Oral-Formulaic Expressions in Middle English Alliterative Poetry

本研究旨在揭示中古英语主要头韵诗的后半行（b-verse）中常见的搭配模式，这些搭配模式可以证明某些词汇组合的公式化使用。许多研究《金刚经》诗体的学者都提出了语言节奏与诗行韵律结构之间的特殊关系。然而，关于ME头韵诗的程式化写作，目前的研究还很有限。关于ME头韵诗中公式化表达的使用，在我们得出一个可靠的结论之前，还有很多事情要研究。这种相对贫乏的状况本身就证明ME公式并不像古英语公式那样引人注目。为了确定套语的作用，甚至确定ME头韵诗使用套语作为一种手段，我们需要系统地积累定量数据。实验结果表明，该分析揭示了在格律约束下词项之间的有趣关系。特别注意已支付给第二个半行，因为，作为Oakden声称，公式化的表达可能会被检测到相对容易，和第二个半行是众所周知的高度结构化的精确的韵律规则。对后半行中常见句法模式的句法和格律成分的分析回答了为什么这些表达可以被认为是公式化的问题，以及将本分析所用的分析方法应用于整个ME头韵诗是否有益。

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.