36. Approaches to the classifications of phraseological units in modern linguistics.

The Thematic Classification

Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865-1946), an American-born essayist and critic, and a notable writer on historical semantics.

English Idioms (1923), Words and Idioms (1925)

Phraseological units are classified according to their source of origin, i.e. source referring to the particular sphere of human activity, natural phenomena, domestic and wild animals, etc.; through time most of them develop metaphorical meaning;

Idioms related to the sea and the life of seamen: to be all at sea; to be in deep waters; to be in the same boat with sb; to sail through sth; to show one’s colours; to weather the storm; three sheets in the wind (sl) etc.

The Semantic Classification

The idea of the semantic classification of phraseological units was first advanced by the Swiss linguist Charles Bally.

This research work was carried out by Acad. V. V. Vinogradov in the field of Russian phraseology.

The underlying principle of the semantic classification is the degree of motivation (idiomaticity), i.e. the relationship existing between the meaning of the whole phraseological unit and the meaning of its components.

The degree of motivation correlates with the semantic unity (cohesion) of the phraseological unit, i.e. the possibility of changing the form or order of the components and substituting the whole by a single word.

Phraseological combinations (collocations) are:

clearly motivated;

made up of words possessing specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stability in such word-groups; variability of member-words is strictly limited.

e.g. to meet the demand, to make a mistake, to bear a grudge, to pay a compliment, to give a speech etc.

Phraseological unities are:

partially non-motivated, i.e. their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole unit.

e.g. to lose one’s head, a fish out of water, to show one’s teeth, to wash one’s dirty linen in public, to sit on the fence etc.

Phraseological fusions are:

completely non-motivated, i.e. the meaning of the components has no connection, at least synchronically, with the meaning of the whole group;

characerised by complete stability of the lexical components and the grammatical structure of the whole unit.

e.g. once in a blue moon, to be on the carpet, under the rose etc.

The Contextual Classification

Prof. Natalia N. Amosova Основы английской фразеологии (1963)

the contextual approach proceeds from the assumption that individual meanings of polysemantic words can be observed in certain contexts and may be viewed as dependent on these contexts;

a phraseological unit is a unit of fixed context characterised by specific and unchanging sequence of definite lexical components and a peculiar semantic relationship between them;

the two criteria of PhU – specialised meaning of the components and non-variability of context – display unilateral dependence.

According to whether or not one of the components of the whole word-group possesses specialised meaning, PhU are subdivided into:

phrasemes – two-member word-groups in which one of the members has specialised meaning dependent on the second component; the word served as a clue to the specialised meaning of one of the components is habitually used in its central meaning, e.g. small hours, black frost, white lie;

idioms – are semantically and grammatically inseparable units characterised by impossibilty of attaching meaning to the members of the group taken in isolation (as in red tape, dark horse), logical incompatibilty (as in mare’s nest).

The Functional Classification

Prof. Alexander I. Smirnitskiy Лексикология английского языка (1956)

-the functional approach proceeds from the assumption that PhU may be defined as non-motivated word-groups functioning as word-equivalents;

-the functional approach seeks to establish formal criteria of idiomaticity by analysing the syntactic functions of PhU by analysing the syntactic function of PhU in speech;

-semantic inseparability and grammatical inseparability of PhU are viewed as the aspects of idiomaticity which enables to regard them semantically and grammatically equivalent to single words;

-PhUn are characterised by a single stylistic reference irrespective of the number and nature of the component words.

Phraseological units vs idioms proper

-PhU are non-motivated word-groups functioning as word-equivalents by virtue of their semantic and grammatical inseparability.

-Idioms proper (proverbs, sayings and quotations) are ready-made expressions with a specialised meaning of their own which cannot be inferred from the meaning of their components taken singly; they do not always function as word-equivalents.

According to the number and semantic significance of their constituent parts, PhU are classified into:

-one-summit (одновершинные) units, which have one meaningful component;

-two-summit and multi-summit (двухвершинные или многовершинные), which have two or more meaningful constituents.

