Situation-bound Utterances in L1 and L2 (review)

This volume consists of eight chapters in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

The introduction (1–14) establishes some relevant theoretical preliminaries including a cognitive/pragmatic perspective, multilingual perspective, the notions of the common underlying conceptual base and conceptual socialization.

In Ch. 1, ‘Lexical and conceptual level’ (15–29), Kecskes proposes that the lexical item unites the lexical level with the conceptual level by assimilating present (synchronic) and past (diachronic) information, and that it ‘has both permanent and temporary aspects’ (19). Ch. 2, ‘A dynamic model of meaning’ (31–54), views meaning as constructed out of the interaction of the lexical items and context. Distinctions are made between word-specific semantic properties and culture-specific conceptual properties, and between the coresense and the consense of a lexical unit. Ch. 3, ‘Context and salience’ (55–78), considers the interplay of context and lexical items. K also provides discussions of the graded salience hypothesis and the characteristics of salience.

Ch. 4, ‘The origin of situation-bound utterances’ (79–98), focuses on how the development and use of situation-bound utterances (SBUs) reflect the relationship of language and reality. It includes some discussion of why SBUs are widely used in conversation. The conceptual origin of SBUs, their functions and realizations in different languages, and their distinct characteristics are also discussed. Ch. 5, ‘Distinguishing features of SBUs’ (99–114), relates SBUs to phraseological units, frozen metaphors, and lexical idioms. It highlights three features of SBUs: situation-dependence, multiple salient meanings, and a social nature. In Ch. 6, ‘Classification and interpretation of SBUs’ (115–34), K suggests that SBUs can be ‘plain’, ‘loaded’, or ‘charged’ with decreasing degrees of compositionality, semantic transparency, and salience. K also reports a study on L2 learners’ interpretation of SBUs showing that salience is language- and culture-specific, and that L2 speakers hardly apply the principle of salience in the target language, relying mainly on the L1 conceptual base or contextual cues.

Ch. 7, ‘Creativity and formulaicity’ (135–54), reexamines the creativity/formulaicity dichotomy in language and its relationship to language acquisition. It includes some discussion of several types of differences concerning the role of formulaic expressions in L2 acquisition. In Ch. 8, ‘Conceptual socialization’ (155–75), K claims that during the process of conceptual socialization ‘second language learners have to deal with the problems of culture-specific communicative functions, the formula-specific pragmatic properties of expressions and the differences in communicative patterns’ (160). Ch. 9, ‘Easy to learn, hard to understand’ (177–96), differentiates three developmental stages in the use of formulaic expressions in L2 and points out the most typical errors in the use of SBUs made by L2 learners. It also reports a study showing the strong impact of the L1 pragmatic system and of the use of individual strategies in L1 language production on L2 use, including SBUs. The conclusion (197–200) provides a useful summary of the descriptions of SBUs in previous chapters and ends with an open proposal for further research.

Each chapter of the book can be read independently, and as a whole they contribute to a better understanding of meaning-construction and the use of SBUs and other formulaic expressions ‘that have always been and will always be present in human interaction’ (14). I would recommend it to cognitive linguists, applied linguists, pragmaticians, and L2 teachers.