4.6. Ways of word-formation in modern english

The outline of the problem discussed

1. The main types of words in English and their morphological structure.

2. Affixation (or derivation).

3. Compounding.

4. Conversion.

5. Abbreviation (shortening).

Word-formation is the process of creating new words from the material

available in the language.

Before turning to various processes of word-building in English, it would be

useful to analyze the main types of English words and their morphological structure.

If viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units which are

called morphemes. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of

words. Yet they possess meanings of their own.

All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals) and

affixes. The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the

structure of the word (as in re-real, mis-pronounce, un-well) and suffixes which

follow the root (as in teach-er, cur-able, dict-ate).

Words which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called

derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building

known as affixation (or derivation).

Derived words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary.

Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called root word which has

only a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by a great

number of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier borrowings

(house, room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.), and, in Modern English, has been

greatly enlarged by the type of word-building called conversion (e.g. to hand, v.

formed from the noun hand; to can, v. from can, n.; to pale, v. from pale, adj.; a find,

n. from to find, v.; etc.).

Another wide-spread word-structure is a compound word consisting of two or

more stems (e.g. dining-room, bluebell, mother-in-law, good-for-nothing). Words of

this structural type are produced by the word-building process called composition.

The somewhat odd-looking words like flu, lab, M.P., V-day, H-bomb are called

curtailed words and are produced by the way of word-building called shortening

(abbreviation).

The four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent

the main structural types of Modern English words, and affixation (derivation),

conversion, composition and shortening (abbreviation) - the most productive ways of

word-building.

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The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or

several affixes to some root morpheme. The role of the affix in this procedure is very

important and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the main types

of affixes.

From the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same two

large groups as words: native and borrowed.

Some Native Suffixes

-er worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.

-ness coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc. \

-ing feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc.

-dom freedom, wisdom, kingdom, etc.

-hood childhood, manhood, motherhood, etc.

-ship friendship, companionship, mastership, etc.

Noun-forming

-th length, breadth, health, truth, etc.

-ful careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful, etc.

-less careless, sleepless, cloudless, senseless, etc.

-y cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.

-ish English, Spanish, reddish, childish, etc.

-ly lonely, lovely, ugly, likely, lordly, etc.

-en wooden, woollen, silken, golden, etc.

Adjective-forming

-some handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.

Verb-

forming

-en

widen, redden, darken, sadden, etc.

Adverb-

forming

-ly

warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly, etc.

Borrowed affixes, especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English

vocabulary. We can recognize words of Latin and French origin by certain suffixes or

prefixes; e. g. Latin affixes: -ion, -tion, -ate, -ute , -ct, -d(e), dis-, -able, -ate, -ant, -

ent, -or, -al, -ar in such words as opinion, union, relation, revolution, appreciate,

congratulate, attribute, contribute, , act, collect, applaud, divide, disable, disagree,

detestable, curable, accurate, desperate, arrogant, constant, absent, convenient,

major, minor, cordial, familiar; French affixes –ance, -ewe, -ment, -age, -ess, -ous,

en- in such words as arrogance, intelligence, appointment, development, courage,

marriage, tigress, actress, curious, dangerous, enable, enslaver.

Affixation includes a) prefixation – derivation of words by adding a prefix to

full words and b) suffixation – derivation of words by adding suffixes to bound

stems.

Prefixes and suffixes have their own valency, that is they may be added not to

any stem at random, but only to a particular type of stems:

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Prefix un- is prefixed to adjectives (as: unequal, unhealthy), or to adjectives

derived from verb stems and the suffix -able (as: unachievable, unadvisable), or to

participial adjectives (as: unbecoming, unending, unstressed, unbound); the suffix -

er is added to verbal stems (as: worker, singer, or cutter, lighter), and to substantive

stems (as: glover, needler); the suffix -able is usually tacked on to verb stems (as:

eatable, acceptable); the suffix -ity in its turn is usually added to adjective stems

with a passive meaning (as: saleability, workability), but the suffix -ness is tacked on

to other adjectives, having the suffix -able (as: agreeableness. profitableness).

Prefixes and suffixes are semantically distinctive, they have their own

meaning, while the root morpheme forms the semantic centre of a word. Affixes play

a dependent role in the meaning of the word. Suffixes have a grammatical meaning,

they indicate or derive a certain part of speech, hence we distinguish: noun-forming

suffixes, adjective-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes and adverb-forming

suffixes. Prefixes change or concretize the meaning of the word, as: to overdo (to do

too much), to underdo (to do less than one can or is proper), to outdo (to do more or

better than), to undo (to unfasten, loosen, destroy the result, ruin), to misdo (to do

wrongly or unproperly).

