Longitudinal Development of Holistic Formulaicity, Formulaic Sequences, and Lexical Complexity in Sojourner Diaries: A Dynamic Usage‐Based Perspective

Abstract

Because of authentic exposure, study‐abroad sojourners are expected to become more proficient in terms of holistic formulaicity (defined as targetlike language use of intensifiers, fillers, multiword sequences, lexical features, verb–argument constructions, pragmatic and discourse features, and so on), use of formulaic sequences, and lexical measures. This study traces the development of these constructs over time in written diary texts of 26 Catalan/Spanish bilingual sojourners in an Anglophone country during study abroad. It adopts a dynamic usage‐based perspective, underlining the importance of frequency of exposure and individual variability in developmental trajectories. Generalized additive mixed model analyses, which take individual nonlinear behavior into account, showed significant gains toward holistic formulaicity, but not in use of formulaic sequences nor in lexical complexity measures. We argue that at advanced stages some measures may have reached ceiling, but that sojourners may still progress in becoming more finely attuned to the conventionalized ways of saying things in the speech community.