Functionalism and Corpus Linguistics in the ‘Next Generation’¹

 Robert de Beaugrande

 Working in a science is when it is in a crisis state, one is prompted to think of a new way of looking at the data, or of a new theory or of a new technique to resolve an apparent paradox […] We are at the frontier, a place where boundaries shift, where, although amenities may be lacking, the sense of excitement is heightened.

— Gerald Edelman (1992: 65, 71)

 A. Idealising language

 In a previous paper, I suggested ‘the tide is turning’ away from formalism and toward functionalism (Beaugrande 1994). Here I would propose a fresh justification for my view:

Formalism seeks to replace real language with ideal language; functionalism seeks to discover real language.

The formalist idealisation of language was a key move in founding a new independent science, whose ‘true and unique object’ would be ‘language studied in and for itself’ (Saussure 1966 [orig. 1916]: 232). Since language is never encountered ‘by itself’, this could only be an idealisation reconstructed by theoretical linguistics: whereas ‘other sciences work with objects that are given in advance’, in ‘linguistics’, ‘the viewpoint creates the object’ (Saussure 1966: 8). Linguists thus became anxiously self-conscious about which issues count as either ‘linguistic’ or ‘extra-linguistic’, as either ‘internal’ or ‘external’ to language, without realising that the Saussurian ideal ‘language’ (‘langue’) had no clear boundaries. So linguists have typically followed the unadventurous principle: ‘when in doubt, put it outside’.

For Saussure (1966: 11, 14, 9), ‘language is a well-defined object in the heterogeneous mass of speech facts’ which ‘cannot be studied’. A major paradox was implied: stringent order in the ‘language’ system versus massive disorder in the discourse (‘speaking’, ‘speech’, etc.) produced from that system. In retrospect, we see how inappropriate the idealised order was for human language: a relentlessly static, uniform, and deterministic set of formal ‘units’, ‘features’, and ‘rules’, whereas both real language and real discourse are constituted by a continual dialectic between static and dynamic, uniform and diverse (or ‘homogeneous’ and ‘heterogeneous’), and deterministic and non-deterministic.

Saussure uneasily diagnosed a discrepancy between ‘the ideal, theoretical form of a science’ versus ‘the exigencies of practice’ ‘in linguistics’, which ‘account to some extent for the confusion that now predominates in linguistic research’ (1966: 99). But perhaps the ‘confusion’ has rather come from seeking an ‘ideal, theoretical science’ by putting ideal language in the place of real language. Over time, this search has grown increasingly radical, eventually leading to the pronouncement that ‘linguistics is not about language or languages’ (Smith 1983: 4), meaning: this approach to theoretical linguistics is not about real language or languages.

Idealisation has naturally favoured the paradigm of linguistic formalism: the forms seem easiest to disconnect and describe ‘by themselves’ (Beaugrande 1994). Doing so encourages the reification of written language, despite Saussure’s dictum that ‘the linguistic object is’ the spoken forms alone’ (1966: 23f). In his vision of syntax, ‘word order is an abstract entity’ yet consists of ‘material units distributed in space’ and ‘flowing in a single dimension’ (1966: 139). How they get ‘distributed’ or ‘flow’ Saussure didn’t say; he excluded syntax from ‘language’ for maintaining ‘no clear-cut boundary between the language fact, which is a sign of collective usage, and the fact that belongs to speaking and depends on individual freedom’ (1966: 125).

If Saussure’s ‘language’ consisted of ‘concrete entities’ which are not directly accessible’ (1966: 110), Chomsky (1965: 4. 20f) more radically asserted that the ‘observed use of language’ ‘surely cannot constitute the subject-matter of linguistics’, and that ‘sharpening the data by objective test’ cannot foster ‘a new and deeper understanding of linguistic structure’. ‘Attempts to state methods of analysis that an investigator might actually use if he had the time’ to work with ‘raw data’ ‘will fail to ‘answer many important questions about the nature of linguistic structure’ (1957: 52f). Here, real language got rejected along with ‘stated methods for analysing’ it.

