17. Modern English phraseology

The basic features of word-groups are the lexical valency and the grammatical valency. Words are used in certain lexical context, i.e. in combinations with other words. E.g. the noun “question” is often combined with such adjectives as vital, pressing, urgent, etc. this noun is a component of other word-groups. E.g. to raise a question (not to lift a question of the hour). The aptness (готовность) of a word to appear in various combinations is described as its lexical valency. The range of the lexical valency of words is delimited by the inner structure of the E. words. Thus “to raise” and “to lift” are synonyms but only the former is collocated with the noun. Words habitually collocative in speech tend to form a cliché. The lexical valency in different languages is not identical because it depends on the inner stricture of the vocabulary. E.g. both the E. “flower” and the R. “цветок” may be combined with a number of similar words (garden flowers / hot house flowers – садовые цветы/оранжерейные цветы). But “pot flowers” – “комнатные цветы”.

The aptness of a word to appear in specific grammatical (or other syntactical structures) is called grammatical valency. E.g. the adjective “heavy” can be followed by a known: heavy food, heavy storm, heavy box, but we can not say heavy to lift, to carry. The gr. valency of words may be different. It is delimited by the part of speech the word belongs to. E.g no E. adjective can be followed by a finite form of a verb. The gr. val-cy is also delimited by the inner structure of the language. E.g. “to suggest” – “to propose”. Both can be followed by a noun but only “to propose” can be followed by the infinitive – “to propose to do smth”.

Structure of word-groups

The word-groups may be classified:

1. according to their head-words:

nominal group (red flower), adjective group (kind to people), verbal group (to speak well).

2. according to their syntactical pattern:

• predicative (such word-groups as “he went” that have a syntactic structure similar to that of a sentence),

• non-predicative (all others).

Non-predicative word-groups depending on the type of syntactic relations between the components are divided into:

• Subordinative (“a red flower”, “red” is dependent word)

• Coordinative (“day and night”, “do and die”)

Meaning of word-groups

The lexical meaning of the word-group may be defined as the combined lexical meaning of the component members. But the term combined lexical meaning doesn’t imply that the meaning of a word-group is always a simple additive result of all the lexical meanings of the component words. As a rule, the meanings of the component words are mutually dependent and the meaning of the word-group naturally predominance of the lexical meaning of the components. The interdependence is well-seen in word-groups made up of polysemantic words. In the phrases “the blind man” and “the blind type” the words blind have different meanings.

Motivation in word-groups

Word-groups may be called lexically motivated if the combined lexical meaning of the group is deducible from the meaning of the components. All types of phrases are completely motivated. Non-motivated word-groups are called phraseological units, or idioms.

Criteria of stability and lack of motivation (idiomaticity).

Phraseological units are defined as non-motivated word-groups that can not be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made units. The other essential feature of phraseological units is stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure.

General class-ion of phras. unitswas suggested by academician Vinogradov mainly according to the degree of idiomaticity:

• Phraseological fusions (сращения). Completely non-motivated word-groups. The meaning of the components has no connection with the meaning of the whole group. Idiomaticallycombined with complete stability of the lexical components and the grammatical structure of the fusion. E.g. to kick the bucket (умереть), to seeze an elephant (узнать жизнь).

• Phraseological unities. Practically non-motivated word-groups as their meaning can be understood through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit. E.g. to skate on thin ice (рисковать), as busy as a bee. They are marked by a comparatively high degree of stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure.

• Phraseological collocations (словосочетания). Are (partially) motivated but they are made up of words having special lexical valency, which is marked by a certain degree of stability. They differ from the phraseological unities by the fact that one of the components is used in its direct meaning, the other in indirect meaning and the meaning of the whole group dominates on the meaning of its components. E.g. to pay a visit, to pay attention, to break a rule, to break a silence, to meet demands.