13. Phraseology of Modern English

Collocability (lexical valency) is the aptness of lingual units to appear in different combinations when forming lingual units of the upper level. Lexical collocability is the realization of syntagmatic relations.

Word-combination is the combination of two or more words, organized according to the laws of a given language, which represent complex nominations of various referents.

All word-combinations are divided into free and bound ones.

Free word-combinations preserve the lexical meaning of their notional components: to read a book, a piece of bread, a piece of chalk.

Set expression – the lexical meanings of its components are weak or lost: as hard as nails, железная дорога, бить баклуши.

Phraseological units are set word-groups with idiomatic or partially idiomatic meaning.

Features of phraseological units:

1) structural criterion:

- structural invariability or morphological stability means the permanence of lexical composition, no (or few) substitutions of components are possible: to bend over backward to do something (*turn over sideward). The are also strict restrictions on the componential extension and grammatical changes of components of phraseological units: a white elephant (*a big white elephant) ‘an expensive but useless thing’, from head to foot (*feet);

2) semantic criterion:

- phraseological units are characterized by semantic unity, that means that the meaning in phraseological unit is created by mutual interaction of elements, i.e. its meaning cannot be deduced from the meaning of its components, e.g. to kick the bucket ‘to die’, to be in deep water ‘in trouble or difficulty’;

- phraseological meaning conveys a single concept and this makes phraseological units similar to words, e.g. in a brown study ‘gloomy’;

3) syntactic criterion:

- phraseological units are characterized by syntactic fixity, that means that phraseological units are functionally inseparable and like words they perform one common syntactic function in the sentence, for example, the phraseological unit off the record ‘not yet official’ functions as an adverb;

- phraseological units are characterized by ready made reproduction; they cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready made units, e.g. red tape ‘bureaucratic methods’, to get rid of, to take place, to lead the dance, to take care.

Features of free word-combinations and phraseological units can be seen in Table 6.

Table 6.

Free word combinations	Phraseological units
to get one’s foot in the door	to get one’s foot in the door “to get your first opportunity to work in a particular organization or industry”
1. They are motivated	1. They are non-motivated or partially motivated
2. Semantic compatibility	2. Semantic incompatibility
3. Separateness of nomination, each word realizes its own meaning	3. Integrity of nomination, the meaning of the whole phrase cannot be deduced from the meanings of its components
4. Variability is possible in them to have one’s feet in the door	4. Variability is impossible in them (with some exceptions)
5.Substitution is possible in them to get one’s hand in the doorway	5. Substitution is impossible in them: *hand in the doorway
6. They are made up according to the existing syntactic pattern	6. They are isolated from the existing syntactic pattern
7. They are made up by the speaker, they are productive	7. They can be freely made up in speech but they are reproduced as ready-made units; they are absolutely non-productive

Set non-phraseological units stand midway between free word combinations and phraseological units, e.g. strong sales, to commit suicide, good luck, black coffee. They may be characterized in the following way:

1) they are set because they are not made up in speech but are used as ready made units;

2) they are non-phraseological because the meaning of the whole can be inferred from the meanings of its components;

3) they are transitional, semi-productive.

Set expressions traditionally make the subject of phraseology.

Phraseology – is a branch of linguistics studying set-expressions and collocability of words of the language.

Phraseologisms are culturally marked, they bear a charge of country-specific information, that’s why they often make the subject of linguistic studies of culture.

Phraseological stock of the language is a valuable source of information about the culture of its people as phraseologisms always reflect views and attitudes of the people, social order and ideology of the epoch in an indirect way. They preserve the history of the people or ethnic group, their mode of life, morals, myths, customs, rites, rituals, habits, e.g. Make hay while the sun shines. – Готовь сани летом, а телегу зимой. The history of many phraseologisms is an interesting record of the nation’s past, of its way of life, customs and traditions. Some phraseological units are connected with commerce, e.g. to talk shop, to make the best of the bargain, to have all one’s goods in the shop window, a drug on the market, to shut up shop. Many phraseological units are associated with the sea (the waves): e.g. plain sailing, to be all at sea, to touch bottom, to drop the pilot, to nail one’s colours to the mast, to sail under false colours, the coast is clear. Other phraseological units were borrowed from the Bible, e.g. the root of all evil, daily bread.

Cognitive linguistics studies phraseological units to reconstruct concepts, learn how man’s thought works, how cognition develops, and define mentality of the given ethnic group. Mentality is a set of thinking processes, national way of perceiving and understanding outer reality which includes special world-mapping. Thus, most proverbs are the stereotypes of the nation consciousness, e.g. Работа не волк, в лес не убежит VS Business before pleasure. And not all proverbs are studied but only those which are relevant for a modern consciousness. Relevance is proofed experimentally. Thus, such phraseological units as Time is money, Don’t put all eggs in one basket, Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today, God helps those who help themselves are frequent in modern English, and such phraseological units to die in harness ‘to die while actively engaged in work or duty’ or to sow one’s (wild) oats ‘to indulge in dissipation while young’ are irrelevant, out-of-date for a modern English speaker.