EN
The term formulaic sequences encompasses a various types of word strings which appear to be stored and retrieved as holistic units from the memory. Formulaic sequences constitute a large proportion of any discourse and, furthermore, they exist in so many forms that it is difficult to develop a definition of this phenomenon. This article outlines important aspects of formulaic sequences from a psycholinguistic point of view; it also shows the variety of definitions and classifications which appear in the research literature, and tries to find the criteria which identify formulaic sequences in a discourse or a text.