Deliberate creativity and formulaic language use

Abstract

The paper examines the relationship of formulaic language use and linguistic creativity in the first and second language. It argues that creativity in language use means more than just combining words and meaning-units in a syntax-affecting way. In fact, the proper use of formulaic language is one of the conditions for linguistic creativity which is a discourse level rather than just a sentence level phenomenon (Kecskes 2013). In this sense linguistic creativity refers to the online ability of combining prefabricated units with novel items (ad hoc generated items) in a syntax-affecting way to express communicative intention and goals and create new meaning. Linguistic creativity is a subconscious and mostly automatic process that relies on existing knowledge and the actual situational need and intention of the speaker. It is a graded phenomenon ranging from the more conventional and predictable to the less conventional and unpredictable. The focal point of this paper is deliberate creativity which is on the less conventional and more unpredictable side of the continuum. It is mostly a conscious process in which language users prefer to generate their own utterances rather than resorting to prefabricated units or the combination of ad hoc generated units and ready-made expressions. The term was briefly mentioned first in (Howarth 1998) referring to second language learners but not exactly in the sense as described above. This paper will argue that deliberate creativity exists not only in L2 use but also L1 use. However, its nature in L1 may be different from that of L2. Based on a study (Kecskes 2015) it is claimed that the “idiom principle” (Sinclair 1987) is the most salient guiding mechanism in any language production. However, the principle generates less formulaic language in L2 than L1 because there are several factors that are not present in L1 but are there in L2 affecting the functioning of the idiom principle in different degree. Such factors include language proficiency, willingness to use certain formulas, language fluency of other participants, limited core common ground, and others. As a result, the actual production of formulaic expressions in the L2 will always be lower than in L1. This, however, does not mean that people in their L2 use are less creative linguistically than in their L1.