Criteria for identifying phraseological unit

National and international idioms.

Polysemy and synonymy of phraseological units.

Semantic, functional and contextual classification of phraseological units.

Criteria for identifying of phraseological units.

Definition of phraseological word combinations.

PHRASEOLOGICAL WORD COMBINATIONS

LECTURE IV

5. Proverbs, sayings, quotations and clichés.

Most Russian scholars use the term phraseological unit, which was first introduced by Academician V. V. Vinogradov.

In linguistic literature the term phraseology is used for the expressions where the

meaning of one element is dependent on the other, irrespective of the structure and properties of the unit (V.V. Vinogradov).

O.S. Akhmanova insists on the semantic integrity of such phrases prevailing over the structural separateness of their elements.

The essential features of phraseological units are:

1) lack of semantic motivation;

2) lexical and grammatical stability.

As far as semantic motivation is concerned phraseological units vary from motivated (by simple adition of denotational meaning) like a sight for sore eyes (бальзам на душу) and to know the ropes (знать что почем),

The phraseological stability is based upon:

1) the stability of use;

2) the stability of meaning;

3) lexical stability;

4) syntactic stability;

5) rhythmic characteristics, rhyme and imagery.

There are two major criteria for distinguishing between phraseological units and word-groups: semantic and structural.

Compare the following examples:

A. Cambridge don: I'm told they're inviting more American professors to this university. Isn't it rather carrying coals to Newcastle?

(To carry coals to Newcastle - to take something to a place where it is already plentiful and not needed". Compare with the Rus. (В Тулу со своим самоваром ).

B. This cargo ship is carrying coal to Liverpool.

The definition of a phraseological unit offered by Professor A.V. Koonin: A phraseological unit is a stable word-group characterized by a completely or partially transferred meaning.

The following phraseological units represent the first case:

to have one's heart in one's boots — to be deeply depressed, anxious about something;

a wolf in a sheep's clothing - a dangerous enemy who plausibly poses as a friend.

A second type is represented by phraseological units in which one of the components preserves its current meaning and the other is used in a transferred meaning:

To loose (keep) one's temper,

to fall ill,

The term idiom is mostly applied to phrased units with completely transferred meanings ( the meaning of the whole unit does not correspond to the current meanings of the components).

Structural invariability is an essential feature of phraseological units. Structural invariability of phraseological units finds expression in a number of restrictions.

First of all, restriction in substitution. As a rule, no word can be substituted for any meaningful component of a phraseological unit without destroying its sense.

to carry coals to Newcastle – to carry coals to Manchester – *В Харьков со своим самоваром.

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