A suffix indicates to what semantic group the word belongs. The suffix -er

shows that the word is a noun bearing the meaning of a doer of an action, and the

action is denoted by the root morpheme or morphemes, as: writer, sleeper, dancer,

wood-pecker, bomb-thrower, the suffix -ion/-tion, indicates that it is a noun

signifying an action or the result of an action, as: translation ‘a rendering from one

language into another’ (an act, process) and translation 'the product of such

rendering'; nouns with the suffix -ism signify a system, doctrine, theory, adherence to

a system, as: communism, realism; coinages from the stem of proper names are

common,. as Darwinism.

Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types. By

productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in a

particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive

affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words, i.e. words

coined and used only for this particular occasion. The latter are usually formed on the

level of living speech and reflect the most productive and progressive patterns in

word-building. When a literary critic writes about a certain book that it is an

unputdownable thriller, we will seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in

dictionaries, for it is a nonce-word coined on the current pattern of Modern English

and is evidence of the high productivity of the adjective-forming borrowed suffix –

able and the native prefix un-, e.g.: Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish,

dyspeptic-lookingish cove with an eye like a haddock.(From Right-Ho, Jeeves by P.G.

Wodehouse)

The adjectives thinnish and baldish bring to mind dozens of other adjectives

made with the same suffix: oldish, youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish,

yellowish, etc. But dyspeptic-lookingish is the author’s creation aimed at a humorous

effect, and, at the same time, providing beyond doubt that the suffix –ish is a live and

active one.

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The same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: “I don’t like

Sunday evenings: I feel so Mondayish”. (Mondayish is certainly a nonce-word.)

One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of

occurrence (use). There are quite a number of high-frequency affixes which,

nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation (e.g. the adjective-forming native

suffixes –ful, -ly; the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin –ant, -ent, -al which

are quite frequent).

Some Productive Affixes

Some Non-Productive Affixes

Noun-forming

suffixes

-th, -hood

Adjective-forming

suffixes

-ly, -some, -en, -ous

Verb-forming suffix -en

Compound words are words derived from two or more stems. It is a very old

word-formation type and goes back to Old English. In Modern English compounds

are coined by joining one stem to another by mere juxtaposition, as raincoat, keyhole,

pickpocket, red-hot, writing-table. Each component of a compound coincides

with the word. Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives.

Compound verbs are few in number, as they are mostly the result of conversion (as,

to weekend) and of back-formation (as, to stagemanage).

From the point of view of word-structure compounds consist of free stems and

may be of different structure: noun stems + noun stem (raincoat); adjective stem +

noun stem (bluebell); adjective stem + adjective stem (dark-blue); gerundial stem +

noun stem (writing-table); verb stem + post-positive stem (make-up); adverb stem +

adjective stem (out-right); two noun stems connected by a preposition (man-of-war)

and others. There are compounds that have a connecting vowel (as, speedometer,

handicraft), but it is not characteristic of English compounds.

Compounds may be idiomatic and non-idiomatic. In idiomatic compounds the

meaning of each component is either lost or weakened, as buttercup (лютик),

chatter-box (болтун).

These are entirely demotivated compounds. There are also motivated

compounds, as lifeboat (спасательная лодка). In non-idiomatic compounds the

Noun-forming

suffixes

-er, -ing, -ness, -ism (materialism), -ist

(impressionist), -ance

Adjective-forming

suffixes

-y, -ish, -ed (learned), -able, -less

Adverb-forming

suffix

-ly

Verb-forming

suffixes

-ize/-ise (realize),

-ate

Prefixes un- (unhappy),re- (reconstruct), dis- (disappoint)

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meaning of each component is retained, as apple-tree, bedroom, sunlight. There are

also many border-line cases.

The components of compounds may have different semantic relations; from

this point of view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric and

exocentric compounds. In endocentric compounds the semantic centre is found

within the compound and the first element determines the other, as film-star, bedroom,

writing-table. In exocentric compounds there is no semantic centre, as

scarecrow. In Modern English, however, linguists find it difficult to give criteria for

compound nouns; it is still a question of hot dispute. The following criteria may be

offered. A compound noun is characterized by a) one word or hyphenated spelling, b)

one stress, and by c) semantic integrity. These are the so-called “classical

compounds”.

