Seminar 6 (3.

2)
English Phraseology
1.     Phraseology as a branch of linguistics. 

Phraseology is a branch of linguistics which studies different types of set expressions, which like words
name various objects and phenomena.

They exist in the language as ready-made units.

2.     Phraseological units: problems of definition, key features and terminological

variability.
Main Features of Phraseological Units: idiomaticity reproducibility stability predictability inseparability

Terminological Vagueness:a phraseological unit (V. V. Vinogradov) an idiom a set-phrase a word-equivalent a collocation

a phraseme (N. M. Amosova) a quasi-idiom (I. Melchook).

A Phraseological unit (PU)  can be defined as a non-motivated word-group that cannot be freely made up in
speech, but is reproduced as a ready-made unit.

It is a group of words whose meaning cannot be deduced by examining the meaning of the constituent
lexemes.

The essential features of PU are:

1) lack of motivation;

2) stability of the lexical components.

A dark horse is actually not a horse but a person about whom no one knows anything definite.

A bull in a china shop: the idiom describes a clumsy person.

A white elephant – it is a waste of money because it is completely useless.

The green-eyed monster is jealousy, the image being drawn from Othello.

To let the cat out of the bag : to let some secret become known.

To bark up the wrong tree (Am) means ‘to follow a false scent; to look for somebody or something in a
wrong place; to expect from somebody what he is unlikely to do’.

The idiom is not infrequently used in detective stories: The police are barking up the wrong tree as
usual, i.e. they suspect somebody who has nothing to do with the crime.

The ambiguity of these interesting word-groups may lead to an amusing misunderstanding, especially for
children who are apt to accept words at their face value.

- Little Johnnie (crying): Mummy, mummy, my auntie Jane is dead.

- Mother: Nonsense, child! She phoned me 5 minutes ago.

  Little Johnnie: But I heard Mrs. Brown say that her neighbours  cut her dead.

To cut somebody dead means ‘to rudely ignore somebody; to pretend not to know or recognize him’.

Puns are frequently based on the ambiguousness of idioms:

- Isn’t our Kate a marvel! I wish you could have seen her at the Harrisons’ party yesterday. If I’d
collected the bricks she dropped all over the place, I could built a villa’.

To drop a brick means ‘to say unintentionally a quite indiscreet or tactless thing that shocks and offended
people’.

The author of the “Book of English Idioms” Collins write: “In standard spoken and written English today
idioms is an established and essential element that, used with care, ornaments and enriches the language.”

Used with care is an important warning because speech overloaded with idioms loses its freshness and
originality. Idioms, after all, are ready-made speech units, and their continual repetition sometimes wears
them out: they lose their colours and become trite clichés.

In modern linguistics, there is considerable confusion about the terminology associated with these word-
groups

Most Russian scholars use the term “phraseological units” introduced by academician V.V. Vinogradov.

The term “idiom” used by western scholars has comparatively recently found its way into Russian
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: set-expressions, set-phrases, phrases, fixed word-groups, collocations.

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.

A black-eyed girl but not of a black-eyed table.

The child was glad is quite correct, but a glad child is wrong.

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.

FREE-WORD GROUPS vs PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS

The border-line between free or variable word-groups and phraseological units is not clearly defined.

The free word-groups are only relatively free as collocability of their member-words is fundamentally
delimited by their lexical and syntactic valency.

Phraseological units are comparatively stable and semantically inseparable.

 Between the extremes of complete motivation and variability of member-words and lack of motivation
combined with complete stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure there are innumerable
border-line cases.

 There are differences between word-groups and phraseological units

The difference often is in the interrelation of lexical components, e.g.:Blue ribbon (or red, brown,
etc.), but blue ribbon – an honour given to the winner of the first prize in a competition – no substitution is
possible in a phraseological unit;

Stretch  one’s legs – размять ноги, прогуляться (а не «протянуть ноги»),

See eye to eye – быть полностью согласным (а не «видеться с глазу на глаз»),

Under one’s hand – за собственной подписью (а не «под рукой»),

Stew in one’s own juice – страдать по своей собственной глупости (а не «вариться в собственном

соку»).

