English phraseology

Phraseology received increasing attention in the English-speaking world. Linguistic competence also includes a familiarity with restricted collocations (like break the rules), idioms (like spill the beans in a non-literal sense) and proverbs (like Revenge is sweet), as well as the ability to produce or understand metaphorical interpretations.

 

Phraseology is a scholarly approach to language which developed in the twentieth century. It took its start when Charles Bally's notion of locutions phraseologiques entered Russian lexicology and lexicography in the 1930s and 1940s and was subsequently developed in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries. From the late 1960s on it established itself in (East) German linguistics but was also sporadically approached in English linguistics. The earliest English adaptations of phraseology are by Weinreich (1969) within the approach of transformational grammar), Arnold (1973),and Lipka (1992 [1974]). In Great Britain as well as other Western European countries, phraseology has steadily been developed over the last twenty years. The activities of the European Society of Phraseology (EUROPHRAS) and the European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX) with their regular conventions and publications attest to the prolific European interest in phraseology. Bibliographies of recent studies on English and general phraseology are included in Welte (1990) and specially collected in Cowie & Howarth (1996) whose bibliography is reproduced and continued on the internet and provides a rich source of the most recent publications in the field.

Phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units (often collectively referred to as phrasemes), in which the component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when used independently.

The basic units of analysis in phraseology are often referred to as phrasemes or phraseological units. Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings ("to kick the bucket", “Greek gift”, “drink till all's blue”, “drunk as a fiddler (drunk as a lord, as a boiled owl)”, “as mad as a hatter (as a march hare)”). According to Rosemarie Gläser, a phraseological unit is a lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or polylexemic word group in common use, which has relative syntactic and semantic stability, may be idiomatized, may carry connotations, and may have an emphatic or intensifying function in a text.

 

Typology of ph.us. (according to the degree of motivation):

- unities, phraseological (q.v.);

- combinations, phraseological (q.v.);

- fusions, phraseological (q.v.).

 

Types of lexical combinability of words:

 

1).  Free combination

Grammatical properties of words are the main factor of their combinability.

Ex.: I’m talking to you. You are writing.

 

Free combinations permit substitution of any of its elements without semantic change of the other element.

 

2). Collocations.

Ex.: to commit a murder

Bread & butter

Dark night

Blue sky

Bright day

 

They are the habitual associations of a word in a language with other particular words. Speakers become accustomed to such collocations.

Very often they are related to the referential and situational meaning of words.

Sometimes there are collocations, which are removed from the reference to extra-linguistic reality.

(collocations involving, colour words)

Ex.: to be green with jealousy

3).  Idioms

 

Idioms are also collocations, because they consist of several words that tend to be used together, but the difference –  we can’t guess the meaning of the whole idiom from the meanings of its parts.

This criterion is called the degree of semantic isolation.

In different types of idioms – it is different.

Ex.: to cry a blue murder = to complain loudly

 

Classification of idioms according to their structure:

 

1. Fixed idioms

a) fixed regular idioms

It’s a 60-thousand dollar question = difficult question

b) fixed irregular (can be varied on the grammatical level)

to have a bee in one’s bonnet (She has.., I have...)

 

2. Variable (varied on the lexical level)

Ex.: to add fuel to the fire/flame

to mind one’s own business /to mind one business

dialectal: BrE: to have a skeleton in the cupboard

AmE: to have a skeleton on the closet

Semantic classification:

 

2 criteria:

• The degree of semantic isolation
• The degree of disinformation

 

1. Opaque in meaning :

the meaning of the individual words can’t be summed together to produce the meaning of the whole.

Ex.: to kick the bucket = to die

It contains no clue to the idiomatic meaning of this expression

2.    Semi-opaque

one component preserves its direct meaning

Ex.:  to pass the buck = to pass responsibility

3.    Transparent

both components in their direct meaning but the combination acquires figurative sense

Ex.: to see the light = to understa

There are lots of idioms (proverbs, saying).

Ex.: Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back

Idioms institutionalized formulas of politeness:

· How do you do?

· Good-bye (God be with you)

 

There are lots of clichés, quotations.

 

Clichés form a notable part of the public speaking style. They use clichés because of the intellectual laziness or in the hope of appealing to emotions of smb.

A talk based on clichés is easier to produce.