It is possible that a compound has only two of these criteria, for instance, the

compound words headache, railway have one stress and hyphenated or one-word

spelling, but do not present a semantic unity, whereas the compounds motor-bike,

clasp-knife have hyphenated spelling and idiomatic meaning, but two even stresses

('motor-'bike, 'clasp-'knife). The word apple-tree is also a compound; it is spelt either

as one word or is hyphenated, has one stress ('apple-tree), but it is not idiomatic. The

difficulty of defining a compound lies in spelling which might be misleading, as there

are no hard and fast rules of spelling the compounds: three ways of spelling are

possible: ('dockyard, 'dock yard and dock-yard). The same holds true for the stress

that may differ from one reference-book to another.

Since compounds may have two stresses and the stems may be written

separately, it is difficult to draw the line between compounds proper and nominal

word-combinations or syntactical combinations. In a combination of words each

element is stressed and written separately. Compare the attributive combination

'black 'board, a board which is black (each element has its own meaning; the first

element modifies the second) and the compound ‘blackboard’, a board or a sheet of

slate used in schools for teaching purposes (the word has one stress and presents a

semantic unit). But it is not always easy as that to draw a distinction, as there are

word-combinations that may present a semantic unity, take for instance: green room

(a room in a theatre for actors and actresses).

Compound derivatives are words, usually nouns and adjectives, consisting of

a compound stem and a suffix, the commonest type being such nouns as: firstnighter,

type-writer, bed-sitter, week-ender, house-keeping, well-wisher, threewheeler,

old-timer, and the adjectives: blue-eyed, blond-haired, four-storied, mildhearted,

high-heeled. The structure of these nouns is the following: a compound stem

+ the suffix -er, or the suffix -ing.

Adjectives have the structure: a compound stem, containing an adjective (noun,

numeral) stem and a noun stem + the suffix -ed. In Modern English it is an extremely

productive type of adjectives, e.g.: big-eyed, long-legged, golden-haired.

In Modern English it is common practice to distinguish also semi-suffixes, that

is word-formative elements that correspond to full words as to their lexical meaning

and spelling, as -man, -proof, -like: seaman, railroadman, waterproof, kiss-proof,

ladylike, businesslike. The pronunciation may be the same (cp. proof [pru:f] and

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waterproof ['wL:tq pru:f], or differ, as is the case with the morpheme -man (cp. man

[mxn] and seaman ['si:mqn].

The commonest is the semi-suffix -man which has a more general meaning —

'a person of trade or profession or carrying on some work', as: airman, radioman,

torpedoman, postman, cameramen, chairman and others. Many of them have

synonyms of a different word structure, as seaman — sailor, airman — flyer,

workman — worker; if not a man but a woman of the trade or profession, or a person

carrying on some work is denoted by the word, the second element is woman, as

chairwoman, air-craftwoman, congresswoman, workwoman, airwoman.

Conversion is a very productive way of forming new words in English, chiefly

verbs and not so often — nouns. This type of word formation presents one of the

characteristic features of Modern English. By conversion we mean derivation of a

new word from the stem of a different part of speech without the addition of any

formatives. As a result the two words are homonymous, having the same

morphological structure and belonging to different parts of speech.

Verbs may be derived from the stem of almost any part of speech, but the

commonest is the derivation from noun stems as: (a) tube — (to) tube; (a) doctor —

(to) doctor, (a) face—(to) face; (a) waltz—(to) waltz; (a) star—(to) star; from

compound noun stems as: (a) buttonhole — (to) buttonhole; week-end — (to) weekend.

Derivations from the stems of other parts of speech are less common: wrong—

(to) wrong; up — (to) up; down — (to) down; encore — (to) encore. Nouns are

usually derived from verb stems and may be instanced by such nouns as: (to) make—

a make; (to) cut—(a) cut; to bite — (a) bite, (to) drive — (a) drive; to smoke — (a)

smoke; (to) walk — (a) walk. Such formations frequently make part of verb — noun

combinations as: to take a walk, to have a smoke, to have a drink, to take a drive, to

take a bite, to give a smile and others.

Nouns may be also derived from verb-postpositive phrases. Such formations

are very common in Modern English, as for instance: (to) make up — (a) make-up;

(to) call up — (a) call-up; (to) pull over — (a) pullover.

