Lecture 10: theme: Phraseological transference

10.1. Transference based on simile.

10.2. Transference based on metonymy.

10.3. Transference based on synecdoche.

Objectives: to introduce different transference of phraseological units based on some stylistic devices

Phraseological transference is a complete or partial change of meaning of an initial (source) word-combination (or a sentence) as a result of which the word-combination (or the sentence) acquires a new meaning and turns into a phraseological unit. Phraseological transference may be based on simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, etc. or on their combination.

I. Transference based on simile is the intensification of some feature of an object (phenomenon. thing) denoted by a phraseological unit by means of bringing it into contact with another object (phenomenon, thing) belonging to an entirely different class. Compare the following English and Russian phraseological units: (as) pretty as a picture —хороша как картинки, (as) fat as a pig — жирный как свинья, to fight like a lion — сражаться как лев, to swim like a fish — плавать как рыба.

2. Transference based on metaphor is a likening of one object (phenomenon, action) of reality to another, which is associated with it on the basis of real or imaginable resemblance. For example, in the phraseological unit to bend somebody to one's bow meaning 'to submit someone' transference is based on metaphor, i.e. on the likening of a subordinated, submitted person to a thing (bow) a good command of which allows its owner to do with it everything he wants to.. Metaphors can bear a hyperbolic character: flog a dead horse — 'waste energy on a lost cause or unalterable situation' (букв. стегать дохлую лошадь). Metaphors may also have a euphemistic character which serves to soften unpleasant facts: go to one's long rest, join the majority — 'to die'.

3. Transference based on metonymy i s a transfer of name from one object (phenomenon, thing. action, process, etc.) to another based on the contiguity of their properties, relations. etc. The transfer of name is conditioned by close ties between the two objects, the idea about one object is inseparably linked with the idea about the other object. For example. the metonymical transference in the phraseological unit a silk stocking meaning 'a rich, well-dressed man' is based on the replacement of the genuine object (a man) by the article of clothing which was very fashionable and popular among men in the past.

4. Synecdoche is a variety of metonymy. Transference based on synecdoche is naming the whole by its part, the replacement of the common by the private, of the plural by the singular and vice versa. For example, the components flesh and blood in the phraseological unit in the flesh and blood meaning 'in a material form' as the integral parts of the real existence replace a person himself or any living being, see the following sentences: We've been writing to each other for ten year, but now he's actually going to be here in the flesh and blood. Thousands of fans flocked to Dublin to see their heroes in the _flesh and blood. Synecdoche is usually found in combination with other types of transference, e.g. metaphor: to hold one's tongue — 'to say nothing. to be discreet'.