These rejections nicely suited the agenda for the linguist to ‘construct a description’ and ‘explanation, for the enormous mass of unquestionable data concerning the linguistic intuition of the native speaker, often himself’ (Chomsky 1965: 20). Curiously, same agenda stoutly denied that the ‘speaker of a language’ ‘is aware of the rules of the grammar or even’ ‘can become aware of them’, or that ‘his statements about his intuitive knowledge are necessarily accurate’ (Chomsky 1965: 8). These denials imply that a linguist who uses ‘himself’ as a source of ‘unquestionable data’ is implicitly claiming a superhuman capacity to ‘become aware of and report’ what other speakers cannot — indeed, to report the ‘competence’ of the ‘ideal speaker-hearer’ ‘who knows the language perfectly’ (cf. Chomsky 1965: 3, my emphasis). In the very act of invoking a ‘homogeneous community’, linguists claimed to be extraordinary speakers (Beaugrande 1998a). So their theory implies that their own personal and social status as speakers of the language gets transformed by their academic formalist training, during which the ‘observed use of language’ gets traded for ‘a new and deeper understanding of linguistic structure’. They can then study ideal language, whilst dismissing real language because ‘much of the actual speech observed consists of fragments and deviant expressions’ (Chomsky 1965: 201), and not just Saussure’s ‘heterogeneous mass’.

In sum, the formalist project to replace real language with ideal language resulted from resolving to ‘study language by itself’, and to make ‘language’ into ‘a well-defined object’ by disconnecting it from ‘the heterogeneous mass of speech facts’. Formalist linguistics became heavily preoccupied with constructing and manipulating its own idealisations. The task of restoring real language accordingly devolves upon functionalist linguistics.

 B. Corpus data as real language: ‘Determining’ our terms

 Fortunately, functionalism can expect massive assistance from an important new resource. Using computers with sophisticated software, we can now handle much larger corpora of authentic data than before. The ‘observed use of language’ can not just ‘constitute the subject-matter of linguistics’ (pace Chomsky), but reconstitute it with principles that are both quantitatively and qualitatively new (Beaugrande 2000a).

Whereas formalism has often evaluated its theories by their degrees of formalisation, functionalism can evaluate a ‘new generation’ theories by three ‘test scales’: (a) coverage, i.e., how many language data have been described; (b) convergence, i.e., how far various descriptions get corresponding results; and (c) consensus, i.e., how far linguists agree about how the description should be stated and assessed (Beaugrande 1994, 1997a). Here, large corpus data can be particularly crucial.

Large corpus data manifest not massive disorder but multiple modes of order, some determined not on the plane of the system, and others on the plane of the actual discourse. Some interactions among these modes have been described in the ‘multi-level’ (Daneš) or ‘multi-functional’ (Halliday) models of functionalist linguistics, whilst others can be properly described only through large corpora. The ‘order of discourse’ offers an ‘orderly’ view of both order and disorder within the society itself (cf. Fairclough 1995; Wodak 1996). We thus transcend the complacent ‘functionalism’ which ‘assumes that in a society’ ‘the institutions do indeed function and integrate as they are supposed to’ (Berger and Luckman 1966: 82, 222, 208) and that ‘things work relatively smoothly to maintain a basically unchanging social order’ (Apple 1985: 14, 180). Instead, ours would be an evolutionary functionalism concerned with increasing the freedom and equality of access to knowledge and social standing through discourse. We would pursue an ideology of ecologism, wherein theory and practice are reconciled by co-operating to consciously sustain a life-style in harmony with our social and ecological environment (cf. Halliday 1994b; Beaugrande 1997a).

