Verbal constructions in spoken language deviating from the norm – Reflections on the concept of atypicality

Abstract : The present paper will examine if three types of norms are liable to serve the purpose of describing atypical phenomena in the domain of verbal constructions. Those outlined in grammars, dictionaries or guides for good language use (section 2), those discernible through judgements on speech productions emitted by language users (section 3), and those determined by corpus-based empirical analyses of authentic oral language use augmented by personal observations (section 4). The aim is to delineate different types of typicality in order to achieve a definition of what is atypical (section 5).