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5.Thedevelopmentoforal-formulaicstudiesfromthe1970s
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developsaflvertical”classificationoftheformulaicpatternsintotagnemic,
syntagnemicandmotifemic(cf.Wittig1978:37-79)inordertoaccount
forthepresenceofformulaicstructuresonthelevelsofphrase,line,tail-
rhymetercetandwholestanza.
Consequently,whatWittig’sapproachoffersisasystemwhichisspecific
enoughtobesensitivetoissuessuchastherelationoftheformulaic
patternstotheformalrequirementsoftheverseform,whichissomething
whichbadlyneededdiscussion.Itisalsoimportantthatthestudydeals
withtherhymedMiddleEnglishromancewhichhadnotbeforereceived
theattentionitdeservedinthecontextoforal-formulaicstudies.Indeed
thelevelofdetailattemptedinthecourseoftheanalysiswasunparalleled
andthusitdidbringanewdimensiontotheissueitwasdealingwith.
Becauseofitsunprecedentednaturethestudywas,however,also
plaguedwithproblemssuchasthecorrelationbetweenthedifferentkinds
offormulaicpatternsonthevariouslevelswhichthestudydealswith.
Thus,forinstance,whenWittigspeaksabouttercetstructuressheseems
toexhaustthevarietyofsyntacticpatternsinjustonebasicmodel
comprisingasequenceofflNaming-Action-Modification”(cf.Wittig1978:
48-52)whichforonethingdoesnotconnectwiththepreviouslydescribed
phrasepatternsandsecondlyitgoesnowherenearexhaustingtheactual
varietyofthesyntactictercetmodelswithintail-rhyme.Moreover,it
appearstobetosomeextentcounterproductivetofollowthisclassification
withthediscussionoflongernarrativeunitsbecauseofthefactthatone
isthenforcedtojumpovertobasicallyadifferentmethodologywhich
haddevelopedinthetheoreticalcontextofnarratologyandthequestion
ofthetexts’oralityisconsequentlysomewhatlostfromviewinadiscus-
sionwhichconvergesevermorecloselyonPropp’sanalysisofmotifs.12
Anotherthingisthatthesomewhatrigidlytheoreticalnatureofthe
proposedhierarchyofformulaiclevelsseemstobetoounwieldytoreflect
anypoet’sactualmentalsystemresponsibleforgeneratingtheconventional
patternsinhispoem,especiallyasthebookattemptstodealwithsomething
liketwentypoemsinonego,thuslosingcompletelyfromviewanysigns
oftheindividualtendenciesintheuseofthediscussedformulaicmaterial
whichmustresultfromdifferentcomposershandlingtheconventional
system.
Itthusseemsthat,inallitsambitiousscope,Wittig’sstudyattemptsto
dotoomuchandconsequentlyitisnotofsufficientlengthtoexhaustthe
12AsinPropp’sfamousMorphologyoftheFolktale(1968).
