Вопрос 3 Problems of English Phraseology (Ph).

Ph. is an independent linguistic science in Russia and it's a part of Lexicology in other countries. The foreign linguists have never spoken about ph.unit - they use the term "Idiom" and apply this term to any stable w-phrase. It has long been noticed that there are not only separate words used in speech but also blocks of words - phrased units. This term "ph. units" was introduced by academician Vinogradov. But some scholars thought that Bully was the first who created it. Ph. is the boundary realization of national and cultural peculiarity. Peculiarity of the ph. units: Vinogradov noticed that ph. units are the combination of words of the special type (they possess the semantic unity).

The ph. units are different from the words: Ph. units are larger than the w., they are not so integral as the w.

Prof. Koonin devised the ph. units into 2 groups: ph. units are characterized by a completely transferred meaning (a wolf in a sheep's clothing) and the Ph. units constitute the part of reality and perform a certain syntactical function (out of blue - unexpected = adverbial mod.).

Structural invariability – is an essential feature of the ph. units which finds expression in a number of restrictions: components can not be substituted without destroying the meaning, they can't produce the additional components, grammatically they are invariable

Ph. unit is one set with the same meaning, it must be stable on the morphological level as well as on the lexical. Ph. unit must be limited by linguistic realization. Ph. unites have distinctive notional character.

Ph. units and the compound w. in English: the problem of difference between the ph. units and compound words is not solved in Eng. There's an opinion that ph. unites are differed from compound words by the presence of 2 stresses (e.g. Black ship - 2 stresses =ph. unit; black board - 1 stress = compound w.).

Ph. units and free word groups (free phrases) – free word groups - are each time built up anew in the speech process, where- as ph. units are used as ready made units with fixed and constant structures. There are 2 major criteria for distinguishing between ph.units and free word groups: semantic and structural.

Ph. unit differs from free word groups in formal stability, reproductive character and integrity of a notion.

So according to Koonin "a ph. unit is a stable word-group characterized by a completely or partially transferred meaning". But in Eng. Language there are some stable words combinations which can be hardly called ph. units (e.g. struggle for existence) because such cliches are build up according to the model. Ph. cliches are reproduced in language traditionally. They create a special chain between the ph. units and the real direct meaning.

Peculiarities: many of the ph. units are constructed on the basis of rhyme. They have a figurative character (to pay smb back) and they are metaphorically reunderstood.

O. Jespersen: "figurativeness must not be mixed up with the literary meaning. Ph. unites are marked with emphasis".

Ph. unit - stable combination of words which are not created in speech but are used as a ready made formations.

Ph. units, are a kind of ready-made blocks which fit into the structure of a sentence performing a certain syntactical function, more or less as words do. E.g. George liked her for she never put on airs (predicate). Big bugs like him care nothing about small fry like ourselves, (a) subject, b) prepositional object),

Professor A.V. Koonin includes proverbs in his classification of ph. units and labels them communicative ph. units. From his point of view, one of the main criteria of a ph. unit is its stability.

So, the ph. unit the last straw originate from the proverb The last straw breaks the camel's back, the ph. unit birds of a feather the proverb Birds of a feather flock together. What is more, some of the proverbs are easily transformed into ph. units, E.g. Don't put all your eggs in one basket > to put all one's eggs in one basket;