2 - Cultural Context and Diachrony

Summary

In Chapter 2, it is argued that a diachronic perspective on the connection between culture and formulaic language is a useful one. The first half of the chapter looks at how linguistic change, and change in formulaic language in particular, has been understood (and misunderstood) in previous research. The thorny issue of what motivates linguistic change, which is key to the analyses presented in later chapters, is also addressed. In the second half of the chapter, the reader is introduced to ways in which culture and society have been understood and the comprehensive understanding of these concepts, as employed in the present work, is developed and presented. Previous research on the relation between language and culture is then drawn upon and worked into the conceptualisation of this relation proposed in the book.