In free word-groups each of its constituents preserves its denotational meaning.

In the case of phraseological units however the denotational meaning belongs to the word-group as a single
semantically inseparable unit. For example, compare a free word-group a white elephant (белый слон) and
a phraseological unit white elephant (обуза, подарок, от которого не знаешь как избавиться).

 Distinctive features of free-word groups and phraseological units

Free word-groups are but relatively free: they may possess some of the features characteristic of
phraseological units.

On the other hand, phraseological units are heterogeneous. Alongside absolutely unchangeable
phraseological units, there are expressions that allow some degree of substitution. Phraseology is concerned
with all types of set expressions including those that stand for certain sentences.

3.     Theory of phraseological stability.

1. lity,

2. morphological stability,

3. permanence of lexical composition,

4. semantic unity,

5. syntactic fixity.

 Prof. A.V. Koonin’ definition: ‘a phraseplogical unit is a stable word-group with wholly or partially transferred
meaning.’

Phraseological units are subdivided into 4 classes according to the function in communication determined by structural-
semantic characteristics.

 Functional classification

1. nominative phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions: a bull in a china shop;
 2. nominative-communicative phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions in the Active voice, and may be used in
Passive constructions: to cross the Rubicon – the Rubicon is crossed!

3. interjectional phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions interjections: a pretty (nice) kettle of fish! For crying
out loud!

4. Communicative phraseological units standing for sentences (proverbs and sayings): Still waters run deep. The
world is a nice place.

 Communicative phraseological units, expressing statement:

1. A proverb is a collection of words (phrase or sentence that states a general truth or gives advice:

Idleness is the root of all evil.

A penny saved is a penny gained.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Ask no questions, hear no lies.

Silence is something an answer.

 Distinctive features of proverbs:

1. Structural dissimilarity

(cf: George liked her for she never  put on airs (predicate).

Big bugs like him care nothing about small fry  like ourselves (a) subject, b) prepositional object).

Proverbs, if viewed in their structural aspect, are sentences, and so cannot be used in the way in which phraseological units
are used in the above examples.

4.     Classifications of phraseological units.

 3.1. Semantic classification of phraseological units (V.V. Vinogradov)

is based on the motivation of the unit

1. Phraseological fusions are units whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of their
component parts. The meaning of PFs is unmotivated at the present stage of language development,
e.g.

red tape (бюрократизм, волокита),

a mare’s  nest (иллюзия, нечто несуществующее),

My aunt! (вот те на!, вот так штука!, ну и ну!). The meaning of the components is completely absorbed by
the meaning of the whole;

2. Phrasological unities are expressions the meaning of which can be deduced from the meanings of
their components; the meaning of the whole is based on the transferred meanings of the components,
e.g.

to show one’s teeth (to be unfriendly),

to stand to one’s guns (to refuse to change one’s opinion), etc.

 They are motivated expressions.

3. Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct
meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet requirements, to attain success.

In this group of PUs some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric
element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity; to have success, to lose success.

These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the
verb meet and the noun success  are kept intact.

 3.2. STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS (A.I.

SMIRNITSKY)

Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky classified PUs as highly idiomatic set expressions functioning as word equivalents, and
characterized by their semantic and grammatical unity. He suggested three classes of stereotyped phrases:

1. traditional phrases (nice distinction, rough sketch;

2. phraseological combinations (to fall in love, to get up);
3. idioms  (to wash one’s dirty linen in public);

 The second group (phraseological combinations) fall into two subgroups:

1. one-top phraseological units, which were compared with derived words;

1. verb-adverb PUs of the type to give up, e.g. to bring up, to try out, to look up, to drop
in, etc.
2. PUs of the type to be tired, e.g. to be surprised, to be up to, etc.
3. Prepositional substantative units, e.g. by heart.