New formations by conversion from simple or root stems are quite usual;

derivatives from suffixed stems are rare. No verbal derivation from prefixed stems is

found.

The derived word and the deriving word are connected semantically. The

semantic relations between the derived and the deriving word are varied and

sometimes complicated. To mention only some of them: a) the verb signifies the act

accomplished by or by means of the thing denoted by the noun, as: to finger means

'to touch with the finger, turn about in fingers'; to hand means 'to give or help with

the hand, to deliver, transfer by hand'; b) the verb may have the meaning 'to act as the

person denoted by the noun does', as: to dog means 'to follow closely', to cook — 'to

prepare food for the table, to do the work of a cook'; c) the derived verbs may have

the meaning 'to go by' or 'to travel by the thing denoted by the noun', as, to train

means 'to go by train', to bus — 'to go by bus', to tube — 'to travel by tube'; d) 'to

spend, pass the time denoted by the noun', as, to winter 'to pass the winter', to

weekend — 'to spend the week-end'.

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Derived nouns denote: a) the act, as a knock, a hiss, a smoke; or b) the result of

an action, as a cut, a find, a call, a sip, a run.

A characteristic feature of Modern English is the growing frequency of new

formations by conversion, especially among verbs.

Note. A grammatical homonymy of two words of different parts of speech — a

verb and a noun, however, does not necessarily indicate conversion. It may be the

result of the loss of endings as well. For instance, if we take the homonymic pair love

— to love and trace it back, we see that the noun love comes from Old English lufu,

whereas the verb to love—from Old English lufian, and the noun answer is traced

back to the Old English andswaru, but the verb to answer to Old English

andswarian; so that it is the loss of endings that gave rise to homonymy. In the pair

bus — (to) bus, weekend — (to) weekend homonymy is the result of derivation by

conversion.

Shortenings (abbreviations) are words produced either by means of clipping

full word or by shortening word combinations, but having the meaning of the full

word or combination. A distinction is to be observed between graphical and lexical

shortenings; graphical abbreviations are signs or symbols that stand for the full

words or combination of words only in written speech. The commonest form is an

initial letter or letters that stand for a word or combination of words. But to prevent

ambiguity one or two other letters may be added. For instance: p. (page), s. (see), b.

b. (ball-bearing). Mr (mister), Mrs (missis), MS (manuscript), fig. (figure). In oral

speech graphical abbreviations have the pronunciation of full words. To indicate a

plural or a superlative letters are often doubled, as: pp. (pages). It is common practice

in English to use graphical abbreviations of Latin words, and word combinations, as:

e. g. (exampli gratia), etc. (et cetera), i. e. (id est). In oral speech they are replaced by

their English equivalents, 'for example', 'and so on’, 'namely', 'that is', ‘respectively’.

Graphical abbreviations are not words but signs or symbols that stand for the

corresponding words. As for lexical shortenings, two main types of lexical

shortenings may be distinguished: 1) abbreviations or clipped words (clippings)

and 2) initial words (initialisms).

Abbreviation or clipping is the result of reduction of a word to one of its

parts: the meaning of the abbreviated word is that of the full word. There are different

types of clipping: 1) back-clipping—the final part of the word is clipped, as: doc —

from doctor, lab — from laboratory, mag — from magazine, math — from

mathematics, prefab — from prefabricated; 2) fore-clipping — the first part of the

word is clipped as: plane — from aeroplane, phone — from telephone, drome —

from aerodrome. Fore-clippings are less numerous in Modern English; 3) the fore

and the back parts of the word are clipped and the middle of the word is

retained, as: tec — from detective, flu — from influenza. Words of this type are few

in Modern English. Back-clippings are most numerous in Modern English and are

characterized by the growing frequency. The original may be a simple word (as,

grad—from graduate), a derivative (as, prep—from preparation), a compound, (as,

foots — from footlights, tails — from tailcoat), a combination of words (as pub —

from public house, medico — from medical student). As a result of clipping usually

nouns are produced, as pram — from perambulator, varsity — for university. In some

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rare cases adjectives are abbreviated (as, imposs —from impossible, pi — from

pious), but these are infrequent. Abbreviations or clippings are words of one syllable

or of two syllables, the final sound being a consonant or a vowel (represented by the

letter o), as, trig (for trigonometry), Jap (for Japanese), demob (for demobilized), lino

