Oral-Formulaic Expressions in Middle English Alliterative Poetry

本研究旨在揭示中古英语押头韵诗后半行的常见搭配模式，以证明某些词汇组合的程式化使用。许多研究ME诗歌的学者都提出了言语节奏与诗行韵律结构之间的特殊关系。然而，关于我的头韵诗的公式化构成，研究却很有限。在我们对我的头韵诗中公式化表达的使用得出可靠的结论之前，还有很多研究要做。这种相对贫乏的情况本身就证明了ME公式并不像古英语公式那样引人注目。本研究从格律句法的角度对格律诗语料库进行了分析，以确定格式化表达的作用，甚至决定ME押头韵诗使用公式作为手段，需要系统地积累定量数据。研究证实，这一分析揭示了韵律约束下词汇之间的有趣关系。人们特别注意第二条半线，因为，正如奥克登所说，公式化的表达在其中可能相对容易被检测到，而第二条半线被认为是由精确的韵律规则高度结构化的。对后半行中常见句式的句法和韵律构成的分析，回答了为什么这些表达可以被认为是公式化的，以及将本分析所用的分析方法应用于整个ME头韵诗歌是否有益。

The purpose of the present research is to reveal the common collocation patterns in the second half-line (b-verse) of major Middle English (ME) alliterative verse, which may prove the formulaic use of certain lexical combinations. Various scholars of ME verse have suggested the special relationship between speech rhythm and the metrical structure of the verse line. As to the formulaic composition of ME alliterative poetry, however, only limited research is available. There is much to investigate before we can reach a solid conclusion regarding the use of formulaic expressions in ME alliterative verse. The relatively meager situation itself proves that ME formulas are not so conspicuous as Old English formulas. In order to define the role of formulaic expressions or even to decide that ME alliterative verse uses formulas as a device, we need to accumulate quantitative data in a systematic manner.This research has analyzed the corpora of ME alliterative verse from a metrical-syntactic perspective. It has been confirmed that the analysis illuminates interesting relationships among lexical items under metrical constraints. Special attention has been paid to the second half-line because, as Oakden claims, formulaic expressions may be detected relatively easily in it, and the second half-line is known to be highly structured by precise metrical rules. The analysis of the syntactic and metrical compositions of common syntactic patterns used in the second half-line offers answers to the questions why these expressions can be considered formulaic and whether applying the method of analysis used for the present analysis to the entire body of ME alliterative poems is beneficial.