A corpus based study of formulaic language use by native and non-native speakers

Abstract

Although language makes use of formulaic patterns, knowing and using these formulaic patterns of words can prove to be quite difficult for non-native speakers of English. Since knowledge on formulaic language can both improve learners’ comprehension and production of the language, it might be important for learners to familiarize themselves with these formulaic patterns. The aims of this thesis are to analyze whether or not non-native speakers use formulaic language more in their writing or in their speech as well as to compare the formulaic language use between native and non-native spoken language. Therefore a corpus-based analysis was conducted, which utilized the Tartu Corpus of Estonian Learner English (TCELE) for the written corpus, Loucain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI-EST) for the non-native spoken corpus, and Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) for the native spoken corpus.