Модуль 6 Фразеология современного английского языка. Социальная и территориальная дифференциация словарного состава современного английского языка.

Компексная цель: представить свободные и устойчивые словосочетания, ознакомиться с фразеологическими единицами, охарактеризовать соотнесенность фразеологической единицы и слова, изучить классификацию фразеологических единиц, региональные варианты современного английского языка.

Краткое содержание

A phraseological unit can be defined as a reproduced and idiomatic (non-motivated) or partially motivated unit built up according to the model of free word-groups (or sentences) and semantically and syntactically brought into correlation with words.

Both words and phraseological units are ready-made units, names for things, objects, qualities of rea­lity. Unlike words proper, however, phraseological units are word groups consisting of two or more words whose combination is integrated as a unit with a spe­cialized meaning of the whole. For example, the vo­cabulary units table, wall, bus, air-taxi are words de­noting various objects of reality; but the vocabulary units black frost, red tape are phraseological units: each is a word group with a specialized meaning of the whole, namely black frost is frost without snow or rime, red tape denotes bureaucratic methods.

The structural criterion brings forth pronounced features which on the one hand state a certain structural similarity between phraseological units and free word-combinations at the same time opposing them to single words (a), and on the other hand specify their structural distinctions (b).

1. A feature proper both to free phrases and phraseological units is the divisibility (раздельнооформленность) of their structure, i.e. they consist of separate structural elements. This fact stands them in opposition to words as structurally integral (цельнооформленные) units.

The principal difference between phraseological units and free word-groups manifests itself in the structural invariability of the former. The structural invariability suggests no (or rather limited) substitutions of components.

The semantic criterion is of great help in stating the semantic difference/similarity between free word-groups and phraseological units, (a), and between phraseological units and words (b).

(a) The meaning in phraseological units is created by mutual interaction of elements and conveys a single concept. The actual meaning of a phraseological unit is figurative (transferred) and is opposed to the literal meaning of a word-combination from which it is derived. The transference of the initial word-group can be based on simile, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche. The degree of trans­ ference varies and may affect either the whole unit or only one of its constituents, cf.: to skate on thin ice — 'to take risks'; the small hours — 'the early hours of the morning'.

In a free phrase the semantic correlative ties are fundamentally different. The meaning in a word-group is based on the combined meaning of the words constituting its structure. Each element in a word-combination has a much greater semantic independence and stands for a separate concept, e.g. to cut bread, to cut cheese, to eat bread. Every word in a free phrase can form additional syntactic ties with other words outside the expression retaining its individual meaning.

2. The semantic unity, however, makes phraseological units similar to words. The semantic similarity between the two is proved by the fact that, for instance, kick the bucket whose meaning is understood as a whole and not related to the meaning of individual words can be replaced within context by the word to die, the phraseological unit in a brown study — by the word gloomy.

The syntactic criterion reveals the close ties between single words and phraseological units as well as free word-groups. Like words (as well as word-combinations), phraseological units may have different syntactic functions in the sentence, e.g. the subject (narrow escape, first night, baker's dozen), the predicate (to have a good mind, to play Russian roulette, to make a virtue of necessity), an attribute (high and mighty, quick on the trigger, as ugly as sin), an adverbial (in full swing, on _second thoughts, off the record). In accordance with the function they perform in the sentence phraseological units can be classified into: substantive, verbal, adjectival, adverbial, interjectional.

Like free word-groups phraseological units can be divided into coordinative (e.g. the life and soul of something, free and easy, neck and crop) and subordinative (e.g. long in the tooth, a big fish in a little pond, the villain of the piece).

Thus, the characteristic features of phraseological units are: ready-made reproduction, structural divisibility, morphological stability, permanence of lexical composition, semantic unity, syntactic fixity.

According to the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units can be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства) and phraseological collocations (соче­тания).

Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g. as mad as a hatter — “utterly mad”; white elephant — “an expensive but useless thing”.

Phraseological unities are partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e. g. to bend the knee — “to submit to a stronger force, to obey submissively”; to wash one's dirty linen in public — “to discuss or make public one's quarrels”.

Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet the requirements, to attain success. In this group of phraseological units some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity; to have success, to lose success. These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the verb meet and the noun success are kept intact.