(for linoleum), mo (for moment). Abbreviations are made regardless of whether the

remaining syllable bore the stress in the full word or not (cp. doc from doctor, ad

from advertisement). The pronunciation of abbreviations usually coincides with the

corresponding syllable in the full word, if the syllable is stressed: as, doc ['dOk] from

doctor ['dOktq]; if it is an unstressed syllable in the full word the pronunciation

differs, as the abbreviation has a full pronunciation: as, ad [xd], but advertisement

[qd'vq:tismqnt]. There may be some differences in spelling connected with the

pronunciation or with the rules of English orthoepy, as mike — from microphone,

bike — from bicycle, phiz — from physiognomy, lube — from lubrication. The plural

form of the full word or combinations of words is retained in the abbreviated word,

as, pants — from pantaloons, digs — from diggings.

Abbreviations do not differ from full words in functioning; they take the plural

ending and that of the possessive case and make any part of a sentence.

New words may be derived from the stems of abbreviated words by conversion

(as to demob, to taxi, to perm) or by affixation, chiefly by adding the suffix -y, -ie,

deriving diminutives and petnames (as, hanky — from handkerchief, nighty (nightie)

— from nightgown, unkie — from uncle, baccy — from tobacco, aussie — from

Australians, granny (ie) — from grandmother). In this way adjectives also may be

derived (as: comfy — from comfortable, mizzy — from miserable). Adjectives may be

derived also by adding the suffix -ee, as: Portugee — for Portuguese, Chinee — for

Chinese.

Abbreviations do not always coincide in meaning with the original word, for

instance: doc and doctor have the meaning 'one who practises medicine', but doctor is

also 'the highest degree given by a university to a scholar or scientist and 'a person

who has received such a degree' whereas doc is not used in these meanings. Among

abbreviations there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical

complex may represent different words, as vac (vacation), vac (vacuum cleaner);

prep (preparation), prep (preparatory school). Abbreviations usually have synonyms

in literary English, the latter being the corresponding full words. But they are not

interchangeable, as they are words of different styles of speech. Abbreviations are

highly colloquial; in most cases they belong to slang. The moment the longer word

disappears from the language, the abbreviation loses its colloquial or slangy character

and becomes a literary word, for instance, the word taxi is the abbreviation of the

taxicab which, in its turn, goes back to taximeter cab; both words went out of use,

and the word taxi lost its stylistic colouring.

Initial abbreviations (initialisms) are words — nouns — produced by

shortening nominal combinations; each component of the nominal combination is

shortened up to the initial letter and the initial letters of all the words of the

combination make a word, as: YCL — Young Communist League, MP —

Member of Parliament. Initial words are distinguished by their spelling in capital

letters (often separated by full stops) and by their pronunciation — each letter gets

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its full alphabetic pronunciation and a full stress, thus making a new word as R.

A. F. ['a:r'ei'ef] — Royal Air Force; TUC. ['ti:'ju:'si:] — Trades Union Congress.

Some of initial words may be pronounced in accordance with the' rules of

orthoepy, as N. A. T. O. ['neitou], U. N. O. ['ju:nou], with the stress on the first

syllable.

The meaning of the initial word is that of the nominal combination. In

speech initial words function like nouns; they take the plural suffix, as MPs, and

the suffix of the possessive case, as MP's, POW's.

In Modern English the commonest practice is to use a full combination either

in the heading or in the text and then quote this combination by giving the first initial

of each word. For instance, "Jack Bruce is giving UCS concert" (the heading). "Jack

Bruce, one of Britain's leading rock-jazz musicians, will give a benefit concert in

London next week to raise money for the Upper Clyde shop stewards' campaign"

(Morning Star).

New words may be derived from initial words by means of adding affixes, as

YCL-er, ex-PM, ex-POW; MP'ess, or adding the semi-suffix -man, as GI-man. As

soon as the corresponding combination goes out of use the initial word takes its place

and becomes fully established in the language and its spelling is in small letters, as

radar ['reidq] — radio detecting and ranging, laser ['leizq] — light amplification by

stimulated emission of radiation; maser ['meizq] — microwave amplification by

stimulated emission of radiation. There are also semi-shortenings, as, A-bomb (atom

bomb), H-bomber (hydrogen bomber), U-boat (Untersee boat) — German submarine.

The first component of the nominal combination is shortened up to the initial letter,

the other component (or components) being full words.