Ex.: to see the light

It’s high time to do smth

( these expressions are store in our mind, ready-made )

 

Quotations:

 

To support our arguments, to add some prominence

Ex.: “I have a dream” M.L.King

“To be or not to be” Shakespeare

They may be clipped or shortened.

Ex.: To beer or not to beer (creates humorist effect)

To bomb or not to bomb

 

Sources of idioms:

1. from our everyday life

Ex.: to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

to sail under false colour

a leopard can(’t) change its spots

 

2. from the Bible

Ex.: black sheep, lost sheep

To cast pearls before swine

 

3. World literature

Ex.: to fight against Windmills

an ugly duckling (Danish)

 

4. different languages

Ex.: to lose face (Chinese)

 

5. from history

Ex.: to cross the Rubicon

To bell the cat

 

Kunin’s Classification:

 

1. One peak phraseological units ( one form word, one notional )

Ex.: to leave for good

By heart

2. Phrasemes with the structure of subordinate or coordinate word combination.

Ex.: a bitter pill to swallow

3. Partly predicative

 

( a word + subordinate clause )

Ex.: It was the last straw that broke the camels back

 

4. Verbal with (infinitive, passive)

Ex.: to eat like a wolf

The Rubicon is crossed

 

5. Phrasal units with a simple or complex sentence structure

Ex.: There is a black sheep in every flock.

 

Vinogradov’s classification of phraseological units:

a) phraseological combinations are word groups with a partially changed meaning. They may be said to be  clearly motivated, that is the meaning of the units can be easily deduced from the meanings of its constituents.

Ex. to be good at smth., to have a bite….

b) unities are word  groups with a completely changed meaning, that is, the meaning of the unit doesn’t correspond to the meanings of its constituent parts.

Ex. to loose one’s head (to be out of one’s mind), to loose one’s heart to smb.(to fall in love).

c) fusions  are word  groups with a completely changed meaning but, in contrast to the units, they are demotivated, that is, their meaning can’t be deduced from the meanings of its constituent parts.

Ex. to come a cropper(to come to disaster).

 

The Kunin’s classification is the latest outstanding achievement in the Russian theory of phraseology.

I. Nominative phraseological units - are represented by word - groups, including the ones with one meaningful word, and coordinative phrases of the type wear and tear, well and good.

II. Nominative - communicative phraseological units - include word - groups, of the type to break the ice - the ice is broken

 III. Phraseological units - which are neither nominative nor communicative include interjectional word - groups.

IV. Communicative phraseological units - are represented by proverbs and sayings.

Structural classification of phraseological units

Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of phraseological units, comparing them with words. He points out one-top units which he compares with derived words because derived words have only one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares with compound words because in compound words we usually have two root morphemes. 
Among one-top units he points out three structural types; 
a) units of the type «to give up» (verb + postposition type), e.g. to art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich in etc.; 
b) units of the type «to be tired» . Some of these units remind the Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositons with them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions «by» or «with», e.g. to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc. There are also units in this type which remind free word-groups of the type «to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc. The difference between them is that the adjective «young» can be used as an attribute and as a predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such units can act only as a predicative. In these units the verb is the grammar centre and the second component is the semantic centre; 
c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs , that is why they have no grammar centre, their semantic centre is the nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in the course of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the course of time such units can become words, e.g. tomorrow, instead etc.  
Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural types: 
a) attributive-nominal such as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a millstone round one’s neck and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalents and can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic units (phrasisms) sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high road, in other cases the second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night. In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red tape, blind alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others. 
b) verb-nominal phraseological units, e.g. to read between the lines , to speak BBC, to sweep under the carpet etc. The grammar centre of such units is the verb, the semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component, e.g. to fall in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the semantic centre, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s boats,to vote with one’s feet, to take to the cleaners’ etc. 
Very close to such units are word-groups of the type to have a glance, to have a smoke. These units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect. 
c) phraseological repetitions, such as : now or never, part and parcel , country and western etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and downs , back and forth; often they are formed by means of alliteration, e.g cakes and ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by means of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic, e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter (perfectly). 
Phraseological units the same as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in compound words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a shaddow of one’s own self, at one’s own sweet will.

Syntactical classification of phraseological units

Phraseological units can be clasified as parts of speech. This classification was suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following groups: 
a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train, latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets, 
b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out , to make headlines, 
c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead , 
d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like a dream , like a dog with two tails, 
e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of , 
f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!» etc. 
In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quatations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes him tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too many cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g. «Where there is a will there is a way».