One project I have rarely encountered in print will now be sketched: using corpus data to ‘determine the terms’ in our own research on language and discourse. The terms are taken from my own theoretical work (e.g. Beaugrande 1987, 1997a). These unreported data were taken in July 1994 from the large computerised corpus of data known as the ‘Bank of English’ developed at Birmingham University under the supervision of John McHardy Sinclair. At the time, its size was approximately 200 million words of running text from contemporary spoken and written sources, including: British and North American books; newspapers (Times, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, New Scientist, Economist); magazines (e.g., Esquire, Good Housekeeping); ‘ephemera’ such as letter-box mailings (e.g., Friends of the Earth Tropical Rainforest Campaign), radio broadcasts (BBC in the UK and NPR in the US); and recordings of conversations.

My main intention in targeting some of my theoretical terms was to determine how they are being used in public discourse in specific and contestable ways that indicate ameliorative or pejorative attitudes: whether it’s good or bad when things are ‘complex’ or ‘simple’, ‘stable’ or ‘unstable’, and so on. For convenience, I shall underline the items which I intuitively take to indicate the attitudes or the topical domains associated with these key terms in their contexts.²

For ‘complexity’, the split between pejorative versus ameliorative was fairly balanced. On the pejorative side, it was typically a factor impeding human activity or understanding [1-11], e.g., for a ‘situation’ [1], ‘change’ [2], or ‘agreement’ [3], and possibly calling for assistance to ‘lead you through’ [4], or for a ‘clear mind’ [5]. Things may become ‘not straightforward’ [6], or even ‘not possible’ [7], and may arouse feelings like ‘prickly’ [3] or ‘frightening’ [8]. Some ‘complex’ things I could have predicted, such as ‘English spelling’ [9] and ‘empirical evidence’ [10]. ‘Jealousy’ I have always considered disturbingly simple-minded — the odd feeling that other people should not have what they have or what I have — but I can see why’ ‘emotion’ might be cited with ‘indeterminacy’ and ‘irrationality’ eluding any ‘full explanation’ [11]. Again my intuitions apply in hindsight to data I would not have predicted.

[1] I don’t think the American people understand the complexity of the situation, and I think once that

[2] which is undergoing extensive and complex change dictates that caution be

[3] a decision that prickly on agreement of this complexity and this magnitude and no one should

[4] in which he wants to lead you through this complexity he doesn’t want to just compound you with

[5] a clear mind is wanted for such complexity, not one that has just been trundled over

[6] not so straightforward but, rather, complex and ambiguous. Yet the incongruity of

[8] There are many things that can go wrong with the complexity of conveying unwelcome, frightening information. The most common way to cope is to shut down, stop receiving input and become depressed.

[10] class domination. Such approaches ignore the complexity of the empirical evidence. Including Levi-Strauss

[11] the apparent complexity of jealousy require that we devise more sophisticated and subtle measures of it. […] The indeterminacy of emotion, the irrationality of our conduct — in a word, the unconscious — may forever put a full explanation of human behaviour outside any science

‘Complexity’ could increase the difficulty of ‘operations’ [12] and ‘calculations’ [13], e.g. with ‘formulas’ [14] or ‘equations’ [15], and with strong intensifiers like ‘labyrinthine’ [16], ‘insane’ [14] or ‘incomprehensible’ [17].

[12] as the skill required and the length and complexity of the operation. However, the pricing

[13] definition of ‘activity’ for the complex calculation of limits on passive-

[14] followed the insanely complex formula, slightly hobbled by the

[15] of fit of the tested equations. Given the complexity and eclectic nature of the relevant

[16] not just of bigness but of labyrinthine complexity. The society yesterday made a

[17] part of how we reduce the incomprehensible complexity of the world to something simpler that we

Complexity can proffer useful alibis for being mistaken [19], ineffectual [20], or tardy [21]:

[19] no question that we honestly misjudged the complexity of the production’, says Craig Baumgarten

[20] failure to find an efficient solution is due to the immense complexity and difficulty of the problems rather than

[21] and the delay is the result of the subject’s complexity. Other observers suggest that some

Topical domains of pejorative ‘complexity’ prominently featured finance [22-24], politics [25-30], ideology [31], and warfare [32], where people get ‘baffled’ [28] and issues get ‘distorted’ [31]. Again, pejorative intensifiers appeared, such as ‘awful’ [26], and ‘tangle’ [27].

