The Peculiarities of English Phraseology
The vocabulary of a language includes not only words but also stable word combinations which also serve as a means of expressing concepts. They are phraseological word equivalents reproduced in speech the way words are reproduced and not created anew in actual speech.
An ordinary word combination is created according to the grammatical rules of the language, in accordance with a certain speech situation, with the necessity of expressing a certain idea, on the basis of a certain syntactical pattern specific for the language. The general senseof such an ordinary free word combination is derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements. Every notional word functions here as a certain member of the sentence. Thus, an ordinary free word combination is a syntactical pattern.
The most important features of phraseological word equivalents are: semantic inseparability, functional grammatical unity and idiomatic meaning.
The classification of phraseological units suggested by V. V. Vinogradov includes: a) the so-called standardized word-combinations, i. e. phrases characterized by the limited combinative power of their components, which retain their semantic independence, b) phraseological unities in which the meaning of the whole is not the sum of the meanings of its components but is based on them and the motivation is apparent, c) fusions, i. e. phrases in which the meaning cannot be derived as a whole from the conjoined meanings of its components.(See B.B. Bиноградов, Pycский язык, M., 1947, cтp. 21—28).
Phraseological Unities
Phraseological unities are often metaphoric, and their metaphoric nature is easily seen; e. g. to make a mountain out of a molehill, to turn over a new leaf, etc. The components of such a unity are not semantically independent; the meaning of every component is subordinated to the figurative meaning of the phraseological unity as a whole. The latter may have a homonymous expression – a free syntactical word-combination. Cf. "Mr N. is a musician, he plays the first fiddle" and "It's his wife who plays the first fiddle in the house", or "He took the bull by the horns and found that one of the horns was hurt" and "He decided to take the bull by the horn and put the question point blank."
Phraseological unities may vary in their semantic and grammatical structure. Not all of them are figurative. We can find here professionalisms, all kinds of trite expressions, alliteration groups, coupled synonyms, repetition groups, etc.
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Phraseological Fusions
A phraseological fusion is a stable phraseological word combination, a semantically indivisible whole where the meaning cannot be directly derived from the meanings of its components (e.g. to pull one's leg — to deceive). This is the most synthetical of all the phraseological groups, they look completely unmotivated though their motivation can be unearthed by means of historical analysis.
They fall into such groups as:
1) Idiomatic expressions associated with some obsolete customs, e. g. baker's dozen, to blow one's own trumpet, to bury the hatchet, to cut off with a shilling, to dance attendance on, to show the white feather, to sit above (or below) the salt, white elephant, to win one's spurs. Here we find translation-loans of the sub rosa type (under the rose) and proverbs, e.g. The gray mare is the better horse – gray Flemish horses were considered to have certain advantages over other breeds, but the distinction is forgotten.
2) Idiomatic expressions which go back to some long forgotten historical facts they were based on, e. g. to bell the cat, to cry wolf, curate's egg, Darby and Joan, to lead apes in hell, to steal somebody's thunder. Ancient mythology contributes to this group too (e. g. the apple of discord, Damocle's sword, Procrustes's bed, Pyrric victory, Sisyphean labour.
3) Idiomatic expressions expressively individual in their character, e.g. Holy smoke! My eye! A pretty kettle of fish!
4) Idiomatic expressions containing archaic elements, e. g. above board (board – table), by dint of (dint —blow), in fine (fine—end). Also, sayings like tit for tat, spick and span where both elements are no longer in use.
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