4.7. ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC

PECULIARITIES OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS, THEIR CLASSIFICATION

The outline of the problem discussed

1. Main approaches to the definition of a phraseological unit in linguistics.

2. Different classifications of phraseological units.

3. Grammatical and lexical modifications of phraseological units in speech.

In linguistics there are two main theoretical schools treating the problems of

English phraseology — that of N.N.Amosova and that of A. V. Kunin. We shall not

dwell upon these theories in detail, but we shall try to give the guiding principles of

each of the authors. According to the theory of N.N. Amosova. A phraseological unit

is a unit of constant context. It is a stable combination of words in which either one of

the components has a phraseologically bound meaning - a phraseme: white lie –

невинная ложь, husband tea - жидкий чай), or the meaning of each component is

weakened, or entirely lost – (an idiom: red tape — бюрократия, mare's nest —

абсурд). A. V. Kunin's theory is based on the concept of specific stability at the

phraseological level; phraseological units are crtaracterized by a certain minimum of

phraseological stability. A.V. Kunin distinguishes stability of usage, structural and

semantic stability, stability of meaning and lexical constituents, morphological

stability and syntactical stability. The degree of stability may vary so that there are

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several ‘limits’ of stability. But whatever the degree of stability might be, it is the

idiomatic meaning that makes the characteristic feature of a phraseological unit.

There is one trend more worth mentioning in the theory of English phraseology

that of A. I. Smirnitsky. A.I. Smirnitsky takes as his guiding principle the equivalence

of a phraseological unit to a word. There are two characteristic features that make a

phraseological unit equivalent to a word, namely, the integrity of meaning and the

fact that both the word and the phraseological unit are ready-made units which are

reproduced in speech and are not organized at the speaker's will.

Whatever the theory the term phraseology is applied to stable combinations of

words characterized by the integrity of meaning which is completely or partially

transferred, e. g.: to lead the dance проявлять инициативу; to take the cake

одержать победу. Phraseological units are not to be mixed up with stable

combinations of words that have their literal meaning, and are of non phraseological

character, e.g. the back of the head, to come to an end.

Among the phraseological units N.N.Amosova distinguishes idioms, i.e.

phraseological units characterized by the integral meaning of the whole, with the

meaning of each component weakened or entirely lost. Hence, there are motivated

and demotivated idioms. In a motivated idiom the meaning of each component is

dependent upon the transferred meaning of the whole idiom, e. g. to look through

one's fingers (смотреть сквозь пальцы); to show one's cards (раскрыть свои

карты). Phraseological units like these are homonymous to free syntactical

combinations. Demotivated idioms are characterized by the integrity of meaning as a

whole, with the meaning of each of the components entirely lost, e. g. white elephant

(обременительное или разорительное имущество), or to show the white feather

(cтpycить). But there are no hard and fast boundaries between them and there may be

many borderline cases. The second type of phraseological units in N.N. Amosova’s

classification is a phraseme. It is a combination of words one element of which has a

phraseologically bound meaning, e. g. small years (детские годы); small beer

(слабое пиво).

According to A.I. Smirnitsky phraseological units may be classified in respect

to their structure into one-summit and many-summit phraseological units. Onesummit

phraseological units are composed of a notional and a form word, as, in the

soup — быть в затруднительном положении, at hand — рядом, under a cloud – в

плохом настроении, by heart — наизусть, in the pink – в расцвете. Many-summit

phraseological units are composed of two or more notional words and form words as,

to take the bull by the horns — взять быка зарога, to wear one's heart on one's

sleeve — выставлять свои чувства на показ, to kill the goose that laid the golden

eggs — уничтожить источник благосостояния; to know on which side one's bread

is buttered — быть себе на уме.

Academician V.V.Vinogradov’s classification is based on the degree of

idiomaticity and distinguishes three groups of phraseological units: phraseological

fusions, phraseological unities, phraseological collocations.

Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g.: red

tape – ‘bureaucratic methods’; kick the bucket – die, etc. Phraseological unities are

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partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be understood through the

metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e.g.: to show one’s teeth –

‘take a threatening tone’; to wash one’s dirty linen in public – ‘discuss or make public

one’s quarrels’. Phraseological collocations are motivated but they are made up of

words possessing specific lexical combinability which accounts for a strictly limited

combinability of member-words, e.g.: to take a liking (fancy) but not to take hatred

(disgust).