[22] of getting the ‘right’ budget is so complex that we cannot solve it, so we use

[24] Devaluation is likely to have complex effects, raising gas prices and,

[25] Cuban missile crisis could not compare in complexity to a major NATO-Warsaw Pact crisis.

[26] around the corner # Indeed, given the awful complexity of the Cambodian situation, it would be

[27] east Asia’s security tangle is more complex. All the more reason to tackle it

[28] Most congressmen are baffled by this complex industry for which they have

[29] health care reform package would be of such complexity that it would take lawmakers two years to

[31] distorted and turned back on itself. Complex ideological processes meshed with

[32] I suspect we got into the war by turning our backs on the complexities of the situation

Predictably, social problems like ‘tension’ [33] were topicalised as well, e.g., in connection with ‘stress’ [34], ‘segregation’ [35], and ‘drug addiction’ [36].

[33] social environment is so tense, so complex, so riddled with opinion and

[34] stress. The relationship is complex since life events can disrupt

[35] residential segregation are many and complex — not just the old saw that ‘birds of a feather…

[36] We realise that drug addiction is a complex problem that can be influenced by

‘Complex’ laws, legal actions, and regulations [37-41] showed pejorative effects too, even a ‘bombshell’ [40], lending unintentional irony to the prospect of making ‘the Bar’ even ‘more specialised’ (and doubtless increasing the fees) instead of reducing ‘the complexity of the law’ [41] until ordinary citizens could manage their own legal affairs.

[37] questions, some favorable to families, its complexity shows the law is unworkable, William

[38] possible, but in light of the number and complexity of the legal proceedings in which he is

[40] bombshell’ that would impose a new layer of complexity on franchise companies and wants to add

[41] the Bar should become more specialised. The complexity of the law has led to greater

Only occasionally was technology mentioned, e.g., in connection with communication [42], the military [43-44], food [45], and drugs [46].

[42] coaxial cable and the fiber-optics # more complexity for legislators and regulators

[43] his thinking because the growth in size and complexity of post-war aircraft had certainly brought

[44] airland Battle also raised problems over the complexity of battle, possible changes in Soviet

[45] after administration. As the number and complexity of fabricated foods in our food supply

[46] process. Few people realize the complexity of most drugs or the number of ingredients

But here the attitudes were not very distinct, and other data cited below indicated that the complexity of technology tends to be taken for granted or even admired.

In between pejorative and ameliorative, the typical effects of complexity were sometimes outweighed by another factor being ‘comprehensive’ [47] or ‘infinitely detailed’ [49]. Imposing ‘peacefulness’ by means of a ‘skilful police operation’ [50] turned out not to be having jailed everybody who might be suspected of intent to ‘disturb the peace’, as I had assumed from the short data line, but a means of controlling violence at football matches, where the police exercised the unaccustomed ‘skill’ of ‘treating the fans’ with ‘respect’.

[47] education, it does give a flavour of the complexity of comprehensive schooling, and it does

[49] But fractals are at one and the same time highly complex and particularly simple. They're complex by virtue of their infinite detail and unique mathematical properties (no two fractals are the same), yet they're simple because they can be generated through successive applications of simple iteration.

[50] the fact that most fans were amiable and peaceful is a tribute to a complex and skilful police operation. Instead of treating the fans like hooligans, the Swedish police showed them respect.

Fully on the ameliorative side, ‘complexity’ mainly figured in distinct topics from pejorative. Some frequent attestations concerned recent well-publicised research in biology and neurology, which has highlighted the integrative complexity of the human organism, e.g. [51-54]. In contrast, I found just four clear attestations for mental rather than bodily complexity, e.g. [56], plus two for animals, e.g. [58] and one for the environment [59].

[51] into the body is a relatively complex process, in which both phosphorus

[52] why eukaryotes might have had this runaway complexity and prokaryotes haven’t?