2. two-top phraseological units, which were compared with compound words.

1. attributive-nominal, e.g. brains trust, white elephant, blind alley. Units of this type function

as noun equivalents;
2. verb-nominal phrases, e.g. to know the ropes, to take place, etc.
3. phraseological repetitions, e.g. ups and downs , rough and ready, flat as a pancake. They
function as adverbs or adjectives equivalents;
4. adverbial multi-top units, e.g. every other day.

5.     Semantic relations in phraseology.

Many phraseological units are polysemantic. Their polysemantic structure develops mostly due to
further metaphoric transference of their meaning.

Like words phraseological units can be related as synonyms,e.g. to back the wrong horse – to hunt
the wrong hare – to get the boot on the wrong foot; before the ink is dry – in a twinkle of an eye -
before one can say Jack Robinson; like a shot - in half a trice,etc. Phraseological synonyms often
belong to different stylistic layers (Sec Part 6).

Phraseological synonyms should not be mixed up with variantsof a phraseological unit, e.g. to

add fuel to the fire – to add fuel to fire – to add oil to fire – to add fuel to the flame, etc.; God knows
– goodness knows – Heaven knows – the Lord knows, etc.; not worth a bean – not worth a brass
farthing – not worth a button – not worth a pin – not worth a rap – not worth a straw, etc.
 Occasional phraseological variants may be formed due to authors’ actualizing the potential (literary)
meanings of their components, (C.f. A skeleton in the family cupboard :: We were peeping into the
family cupboard and having a look at the good old skeleton (P. G. Wodehouse).

Phraseological antonyms are of two main types: they may either differ in single component (to
do one's best - to do one's worst; up to date - out of date; to look black - to look bright, etc.)
or have different sets of components  (to draw the first breath - to breathe one's last; to take a
circuit - to make a bee-line; talk nineteen to the dozen - to keep mum, etc.).

Such phraseological units as to hang by one's eyebrowsІ"висіти, триматися на волосинці", "бути в

критичному становищі" and to hang by one's eyebrowsII"бути настирливим, упертим; лізти на
рожен" can be regarded as phraseological homonyms.Phraseological homonyms are very rare and
should not be confused with numerous homophrases, i.e. phrases identical in form but differing in
meaning that belong to different classes (free word-groups, phrasal terms and phraseological units
including phraseological professionalisms), e.g.: to ring a bellІ"дзвонити дзвін" (free word-group)::
to ring a bellII"нагадувати", "наводити на думкy; (phraseological unit); peeping TomІ"надмірно
цікава людина" (phraseological unit) :: peepingTom IIа) "розвідувальний літак", b) "розвідувальна
РЛС с) "аерофотоапарат" (phraseological professionalisms); blue bottle1"синя пляшка" (free word-
group) :: blue bottle II1) бот. "волошка синя"; 2) ент. "муха синя"; 3) зоол. "фізалія" (biological
terms) :: blue bottleIII"поліцай” (phraseological unit).

Proverbs could be best compared with minute fables for, like the latter, they sum up the collective
experience of the community. Proverbs:

1. moralize: Hell is paved with good intentions.

2. give advice: Don’t judge a tree by its bark .

3. give warning: If you sing before breakfast, you will cry before night.

4. admonish: Liars should have good memories.

5. criticize: Everyone calls his own geese swans.

 A saying is any common, colloquial expression, or a remark often made, e.g.

1. That cat won’t jump.

2. Woe betide you! .

3. The fat is in the fire .

4. What will Mrs. Grundy say?

 Proverbs and sayings are introduced in speech ready-made, their components are constant, and their
meaning is traditional and mostly figurative.

Proverbs often form the basis for phraseological units:

It’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back:

the last straw.

 There no use crying over spilt milk: cry over spilt milk, spilt milk.

Generally proverbs and sayings are emotionally coloured.

 Proverbs are short sayings that express popular wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in a concise and
imaginative way:

It never rains, but it pours.

