4. Polysemy and synonymy of phraseological units.

Some English phraseological units can be polysemantic, e.g. the unit to feed the fishes has several meanings: 1) to drown and 2) to be seasick; the unit ‘to give way’ means: 1) to retreat, 2) to miss something, 3) to break down (in health), 4) to lower prices.

As in the case of polysemantic words the meaning of a polysemantic phraseological unit can be defined in the context.

Phraseological units can also have synonyms. We can distinguish synonymic phraseological units of two types:

1) Synonymic phraseological units with the same structure and the same lexical composition with the exception of one component:

- to get the bit between one’s teeth

- to take the bit between one’s teeth

- to check in the bud

- to crush in the bud

- to nip in the bud

2) Synonymic phraseological units which present different images and are built out of different lexical units: to leave no stone unturned and to move Heaven and Earth but mean the same ‘to use all opportunities’; to have a bee in one’s bonnet and to have something on the brain meaning ‘to have an obsession about something’.

5. Sources of phraseological units.

1. Some tradition or custom, probably non-existing nowadays:

- to burn one’s boats (custom of ancient army generals who ordered their soldiers to burn their boats after coming ashore (or bridges after crossing a river) in order to cut the ways to retreat)

- to bury the hatchet ‘to become friendly again after a quarrel or a disagreement’ (a custom of Northern American Indians to bury the hatchet (a small axe) when they made peace.

2. Literary quotations:

- to make a cat’s paw of somebody (from the fable about a monkey which made a cat get fried chestnuts out of fire)

- Brevity is the soul of wit (W. Shakespear “Hamlet”)

3. Translation loans;

- the apple of discord (Greek)

- to wash one’s hands off (Latin)

- to make two bites of cherry ‘to make business too long’ (French)

4. Different professional expressions and the ones concerning entertainment, games, sport and the like:

- to put the finishing touches (artists)

- to feel one’s pulse (medicine)

- to have a ball at one’s feet (sport)

- to have all the trumps in one’s hands (cards)

- between wind and water (sailing).

Lecture 7 Classifications of phraseological units

1. Thematic or etymological classification.

2. Semantic classification by V.V. Vinogradov.

3. Structural classification.

4. A.I. Smirnitsky’s classification.

5. N.N.Amosova’s classification (contextual).

6. A.V.Koonin’s classification (functional, semantic and structural).

7. I.V. Arnold’s classification (syntactical)

A phraseological unit is a complex phenomenon. It has a number of important features and therefore it can be approached from different points of view. Hence there exist a number of different classifications devised by different scholars which grounded their classifications on different criteria.

1. Thematic or etymological classification.

This classification is based on the traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units. They are classified according to their original content. This approach is widely used in English and American guides to idioms, phrase books.

Detailed groupings are given in the books on English idioms by L.P. Smith and W. Ball. The authors show interest in the origin and etymology of English phrases and arrange them accordingly into phrases from sea life, from agriculture, from hunting, from sports. The authors understand the term ‘etymology’ as the source of origin, ‘source’ referring to the particular sphere of human activity, of life of nature, of natural phenomena, etc.

L.P. Smith makes a special study of idioms borrowed from other languages, but that is only a relatively small part of his classification. The general principle of the classification is not etymological in that sense of the word as we are familiar with it, it is rather thematic. When we speak about the etymology of a word–group we mean whether it is native or borrowed, and if borrowed, what is the source of borrowing.

The richness of language material makes these practical manuals of everyday phrases very valuable for those interested in learning or teaching English.

L.P. Smith in his book points out that word–groups associated with the sea and the life of seamen are especially numerous in English vocabulary. This can be explained, perhaps, by the fact that the profession of a seaman is one of the oldest in England and England is a naval power. Most of the so-called sea phraseological units have long since developed metaphorical meanings which have no longer any association with the sea or sailors, e.g. to have an opponent all at sea ‘to drive an opponent intro the state of bewilderment’; between the four seas ‘in Great Britain’; to go gallivanting on the seven seas ‘to wander all over the world’, to go by long sea ‘to go by steamer’, half seas over ‘to be drunk’, when the sea gives up its dead ‘never’, there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it ‘there is plenty of something’, etc. (for more examples see your textbook pp. 243-244).

The thematic principle of classifying phraseological units does not take into consideration the linguistic characteristic features of the phraseological units.