Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Lexical Chunks and Language Description 6
1.1 The conventional use of language as a long-standing and long-recognized phenomenon 6
1.1.1 A de facto,long-standing and wide-spread phenomenon 6
1.1.2 A long recognized phenomenon 9
1.2 The centralization of conventional language in neo-Firthian researches 12
1.2.1 The difference between the functionalist and mentalist paradigms 12
1.2.2 From meaning and function to the conventional use of language 14
1.2.3 How neo-Firthian arguments solve the problem of productivity 19
1.3 Lexical chunks as representing conventionality in language use 21
1.3.1 The nature of lexical churks 21
1.3.2 Features of lexical chunks 22
1.4 A review of the methodology development in studies of lexical chunks 30
1.4.1 The marginalization of phraseology and the salience approach 31
1.4.2 The centralization of phraseology and the statistical approach 32
1.4.3 Altenberg,Biber and the study of lexical chunks 35
1.5 Summary 37
Chapter 2 Lexical Chunks and Language Acquisition 39
2.1 A comparison 39
2.2 Holistic language processing and FLA 40
2.2.1 Explanatory adequacy and the alternative expediency 41
2.2.2 Holistic language processing and the route of FLA 42
2.2.3 The role of holistic language processing in FLA 44
2.3 Lexical chunks and SLA 45
2.3.1 Differences and similarities between advanced EFL learners and first language acquiring children 46
2.3.2 Lexical chunks and the route of SLA 47
2.3.3 Lexical chunks and the success of SLA-the social-functional level 48
2.3.4 Lexical chunks and the success of SLA-the lexico-grammatical level 50
2.3.5 Lexical chunks and the success of SLA-extant studies 51
2.4 Procedural vocabulary and lexical chunks 53
2.4.1 The conception of procedural vocabulary 53
2.4.2 The relationship between procedural vocabulary and lexical chunk 55
2.5 Deviations in learners'use of lexical chunks-description and diagnosis 57
2.5.1 Two kinds of deviations and two approaches to the diagnosis 58
2.5.2 The CIA approach and the diagnosis of learner deviations 59
2.5.3 The research questions of the present research 61
2.6 The acquisition of lexical chunks in the classroom context 63
2.7 Summary 66
Chapter 3 The Methodology 68
3.1 An NLP perspective of the study of lexical chunks 68
3.1.1 Hybrid algorithms 69
3.1.2 Association measures 71
3.1.3 Statistical algorithms to decide MWU boundary 73
3.1.4 Dispersion 75
3.1.5 The extraction of procedural vocabulary 76
3.1.6 The automatic extraction of patterns around a certain word 78
3.2 The methodology of the present study 79
3.2.1 Corpora used-size,sampling and preprocessing 79
3.2.2 The extraction of lexical chunks:length range,frequency,dispersion and boundary determination 81
3.2.3 The filtering process 84
3.2.4 Tools of lexical chunk extraction 85
3.2.5 Annotation 86
3.2.6 The extraction of PV 88
3.2.7 Word-form based lexical chunks and POS-tag sequences around PV 90
3.3 The research design of the present study 93
Chapter 4 Word-form Based Lexical Chunks 95
4.1 The proportion issue 95
4.2 Types and tokens of lexical chunks in different length categories 96
4.3 Types,tokens and type/token ratio of lexical chunks in different corpora 98
4.4 The structure and function characteristics of lexical chunks 101
4.4.1 Dependent clause 107
4.4.2 Independent clause 110
4.4.3 Single clause constituent 111
4.4.4 Incomplete phrase 112
4.4.5 Multiple clause constituents 113
4.4.6 The interaction between function and corpus 123
4.5 Discussion and summary 126
Appendix:Complementary statistical analyses 127
Chapter 5 POS-tag Sequences Around PV 131
5.1 Procedural words in the four corpora 131
5.1.1 Rank correlation analysis 131
5.1.2 Distribution of content and function words 135
5.1.3 Distribution of PV of various parts of speech 137
5.2 The relationship between procedural words and lexical chunks 140
5.2.1 The proof of the close relationship between PV and lexical chunks 140
5.2.2 Descriptive statistics 144
5.3 procedural words common to the corpora under study 146
5.3.1 Analysis of take 147
5.3.2 Analysis of make 156
5.3.3 Analysis of time and way 163
5.4 Summary 168
Appendix:Complementary statistical analysis 169
Chapter 6 Major Findings Revisited 173
6.1 Major findings and conclusions 173
6.2 Limitations and prospects 175
6.2.1 Higher degree of abstractness 175
6.2.2 Semantic prosody and discoursal functions 176
6.2.3 The developmental dimension 177
6.2.4 Procedural vocabulary 178
References 180
Appendix 191