There are synonyms among phraseological units, as, through thick and thin, by

hook or by crook, for love or money — во что бы то ни стало; to pull one's leg, to

make a fool of somebody — дурачить; to hit the right nail on the head, to get the

right sow by the ear — попасть в точку.

Some idioms have a variable component, though this variability is. strictly

limited as to the number and as to words themselves. The interchangeable

components may be either synonymous, as to fling (or throw) one's (or the) cap over

the mill (or windmill), to put (or set) one's (or the) best foot first (foremost, foreward)

or different words, not connected semantically, as to be (or sound, or read) like a

fairy tale.

Some of the idioms are polysemantic, as, at large — 1) на свободе, 2) в

открытом море, на большом пространстве, 3) без определенной цели, 4) не

попавший в цель, 5) свободный, без определенных занятий, 6) имеющий

широкие полномочия, 7) подробно, во всем объеме, 8) в целом, 9) вообще, не

конкретно.

It is the context or speech situation that individualizes the meaning of the

idiom in each case.

When functioning in speech, phraseological units form part of a sentence and

consequently may undergo grammatical and lexical changes. Grammatical changes

are connected with the grammatical system of the language as a whole, e.g.: He didn't

work, and he spent a great deal of money, and he painted the town red. (W. S.

Maugham) (to paint the town red — предаваться веселью). Here the infinitive is

changed into the Past Indefinite. Components of an idiom can be used in different

clauses, e.g.: …I had to put up with, the bricks they dropped, and their embarassment

when they realized what they’d done. (W. S. Maugham) (to drop a brick —

допустить бестактность).

Possessive pronouns or nouns in the possessive case may be also added, as:

…the apple of his uncle's eye…(A. Christie) (the apple of one's eye — зеница ока).

But there are phraseological units that do not undergo any changes, e. g.: She

was the friend in adversity; other people's business was meat and drink to her. (W.

S. Maugham) (be) meat and drink (to somebody) — необходимо как воздух.

Thus, we distinguish changeable and unchangeable phraseological units.

Lexical changes are much more complicated and much more various. Lexical

modifications of idioms achieve a stylistic and expressive effect. It is an expressive

device at the disposal of the writer or of the speaker. It is the integrity of meaning that

makes any modifications in idioms possible. Whatever modifications or changes an

idiom might' undergo, the integrity of meaning is never broken. Idioms may undergo

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various modifications. To take only some of them: a word or more may be inserted to

intensify and concretize the meaning, making it applicable to this particular situation:

I hate the idea of Larry making such a mess of his life. (W. S. Maugham) Here the

word such intensifies the meaning of the idiom. I wasn't keen on washing this kind of

dirty linen in public. (C. P. Snow) In this case the inserted this kind makes the

situation concrete.

To make the utterance more expressive one of the components of the idiom

may be replaced by some other. Compare: You're a dog in the manger, aren't you,

dear? and: It was true enough: indeed she was a bitch in the manger. (A. Christie)

The word bitch has its own lexical meaning, which, however, makes part of the

meaning of the whole idiom.

One or more components of the idiom may be left out, but the integrity of

meaning of the whole idiom is retained, e.g.: "I've never spoken to you or anyone else

about the last election. I suppose I've got to now. It’s better to let it lie," said Brown.

(C. P. Snow) In the idiom let sleeping dogs lie two of the elements are missing and it

refers to the preceding text.

In the following text the idiom to have a card up one's sleeve is modified:

Bundle wondered vaguely what it was that Bill had or thought he had-up in his

sleeve. (A, Christie) The component card is dropped and the word have realizes its

lexical meaning. As a result an, allusive metaphor is achieved.

The following text presents an interesting instance of modification: She does

not seem to think you are a snake in the grass, though she sees a good deal of grass

for a snake to be in. (E. Bowen) In the first part of the sentence the idiom a snake in

the grass is used, and in the second part the words snake and grass have their own

lexical meanings, which are, however, connected with the integral meaning of the

idiom.

Lexical modifications are made for stylistic purposes so as to create an

expressive allusive metaphor.

LITERATURE

1. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М., 1986.

2. Antrushina G.B. English Lexicology. – М., 1999.

3. Ginzburg R.Z., Khidekel S.S. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М.,

1975.

4. Kashcheyeva M.A. Potapova I.A. Practical English lexicology. – L., 1974.

5. Raevskaya N.N. English Lexicology. – К., 1971.