Easy come, easy go.

A miss is as good as a mile.

Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

Least said, soonest mended.

Practice what one peaches.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Charity begins at home.

 Many proverbs and sayings are metaphorical:

Time is money.

Little drops make the mighty ocean (little drops).

Rome wasn’t built in a day. (a day);

Make the mighty ocean, building Rome (a large task).

It takes two to tango ((both parties involved in a situation or argument are equally responsible for it).

6.     Origins and sources of phraseological units.

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).

Types of Borrowed Phraseological Units: Intralingual borrowings: e.g. to bite off more than one can chew; to shoot the bull ‘’to talk
nonsense’ (from American English); to pull sb’s leg (from Scottish Gaelic); a knock back (from Australian English) etc.

Interlingual borrowings:

translation loans from Latin, e.g. to take the bull by the horns, a slip of the tongue (Lat. lapsus linguae), with a grain of salt (Lat. cum
grano salis), second to none (Lat. nulli secundus); from French, e.g. by heart (Fr. par coeur), that goes without saying (Fr. cela va sans
dire); from Spanish, e.g. the moment of truth (Sp. el momento de la verdad), blue blood (Sp. la sagre azul) etc;

barbarisms (non-assimilated loans), e.g. sotto voce (It.) ‘quietly, in a low voice’, la dolce vita (It.) ‘the good life full of pleasure’, al
fresco (It.) ‘in the open air’, cordon bleu (Fr.) ‘high quality, esp. of cooking’.
 Key words[1]: phraseological units, idioms, set phrases, word-equivalents, word-like units,
sentence-like units, phraseological collocations,  phraseological unities,
phraseological fusions, motivation, idiomaticity, semi-free word-groups,
semantic unity, phraseological stability: stability of use, stability of meaning,
lexical stability, syntactic stability; restriction in substitution, grammatical
invariability, nominating units, nominating-communicative units,
communicative units, interjectional units, polysemy of phraseological units,
synonymy / antonymy of phraseological units, native / borrowed
phraseological units   

READING ASSIGNMENTS

I. Read thoroughly the chapters below and be prepared to discuss the following questions in class.

     1)    Cowie A.P. Introduction. In Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, and Applications. Ed. By A.P. Cowie. – Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. – P. 4–20.  
         What three major theoretical approaches to phraseology are represented in the volume?
         What is the difference between 'word-like' units and 'sentence-like' units in phraseology?
         Why is it important to account for the cultural element in phraseology?
         What insights does corpus research give into the usage of phraseological units in contemporary English by native and non-native speakers / writers?   
         How has the lexicographic treatment of restricted collocations and idioms changed over time? How can research findings of phraseologists further affect the work
of lexicographers?

      2)    Передмова. Передмова видавництва до другого видання. Побудова словника // Англо-український фразеологічний словник / Уклад. К.Т. Баранцев. –
2-ге вид., випр. – К.: Т-во "Знання", КОО, 2005. – С. 4-10.  (djvu file) [2]
         How was Kostyantyn Barantsev related to our university?
         Why is his dictionary believed to be a significant contribution to Ukrainian phraseology and in what ways is it outdated?
         How does the dictionary account for paradigmatic relations among phraseological units and their stylistic variation?
         Does it focus solely on British English?

II. OPTIONAL:
            Кунин А.В. Некоторые вопросы английской фразеологии / Англо-русский                  фразеологический словарь. – М., 1956.  – P. 1433-
1455. (Word file)
         How did Kunin advance Vinogradov’s classification of phraseological units?
         What are the features of non-imagery based phraseological units?
         Comment on the sense relations observed between substitutable components of phraseological units.  
         In what ways do phraseological derivatives enrich the English lexicon?

