Must-have, want-to-have and nice-to have formulaicity plus formulaic syntax: Suggestions for L2 learning and teaching of multi-word units based on frequency, idiomaticity and syntagmatic cohesion

Objectives: Mastery of formulaic language holds great potential for improving L2 learners’ fluency. However, the field of formulaic language is internally heterogeneous and externally fuzzy. It remains unclear what types of formulaic language deserve special attention in L2 learning and teaching and whether formulaic sequences are to be demarcated from recurrent lexicogrammatical patterns based on compositional syntax. I investigate how semantic and pragmatic idiomaticity, internal syntagmatic cohesion (degrees of chunking) and frequency of use interact. The goal is to formulate recommendations for L2 learning and teaching of formulaic language. Approach: The syntagmatic strengthening principle, formulated as part of the Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model, makes predictions concerning the ways in which these factors interact. I test these predictions in an investigation of 14 lexicogrammatical patterns, combining the corpus and the questionnaire method. Data and Analysis: The data are extracted from the British National Corpus and analyzed with regard to various frequency measures. Results of the frequency analysis feed into an online questionnaire study asking participants to rate the internal syntagmatic cohesion of syntagmatic sequences. Findings: Frequency and idiomaticity are independent predictors of syntagmatic cohesion. Frequency alone is a sufficient predictor, especially when analyzed in different ways. Originality: Based on the predictions of the syntagmatic strengthening principle, the study provides empirical evidence regarding the links between frequency, idiomaticity and internal syntagmatic cohesion. It offers a differentiated perspective on frequency distributions of the instantiations of partly variable syntagmatic patterns and their correlations with syntagmatic cohesion and idiomaticity. Implications: I discuss the implications of the study for the learning and teaching of formulaic language in L2 and identify four domains of formulaic language: formulaic syntax, must-have formulaicity, want-to-have formulaicity and nice-to-have formulaicity. How much and what kind of attention these domains require in L2 learning and teaching depends on the circumstances under which L2 learning takes place.