[53] is responsible for speech, thought, complex movements, music, and the like

[54] The immune system is a very complex army of cells which come to our aid

[56] he had seen her intelligence, the wonderful complexity of her awareness, and he had seen his own

[58] the food chain, and so sensitive and complex, their activity reflects

[59] oceans. Take the oceans as an example of the complexity of the situation: Carbon dioxide, and all

The discourse of consumerism and advertising only rarely attributed ‘complexity’ to commodities [60-61]. The sheer difficulty of imagining just how ‘malt whiskies’ and ‘cigars’ can be ‘complex’ in their ‘nuances’ and ‘levels’, and why being so should make them attractive to drinkers and smokers, suggests why advertisers might strongly prefer to praise their wares as ‘simple’ (see below).

[60] class spirits of heart-warming nuance and complexity. Scotland’s malt whiskies are usually

[61] cigar?--like a fine meal. There’s so much complexity to it and there’s so many levels of flavor.

‘Technologising’ the human environment seemed to be taken for granted as a source of complexity [62-63] and at times admired [64-65]. Commerce regarded ‘complexity’ as a mode of ‘organization’ [66], though with some uneasiness lest things get too ‘elaborate’ and ‘suboptimized’ [66]. Science was also attested, e.g. [68-70], but far less often than I would have expected, and one occurrence was openly ambivalent about whether ‘science’ could be relevant [70]. A few more attestations involved the technical concept in the theory of ‘complex systems’ or ‘chaos’ theory [71-72], which might be useful in designing theories of language and discourse (Beaugrande 1997a).

[62] in a large-scale and technologically complex society, it is obviously much more

[63] in urban areas, and the increasing complexity of life in an age of technology, led to

[64] collection reflects the full richness and complexity of a period of dramatic technological, economic and political change

[65] begin to prepare you for the vastness, the complexity and the beauty of the city created by

[66] Telephone had developed elaborate, three-inch-thick policy manuals that specified literally hundreds of process measures supervisors would use to work group performance. The complex, functionalized organization telephone operating companies seemed to make the manuals necessary, and suboptimization was tolerable in the days of monopoly.

[68] in what NASA described as its most complex shuttle mission yet # Dave

[70] between the scientist and the intractable complexity of the real world. Of course, the model

[71] says that beyond a certain threshold of complexity, systems go in unpredictable directions;

[72] a new realization spreading across science — that randomness is interleaved with order, that simplicity enfolds complexity, complexity harbors simplicity, and that order and chaos can be repeated at smaller and smaller scales

Sample [72] derives its main interest from combining pairs of familiar antonyms, notably ‘complexity’ and ‘simplicity’. Corpus data may revise our whole conception of ‘synonymy’ and ‘antonymy’ at the centre of conventional semantics (see below).

By far the commonest attestations for ameliorative complexity concerned philosophy, literature, music, and the other arts [73-78], along with their creators, e.g. Mozart [78]. Particularly interesting were the ameliorative signals of context, such as ‘liberate’ [74], ‘lush’ and ‘immensely satisfying’ [75], astonishingly lively’ [76], ‘epic’ [77], ‘refined’ [78], which indicated what ameliorative attributes ‘complexity’ might support.

[73] trying to express a peculiarly complex truth. Paradox demolished, problem solved

[74] point of people immersing themselves in the complexity is, he believes, to liberate their visions

[75] in an effort to understand. Lush, complex and immensely satisfying.

[76] astonishingly lively repetition of complex texture, especially in the middle

[77] Two lengthy pieces are epic both in their ambition and the complexity of the arrangements

[78] even mightier successor. From the refined complexity of Mozart, with whose music she

In distinct contrast to its presumed antonym ‘complex’, the ‘simple’ was heavily weighted toward ameliorative, again unsettling the tidy categories of semantics like ‘antonymy’ (I shall return to this later). Only 7 of the 154 occurrences were in my intuitive judgement definitely pejorative, and their contexts spanned an interesting range [79-85]. Simplicity might conflict with ‘freedom’ [79] (recalling the association of ‘complexity’ with ‘liberation’ in [74]) or with ‘the truth’ about ‘national interests’ [80], and ‘issues’ might get ‘oversimplified [81]. Several topics here were decidedly sinister, like the ‘Cold War’ [82], ‘disasters’ [83], ‘hedonism’ [84], and racialism’ [85].

