Stylistic Phraseology
An Outline
1. Stylistic differentiation of phraseological units.
2. Formal (Bookish) phraseological units.
3. Familiar colloquial phraseological units.
4. Slang and jargon in phraseological units.
5. Neutral phraseological units.
6. Occasional phraseological units.
a) Prolongation of occasional phraseological units.
b) Insertion of elements in occasional phraseological units.
c) Substitution of elements in phraseological units.
d) Prolongation and substitution.
e) The authors’ phraseological units.
7. Stylistic functions of phraseological units.
A phraseological unit (PU) is “a block longer than one word, yet functioning as a whole. It is a semantically and structurally integral lexical collocation, partially or completely different from the meaning of its components”. (A.Kunin) Its main characteristic feature is that its meaning can’t infer from the sum of its components because each PU is characterized by a certain degree of cohesion or semantic integrity. The main features of PU are stability, semantic integrity and ready-made nature.
There exist different classifications of PU. According to I.R.Galperin’s classification of the English vocabulary all the PU can be subdivided into neutral, literary and non- literary PU.
Neutral PU:
Ex.: “to let the cat out of the bag”, “ups and down,” “at the eleventh hour”.
Idioms and set expressions impart local coloring to the text and make it sound more expressive. Ex.: Come on, Roy, let’s go and shake the dust of this place for good … (Aldridge) – Cf. … let us go and leave this place for ever. (Skrebnev, 2000) Some of them are elevated: an earthly paradise, to breathe one’s last; to play fiddle while Rome burns.
Among the elevated PU we can discern:
a) archaisms – to play upon advantage (to swindle), the iron in one’s soul (the permanent embitterment);
b) Bookish phrases - Formal (bookish PU): “ to breathe one’s last (to die); “The debt of nature” (death), Gordian knot (a complicated problem);
c) Foreign PU – a propos de bottes (unconnected with the preceding remark, bon mot (a witty word).
Some are:
a) subneutral or familiar colloquial PU: to rain cats and dogs, to be in one’s cups (=to be drunk), big bug, small fry, alive and kicking, a pretty kettle of fish.
b) Jargon PU – a loss leader (an article sold below cost).
c) Old slang PU – to be nuts about, to kick the bucket, to hop the twig (to die).
Occasional PU are based on the following cases of violation of the fixed structure of a PU:
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a) Prolongation: “He was born with a silver spoon in a mouth which was rather curly and large”. (Galsworthy)
b) Insertion: “ He had been standing there nearly two hours, shifting from foot to unaccustomed foot”. (Galsworthy)
c) Substitution: “ to talk pig (shop).”
d) Prolongation and substitution: “ They spoiled their rods, spared their children and anticipated the results in enthusiasm”. (Galsworthy)
e) The author’s PU: “Oh, my ears and whiskers” (L.Carroll); “Too true to be good” (B.Shaw), The Gilded Age (The Golden Age.)
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