According to the parts of speech of the summit constituents, one-summit units are subdivided into:

-verbal-adverbial units, the semantic and grammatical centres are in the first component, e.g. to give up, to put through, to get up etc.;

-units equivalent to verbs, their semantic centre being in the second component and the grammatical centre – in the first one, e.g. to be surprised, to be tired etc.; --prepositional-substantive units equivalent either to adverbs or to copulas, their semantic centre being in the nominal constituent and no grammatical centre, e.g. by heart, by means of etc.

According to the parts of speech of the summit constituents, two-summit units are subdivided into:

-attribute-substantive units equivalent to nouns, e.g. black art, couch potato, dark horse, Dutch courage, rough diamond etc.;

-verb-substantive units equivalent to verbs, e.g. to take the floor, to break the ice, to lose one’s heart, not to lift a finger etc.;

-phraseological repetions equivalent to adverbs, e.g. now and never etc.;

-adverbial multi-summit unts, e.g. every other day etc.

The Structural-Semantic Classification

Prof. Alexander V. Kunin Английская фразеология (1970)

-Phraseology is regarded as a self-contained branch of linguistics and not as part of lexicology.

-Phraseology deals with a phraseological subsystem of the language and not with isolated PhU.

-Phraseology is concerned with all types of set expressions.

-Semantically set expressions fall into phraseological units with fully or partially transferred meanings, phraseomatic units with components used in their literal meanings and border-line cases.

-Phraseological and phraseomatic units are not regarded as word-equivalents, but some of them are treated as word correlates.

-Set-expressions are ready-made units not created in speech; they are not elements of individual style but language units; they are characterised by lexical and semantic stability.

According to the communicative function determined by their structural-semantic features four classes of set-expressions are defined:

nominating units denote extralingual entities, e.g. as the crow flies;

nominating-communicative verbal phrases can be transformed into a sentence when used in the passive voice, e.g. to break the ice – the ice is broken; to pull somebody’s leg – somebody’s leg is pulled.

interjectional units express emotions, e.g. a pretty kettle of fish, by George!

communicative units are proverbs, sayings, quotations whose structure is similar to that of a sentence, e.g. Familiarity breeds contempt.

The Formal Classification

Types of phraseological units:

-nominal phrases: the root of trouble;

- verbal phrases: the break the news;

- adjectival phrases: as good as gold, head and shoulders over sb;

- adverbial phrases: in the long run, from head to foot, by heart;

- conjunctional phrases: on the one hand, as long as;

- prepositional phrases: in the course of sth;

- interjectional: Well, I never!

Phraseological units functioning like nouns:

N + N maiden name

N’s + N cat’s paw, ladies’ man

N + prep + N the arm of the law

N + subordinate clause ships that pass in the night

Phraseological units functioning like verbs:

V +N to take advantage

V + postpositive to give up

V + and + V to pick and choose

V + one’s + N + prep to snap one’s fingers at

V + one + N to give one the bird

V+subordinate clause to see how the land lies

Phraseological units functioning like adjectives:

A + A high and mighty

A + as + N as old as the hills

Phraseological units functioning like adverbs:

N + N tooth and nail

prep + N by heart, of course

adv + prep + A + N once in a blue moon

prep + N + or + N by hook or by crook

Phraseological units functioning like interjections:

imperative sentences: Bless (one’s) soul!, God bless you!

According to their origins, phraseological units in Modern English may be divided into:

native, e.g. to eat the humble pie ‘to submit to humiliation’ < ME to eat umble pie (umbles ‘the internal organs of a deer’); to save for a rainy day; to beat about the bush ‘not to speak openly and directly’; to lose one’s rag ‘to lose one’s temper’ etc.;

borrowed, which, in their turn, can be either intralingual (borrowed from American English and other variants of English) or interlingual (borrowed from other languages).