[79] freedom means conquering simplicity’. The Economist

[80] centralisation. The truth is not so simple, and important national interests

[81] also need to oversimplify issues because any complexity would reduce the fire of their arguments.

[82] in fact be more dangerous # The simplicity of the Cold War has disappeared

[83] the world community to learn the simple lessons of disasters, especially

[84] that they serve a purpose beyond simple hedonism. He tells us that meat,

[85] however, was not racialism pure and simple; it was, rather, a Gordian knot of

The range and variety of the truly ameliorative ‘simple’ things was quite extensive, starting with ‘life’ itself just waiting to be ‘experienced’ [88] and ‘savoured’ [89], especially out in the countryside living among the ‘peasants’ [90] and feasting on ‘courgettes and mint’ [91].

[88] for the baby, to experience the simplicity of the life her mother and father

[89] savouring of every moment # the simplicity of life’. He draws two long

[90] subject, as he said, was the simplicity of peasant life (and death # and

[91] courgettes and mint. The simplicity of life on the Douro, together

‘Simplicity’ was cheerily construed as a self-evident ‘virtue’ [92], and associated with ‘truth’ [93-94], ‘honesty’ [94], ‘justice’ [95], ‘integrity’ [96], ‘power’ and ‘clarity’ [97], ‘independence’ [98], ‘elegance’ [99], ‘speed’ [100], and ‘romance’ [101].

[92] degree, but it lacks the virtue of simplicity and might prove a lot to absorb.

[93] is a simple one. And is not simplicity the touchstone of truth? The laws

[94] is, somewhere, a reality to find ‘simple standards of truth and honesty’.

[95] and so would his three sons, with simple justice. Simple justice is all he

[96] national comrades, integrity and simplicity.

[97] reports to us with a powerful simplicity, a clarity of vision borne of the

[98] Hill says, independence comes from simplicity. She describes this as a

[99] elegance in the sense of the simplicity, like mathematical elegance — this

[100] a joyous gratitude. The speed and simplicity of it all. And now the great

[101] of pop. Think about it: the simplicity, romance and inexpensive nature

The collocation ‘simplicity itself’ already sufficed for praise [102], especially in the discourse of consumerism and advertising [104], whereas ‘complexity itself’ never occurred and seems to me intuitively unappealing.

[102] Welsh landscape. Their design is simplicity itself: two rooms up and two

[104] assets. Applying is simplicity itself. Use the Personal Budget

Advertising and consumerism enjoy hawking the ‘simple’:

[105] The beauty of the fund is the simplicity. People have got used to hearing

[106] Now Mnemba offers the same exotic simplicity: palm huts built with natural

[107] it’s a testimony to the value of simplicity in design that Pioneer has lasted

The numerous pretentious descriptions of arty decor and fashion exemplified by [108-22] indicate how the discourse of consumerism is colonising the discourses of home life and encroaching upon steadily more domains of public and private discourse. Ironically, ‘simple’ commodities tend to be overpriced, such as having monotonous colour schemes and ‘lines’ [109-10] or providing no ‘carpet’ [111]. The ‘simple’ got amelioratively associated with ‘plain’ [109], ‘clean’ [110], ‘sensible’ [111], ‘classic’ [112-13], ‘versatility’ and ‘beauty’ [113], ‘right square-cut’ [114], ‘loveable serendipity’ [115], ‘coolness’ [117], ‘calm symmetry’ [118], and even with ‘wonderful’ and ‘exquisite’ [119] and ‘Splendor’ [120]. No wonder J. Paul Getty, one of the worlds’ richest men, wanted ‘a simple rustic bridge’ [121]. And the ‘perfumes’ with ‘ultra-simplicity’ [122] is sure to cost a fortune.

