere / Bert Peeters -- Enjoy!: The (phraseological) Culture Of Having Fun / Monika Bednarek And Wolfram Bublitz -- Hot, Heiss, And Gorjachij: A Case Study Of Collocations In English, German, And Russian / Doris Schönefeld -- Contents Focus On Types Of Idioms Collections Of Proverbs And Proverb Dictionaries: Some Historical Observarions On What's In Them And What's Not (with A Note On Current Gendered Proverbs) Charles Clay Doyle -- Yankee Wisdom: American Proverbs And The Worldview Of New England / Wolfgang Mieder -- Similes And Other Evaluative Idioms In Australian English / Pam Peters -- Definitely Maybe: Modality Clusters And Politeness In Spoken Discourse / Svenja Adolphs -- Focus On Use-related Varieties: Registers -- Lexical Developments In Greenspeaking / Melina Magdalena And Peter Mühlhäusler -- The Phraseology Of Tourism: A Central Lexical Field And Its Cultural Construction / Andrea Gerbig And Angela Shek -- Idiomaticity In A Cultural And Activity Type Perspective: The Conventionalization Of Routine Phrases In Answering-machine Messages /karin Aijmer -- Focus On User-related Varieties: Dialects And Ethnolects -- Greeting As An Act Of Identity In Tristan Da Cunha English / D. Schreier -- Multiword Unts In Aboriginal English / I. Malcolm & F. Sharifian -- Fixed Expressions As Manifestations Of Cultural Conceptualizations / H-g. Wolf & F. Polzenhagen -- Varieties Of English Around The World: Collocational And Cultural Profiles / C. Mair -- Formulaic Language In Cultural Perspective / Penny Lee. Edited By Paul Skandera. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This is the first book-length publication devoted entirely to the study of the relation between English phraseology (i.e. the study of formulaic language) and culture. The contributions focus on particular lexemes (e.g. enjoy and its collocates), types of multiword units (e.g. proverbs and similes), use-related varieties (such as the language of tourism or answering-machine messages), and user-related varieties (such as Aboriginal English or African English). Review text: "The real virtue of the book is the multiplicity of issues addressed and the different perspectives proposed in the papers, which offer stimulating insights into the relationship between English phraseology and culture, contributing to the development of further research."Paola Attolino in: http://linguistlist.org/issues/19/19-1431.html