The foreign component in the English vocabulary

Etymological peculiarities of the English vocabulary. Words of native origin.

Ways of forming phraseologisms

Different approaches to the classification of phraseological units.

Phraseology. Free word-groups vs. set expressions.

LECTURE 5

5.1. Phraseology. Free word-groups vs. set expressions. Words put together to form lexical units make phrases or word-groups. The degree of structural and semantic cohesion of word-groups may vary. The component members in some word-groups (e.g. man of wisdom, to take lessons, etc.) seem to possess semantic and structural independence. Word-groups of this type are defined as free phrases and are usually studied in syntax.

Some word-groups (e.g. by means of, to take place, etc.) seem to be functionally and semantically inseparable. They are usually described as set-phrases or phraseological units that are non-motivated and cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made and are regarded as subject-matter of phraseology. Phraseological units, or idioms, as they are called by most western scholars, represent what can probably be described as the most picturesque, colorful and expressive part of the language's vocabulary.

If synonyms can be figuratively referred to as the tints and colours of the vocabulary, then phraseology is a kind of picture gallery in which are collected vivid and amusing sketches of the nation's customs, traditions and prejudices, recollections of its past history, scraps of folk songs and fairy-tales. Quotations from great poets are preserved here alongside the dubious pearls of Philistine wisdom and crude slang witticisms, for phraseology is not only the most colorful but probably the most democratic area of vocabulary and draws its resources mostly from the very depths of popular speech.

In modern linguistics, there is confusion about the terminology associated with these word-groups. Most Russian and Ukrainian scholars use the term " phraseological unit " (фразеологічна одиниця) which was first introduced by Academician V.V. Vinogradov whose contribution to the theory of Russian phraseology cannot be overestimated. The term " idiom " widely used by western scholars has comparatively recently found its way into Russian and Ukrainian phraseology but is applied mostly to only a certain type of phraseological unit as it will be clear from further explanations.

There are some other terms denoting more or less the same linguistic phenomenon: set-expressions, set-phrases, phrases, fixed word-groups, collocations.

The terminology confusion reflects insufficiency of positive or wholly reliable criteria by which phraseological units can be distinguished from free word-groups.

It should be pointed out that the "freedom" of free word-groups is relative and arbitrary. Nothing is entirely "free" in speech as its linear relationships are governed, restricted and regulated, on the one hand, by requirements of logic and common sense and, on the other, by the rules of grammar and combinability. One can speak of a black-eyed girl but not of a black-eyed table (unless in a piece of modernistic poetry where anything is possible). Also, to say the child was glad is quite correct, but a glad child is wrong because in Modern English glad is attributively used only with a very limited number of nouns (e. g. glad news), and names of persons are not among them.

Free word-groups are so called not because of any absolute freedom in using them but simply because they are each time built up anew in the speech process whereas idioms are used as ready-made units with fixed and constant structures.

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