[109] in the L-shaped kitchen. It is quite simple in style, with plain white ceramic

[110] the bidet and wc match the clean, simple lines. And the Avalon bath is

[111] area is washable, not carpeted: a simple and sensible detail. The main

[112] about restoring his home’ s classic simplicity. Sally Hunt went to see how

[113] great versatility who specialises in simple, classic shapes, all beautifully

[114] have just the right square-cut simplicity. If you like the contrasting

[115] of the house. They love its simplicity and serendipity, which suits

[117] splashes of red to offset the simplicity and coolness of the blues. Then

[118] calm symmetry and unanswerable simplicity, the soft red of its unadorned surfaces punctuated by perfectly spaced windows.

[119] wonderful sets of blocklike simplicity, exquisitely lit by Paul Pyant

[120] the Eighteenth Century: Splendor & Simplicity; including paintings, ceramics

[121] J. Paul Getty: ‘We were going to do a simple rustic bridge

[122] are all studies in ultra-simplicity. A far cry from the wrap-around plastic and tassels of some fragrances on the market. Throughout perfume history,

Churches figured in the data too, the older the better, though different things qualified them as ‘simple’ [123-25]. Scenes of nature were only rarely mentioned and only as resources to set off decor, e.g. [126-27], or tourist attractions [106].

[123] William Morris who loved its old simplicity and box pews. Although the

[124] of churches, lost in the intimate simplicity of Romanesque cathedrals, or

[125] church of overwhelming beauty and simplicity — bright white chalkstone inside

[126] background. Look for a graphic and simple setting such as plain grass, dark

[127] the colours of the marsh outside. Simplicity in decoration without

The ‘simplicity’ in food [131-33] and clothing [134-36] probably encouraged consumerism too:

[131] French menu with refreshing simplicity. You’ll find croissants and

[132] better for being managed with simplicity. A generous slice of turbot

[133] coffee, apple pie, the country, simple things, shooting pool, food, dogs.

[134] Versace. This suit represents a simplicity, and is an expression of an

[135] clothes were French, and of great simplicity; with her very dark hair parted

[136] sleeveless, buttoned to the neck, a simple cotton, but she wore it with flair.

Aside from decor and fashion, the other chief domain where a premium was placed on ‘simplicity’ was constituted by skills with language [137-39] and the arts [140-147], especially music ranging from opera by Mozart [141] (who was ‘complex’ too back in [78]) to folk [142] and pop [143]. Such uses make it intuitively probable that the ‘musicians’ who ‘escaped from complexity’ [144] were being commended (cf. § 116).

[137] in Poetry’, on the great formal simplicity and accessibility of the new

[138] language of great beauty, yet true simplicity # as the word of an inspired

[140] tonalities and a classical simplicity. He spent the second world war in

[141] end of Don Giovanni. Is that noble simplicity and a calm greatness. is the

[142] and squalls of bagpipes. It’s simple and stripped bare; kinetic energy

[143] The simplicity of the blues had a huge effect

[144] And perhaps in simplicity was an escape from complexity. There were musicians in the 1960s who were

Yet these uses might entail consumerism too insofar as the artefacts and their ‘simplicity’ have a definite market value, e.g. in [145-47]. If you go to an auction ‘thinking his work should be cheap’ [148], I’d say you’re in for a ‘nasty surprise’.

[145] bold, flat woodcuts, with the same simplicity and strangeness of shapes that

[146] she has an individual design. The simplicity of the scheme in terracotta

[147] to looking at Rothko. The simplicity, density and physicality of the

[148] they think that because of his simple lifestyle his work should be cheap, and that his attitude to them should be correspondingly humble. One of the most arrogant of potential customers had a nasty surprise

In another pointed contrast to ‘complexity’, simplicity was only rarely associated with the main topics we saw there: 2 occurrences for political affairs, where plans were being explained to th