Введение. Глава І. // Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка. Учеб. для ин-
тов и фак. иностр. яз.– 2-е изд., перераб.– М.: Высш. шк., Дубна: Изд. центр "Феникс", 1996. – C. 4-16.
(pdf. file)
         Who is the founding father of theoretical phraseology?
         Why can the English word phraseology be misleading?
    What feature of phraseological units does the term word equivalent emphasize? What are the weak points of
treating phraseological units as word equivalents?   
         What is the difference between studying proverbs within phraseology and folklore?
         Shall technical terms be included in the realm of phraseology, according to Kunin?
         How is phraseology related to other disciplines?  

EXERCISES

   1.    Rewrite the following sentences so that they could be understood as a) literal (compositional) expressions, b) phraseologically bound (non-compositional)
expressions.
Example: She bought the farm.
     a)    Jack got a bank loan, and Jill was able to buy the farm back.

     b)    She conked out for good, you know, bought the farm.

 
1) She pulled his leg.                    I'm still hoping you're just pulling my leg. And he started pulling me, and pulling my leg.
2) It is best to sit on the fence.       You can't sit on the fence any longer - you have to decide whose side you're on. Tom sat on the fence.
3) He never shows them the ropes.  I thought your dad could show me the ropes Just show him the ropes.

    2.    Group the following phraseological units into collocations, unities and fusions and give reasons for your choice:
 a)    to make both ends meet                          It’s not  easy to make ends  meet  with a big family _________

b)    to make sure                                          ___ Make  sure  he's  honest before you lend  him any money. ______

c)    under the rose                            Attendees understood that whatever was said under the rose - or sub rosa - had to remain a secret.’

d)    (to be) on the carpet                                  When my team lost that big client, the boss called me on the carpet. _________

e)    capital crime                                       To convict someone of a capital crime the State must prove intent.  _________

     3.    Check out the meaning of the phraseological units below. Group them in accordance with the formal classification. Comment on distinctions between their POS
composition and their functions in speech.

to hit below the belt,

To unfairly target another person's weakness or vulnerability. The phrase refers to boxing, in which hitting an opponent below the waist is unaccept
able.
through thick and thin, Despite difficult or troubling circumstances or setbacks; through good and bad times.
a mare's nest,
A difficult, complicated, or confusing situation
to take the revenge,  to hurt someone in return for being hurt by that person He swore to take (his) revenge on his
enemies.
to beat the air, ontinue to make futile attempts, fight to no purpose.
a wet blanket, a person who spoils other people's fun by failing to join in with or by disapproving of their
activities.
as the crow flies, in a straight line.
to sit on the fence, to describe a person's lack of decisiveness, neutrality or hesitance to choose between two sides in an
argument or a competition, or inability to decide due to lack of courage.
tooth and nail- with all one's resources or energy; fiercely
, Dutch courage, the confidence that some people get from drinking alcohol before they do something
that needs courage
in the long run- over or after a long period of time; eventually.
    4.    Fill in the gaps and identify the origins and sources of the phraseological units below. Give Ukrainian equivalents or near equivalents (consult Barantsev's
dictionary!) and comment on cultural distinctions if any.
1)    a … never changes its spots –i- горбатого могила A. Rubicon 
виправить B. bee 
2)    to repose on one’s …-h- C. Waterloo 
останавливаться на достигнутом 
3)    to pass / cross the …-a- принять важное решение D. wing 
4)    to paddle one’s own …-g- E. aegis
на своей лодке греби сам F. Thames
5)    to meet one's …-c-быть разгромленным G. canoe
6)    to take someone under your …-d- брать кого- H. laurels
либо себе под крыло I. leopard  
7)    under the … of-e-  под эгидой J. petard
  
   to be as busy as a …-b-
занят как пчела
9)    to hoist with one’s own ….-j-
кто роет другому яму, сам в нее попадёт
10) to set the … on fire-f-
изобрести/выдумать порох; хватать звезды с неба

