Лекция № 1

Phraseology. Phraseological units

Цель занятия: to explain subject and aims of the discipline and to give definition to phraseological units

Основные вопросы:

1. Definition of phraseology

2. Definition of phraseological units

3. Connection of phraseology with other branches of linguistics

Тезисы:

Phraseology. Principals of classification of phraseological units.
Lexicology – is that branch of linguistics which is concerned with the study of words. Lexicology studies meaning and making words, their ways and manners, where they come from, their appearance in the language. As a branch of linguistics, lexicology has four subbranches: 1. semantics or semasiology; 2. etymology; 3. phraseology; 4. lexicography. Phraseology – subbranch, which studies sat expressions and stock phrases. Phraseology is a new linguistics science. Its basic principles were given by academician Vinogradov in the Russian language, which may be also taken in English language. Phraseological expressions may be divided into: 1. ph. combinations; 2. ph. unities; 3. ph. phusions and idioms. Ph. combination (to make a report, to deliver a speech, to take a look) is rather free and not strictly, stable. We may change it a little bit. It does not present a semantic unit. Elements of such expressions are, to a certain degree, independent. We may substitute one part of ph. combination by synonyms. For ex: to deliver a speech, to make a speech, to have a look, to take a look, задеть чувство гордости, затронуть чувство гордости. But these expressions are limited in their combinative power. For ex: to make a report but not to do a report, обдать холодом но не обдать восхищением. Ph. unities (to play the first fiddle, to take the bull by his horns, to skate on thin ice = to risk. In ph. unities, the meaning of the words whole expression differs from the meaning of the words of the group, because it has the figurative meaning. In ph. unities, we may have a homonym. Here we cannot substitute the elements and we cannot change them. Thought it is very difficult, but we can get the meaning of the whole expression. For ex: положить зубы на полку = голодать. Ph. fusions and idioms present the most stable and very complicated relations between the elements. For ex: to show the white feather = струсить, to pull one’s leg = насмехаться, to get a bird = уволить. Ph. fusions form a semantic unit and usually they are equivalents to a word. For ex: to pull one’s leg = to mock. The meaning of an idiom doesn’t grow out of the meanings of the words it consists of. Not a single element may be replaced. Idioms can’t be separated from the point of the syntax. Idioms have no homonyms. It’s necessary to look up the meaning of idioms in the dictionary, otherwise it is impossible to understand them or we must know the history of phusions. Idioms may be taken from different spheres of human activity –history, literature, mythology. Idioms taken from history reflect customs of England. For ex: 1. white elephant = обременительное имущество. A king of England presented a white elephant to that member of the court, whom he wanted to ruin. 2. to carry one’s heart upon one’s sleeve – выставить свои чувства. This expression came from middle ages. The knights had the custom to wear the tokens of their ladies on their sleeves. 3. to ride the high horse = важничать. This expression also came from middle ages, when the distinguished knight rode on high horses. 4. Idioms from literature: to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth = родиться счастливым (from Galthworthy- to “Let”, little John). We also distinguished international idioms, when one and the same notion is expressed by one word in different languages (to burn boat – жечь лодки); when one and the same notion is expressed differently in different languages (to wash dirty linen in public – выносить сор из избы)

Рекомендуемая литература:

1. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. «Лексикология английского языка». М.: Дрофа, 2004

2. Cowie A.P. «Phraseology: Theory, Analysis and Applications». Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998

3. Skandera P. «Phraseology and culture in English». Berlin, New-York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2007

4. Кунин А.В. «Курс фразеологии современного английского языка». М.: Высшая школа, 1996