Oral-Formulaic Expressions in Middle English Alliterative Poetry

本研究旨在揭示中古英语主要头韵诗后半行（b-韵）的常见搭配模式，从而证明某些词汇组合的公式化使用。许多研究中韵诗的学者都提出了语音节奏与诗行格律结构之间的特殊关系。然而，关于ME头韵诗的公式构成，研究却十分有限。在我们对ME头韵诗中公式化表达的使用得出一个可靠的结论之前，还有很多事情要调查。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。为了界定公式化表达的作用，甚至确定ME头韵诗是否使用了公式化作为一种手段，我们需要系统地积累定量数据。本研究从韵律句法的角度分析了汉语头韵诗的语料库。结果表明，该分析揭示了在格律约束下词汇项之间的有趣关系。特别注意的是后半行，因为，正如Oakden所声称的，公式化的表达可以相对容易地在其中发现，并且众所周知，后半行是由精确的格律规则高度结构化的。通过对后半行常用句法模式的句法和格律组成的分析，可以回答为什么这些表达可以被认为是公式化的，以及将本分析所使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.