   5.    Group the phraseological units below into:

I.             synonymous pairs
1)    when pigs fly a)    a sea dog
2)    to turn a blind eye on smth b)    on the Greek calends
3)    to twiddle one’s thumbs c)    a bag of bones
4)    an old salt d)    to give smb the cold shoulder
5)    to give smb the brush-off e)    to be at a loose end
6)    skin and bone f)     to close one’s eyes to sth
II.           antonymous pairs
1)    milk for babes a)    small potatoes
2)    Tom Thumb b)    to hang down one’s head
 3)    big wigs c)    to make much of smth
4)    to be on the breadline d)    a hard nut to crack
5)    to keep one’s chin up e)    as tall as a maypole
6)    not to care a pin for smth f)     to spend money like water

    6.    Trace origins of the following phraseological units. Are they native or borrowed? When borrowed, what languages do they come from? 

gild refined gold, -native

a snake in the grass-, nat
come up to the scratch, - nat
strike sail,- dutch
a doubting Thomas, - nat
a millstone about smb.’s neck,- nat
lose face, - chine
the die is cast, - rome
the fifth column, - spain
after us the deluge,- france
the style is the man – latin/ france

     7.    Group the following phraseological units into those motivated by metaphor and those motivated by metonymy:

babes and sucklings, a round peg in a square hole, Number Ten, a dog in the manger, bread and butter, a storm in a tea-cup,   come to one’s ears                     

     8.    In language use, phraseological units can undergo considerable changes in both structure and meaning for various discursive purposes. Single out transformed
phraseological units in the following sentences and write down their original forms. Keep in mind that transformation of idiomatic expressions directly relates to
their “transparency”: phraseological units that are “more transparent” easily undergo semantic and structural changes, whereas “less transparent” phraseological
units are more stable.    

a)    “Sooner or later he’ll be quite ready to come back to London, and no great harm will have been done.” “I wouldn’t do that,” said Mrs. Mac Andrew. “I’d give him
all the rope he wants." (W. S. Maugham)
b)    I am not inclined to expose skeletons which have been so carefully buried. (W. S. Maugham)
c)    She, who had always considered herself “not the falling-in-love kind”, was swept clean off her feet. (A. Christie)
d)    She would not give all those heartless gossipers food for talk. (L.M. Montgomery)
e)    The Cecils were convinced that Essex had discovered a mare's nest. (L. Strachey)

                9.    Read the text below and do the tasks that follow.

John's Keys to Success

John is an incredibly accomplished and successful businessman. As such, he is quite popular as a mentor. He enjoys
showing young professionals the ropes. The first thing he says is that his career has certainly not always been smooth
sailing. In fact, he learned a number of lessons along the way. "First and foremost," John said "don't believe that
success is ever mana from heaven." He said that everyone he had met had a similar rags to riches story, and that a lot
of hard work had gone into the success. John believes in hard work, but also in recognizing the right opportunities.
"It's absolutely essential to never spread yourself too thin" John advised. "If you have too many irons in the fire, you'll
certainly miss out on real opportunity" he continued. "I've seen people as busy as a bee who never really seem to do
anything" he pointed out. The more I thought about this advice, the more I understood what he was saying. If you put
on your thinking cap, you'll realize that it's impossible to really concentrate if you have to worry about fifty different
things.
Another important lesson was that it's important to know which side your bread is buttered on and make sure to give
that activity your full attention. In other words, you need to ride the gravy train. Don't start looking for new challenges
if everything is working out for the best!
John stressed that the most important ability of any successful entrepreneur was to have the presence of mind to not
only take advantage of an opportunity, but also to keep your eye on the ball. Some people are quick on the uptake, but
then they get bored. It's important to be consistent, but not spread yourself too thin.
Finally, make sure to never show your hand to your opponents. In any case, that's how to be successful according to John.

a)    Identify all the phraseological units in the text and make sure you know what they mean.
b)    Find examples of substantive, verbal, adjectival and adverbial phraseological units, if any. 
c)    Illustrate different degrees of idiomaticity with the phraseological units from the text.
d)    Find examples of image-bearing phraseological units and those phraseological units that lack imagery.
e)    Trace the origins of any five phraseological units from the text.