The problem of classification of phraseological units.
A phraseological unit can be defined as a reproduced and idiomatic (non-motivated) or partially motivated unit built up according to the model of free word-groups (or sentences) and semantically and
syntactically brought into correlation with words.
According to the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units can be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства) and phraseological collocations (сочетания).
Phraseological fusions arc completely non-motivated word-groups. e.g. as mad as a hatter — ‘utterly mad’: white elephant — ‘an expensive but useless thing*.
Phraseological unities are partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit. e.g. to bend the knee — ’to submit to a stronger force, to obey submissively*: to wash one's dirty linen in public — "to discuss or make public one’s quarrels’.
Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet the requirements, to attain success. In this group of phraseological units some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity: to have success, to lose success. These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the verb meet and the noun success are kept intact.
the characteristic features of phraseological units are: readymade reproduction, structural divisibility, morphological stability, permanence of lexical composition, semantic unity, syntactic fixity.
Proverbs, sayings, quotations.
A proverb is a short familiar epigrammatic saying expressing popular wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in a concise and imaginative way. Proverbs have much in common with set expressions, because their lexical components are also constant, their meaning is traditional and mostly figurative, and they are introduced into speech ready-made. Another reason why proverbs must be taken into consideration together with set expressions is that they often form the basis of set expressions. e.g. the last straw breaks the camel’s back : : the last straw. Both set expressions and proverbs are sometimes split and changed for humorous purposes. They are collected in special dictionaries. The typical features: rhythm, rhyme and alliteration. The most characteristic feature of a proverb or a saying lies in the content-form of the utterance. Proverb presupposes a simultaneous application of 2 meanings: primary and contextual.
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As to familiar quotations, they are different from proverbs in their origin. They come from literature but by and by they become part and parcel of the language, so that many people using them do not even know that they are quoting. Quotations from classical sources were once a recognised feature of public speech. A little learning is a dangerous thing; To err is human; ‘times change, and we change with them’They are usually marked off in the text by inverted commas, dashes, italics or other graphical means. Some quotations are so often used that they come to be considered clichés. The cliché (the word is French) is a metal block used for printing pictures and turning them out in great numbers. The term is used to denote such phrases as have become hackneyed and stale. Being constantly and mechanically repeated they have lost their original expressiveness and so are better avoided. to blaze a trail, consummate art, consummate skill, heights of tragedy, lofty flight of imagination. The so-called journalese has its own set of overworked phrases: to usher in a new age, to prove a boon to mankind, to pave the way to a bright new world, to spell the doom of civilization.
41. American English. The main variants of the English language.
AmEnglish begins its history at the beginning of the 17 when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First. Englishmen was to find names for places, animals on the Am continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local population - Indians, squaw-an Indian woman, wigwam . The 2 period-19 century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. Italians brought with them a style of cooking - pizza, spaghetti. German- hamburger, noodle. During 2 period there appeared words which were formed in the language due to the new political system, liberation of America from the British colonialism, its independence: USA, assembly, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator. Differences of spelling.a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor; b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler, wagon, c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center, d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g. catalog, program.
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The American variant of the English language differs from British English in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.
The first colonies were founded in 1607, so that the first colonizers were contemporaries of Shakespeare, E. Spenser and J. Milton. Words which have died out in Britain, or changed their meaning may survive in the USA. Thus, I guess, was used by G. Chaucer for I think. For more than three centuries the American vocabulary developed more or less independently of the British stock and was influenced by the new surroundings.
Standard English may be defined as that form of English which is current and literary, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. Most widely accepted and understood either within an English-speaking country or throughout the entire English-speaking world.
Variants of English are regional varieties possessing a literary norm. There are distinguished variants existing on the territory of the United Kingdom (British English, Scottish English and Irish English), and variants existing outside the British Isles (American English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English and Indian English). British English is often referred to the Written Standard English and the pronunciation known as Received Pronunciation.
Local dialects are varieties of English peculiar to some districts, used as means of oral communication in small localities; they possess no normalized literary form.
Variants of English in the United Kingdom
Scottish English and Irish English have a special linguistic status as compared with dialects because of the literature composed in them.
Variants of English outside the British Isles
Outside the British Isles there are distinguished the following variants of the English language: American English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Indian English and some others. Each of these has developed a literature of its own, and is characterized by peculiarities in phonetics, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.
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