Similarity and Difference between a Set-Expression and a Word

The point of difference between a word and a set expression is the divisibility of a phraseological unit into separately structured elements VS the structural integrity of words. A set expression can be resolved into words – words are resolved into morphemes.

In phraseological units it is possible to make syntactic transformations without destroying their meaning: The chairman broke the ice // Ice was broken by the chairman.

Classification of pharaseological units

I. The most popular classifications of phraseological units belong to Russian linguists. A synchronic classification of Academician V.V. Vinogradov based on the views of the Swiss linguist Charles Bally takes into consideration the degree of motivation of the unit, i.e. the relationship existing between the meaning of the whole and the meaning of its component parts.

Phraseological fusions demonstrate the highest degree of idiomaticity: the meaning of components is completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole; it is impossible to find full equivalents to them in other languages.

To be sent to Coventry – подвергнуться бойкоту, изоляции. Coventry was a parliamentary stronghold in the Civil War, and troublesome royalist prisoners were sent there for safe keeping;

To kick the bucket – сыграть в ящик;

Cock-and-bull story – небылица, турусы на колесах;

The king’s picture – фальшивая монета;

To be on tenter hooks – мучиться неизвестностью, быть как на иголках (крючки для натягивания полотна)

Phraseological unities are motivated through the image created by the whole construction; it is possible to sometimes replace them with synonyms:

To dot the i’s and cross the t’s – поставить все точки над i, to round the thing off, to complete;

To go through fire and water – пройти огонь и воду;

To flog a dead horse – зря тратить силу;

To skate on thin ice – рискнуть.

Phraseological combinations are motivated, semantically transparent; one of their components is used in its direct meaning while the other can be used figuratively:

to get in touch with, to take effect, to take revenge, to hold office, to lose one’s way.

II. In the classification suggested by a representative of the linguistic school of St. Petersburg’s university prof. N.N. Amosova the accent is made on context.

Phraseological units are units of fixed context which is characterized by a specific and unchanging sequence of definite lexical components, and a peculiar semantic relationship between them.

Phrasemes (which are always binary) contain one component which is phraseologically bound, the second serves as the determining context:

green eye (ревнивый взгляд), green years (юные годы), green wound (незажившая рана), green hand (неопытный работник), green finger (садоводческое искусство), green wood (невыдержанная древесина).

Idioms possess the meaning which is created by the whole; individual meanings of the components may either be retained or lost: to know the ropes (владеть в совершенстве), to pin one’s heart on one’s sleeve (не скрывать своих чувств). A knight in the “brave old days”, went into combat with his lady’s favour pinned to his sleeve.

To play the wrong card (сделать неверный шаг).

III. Prof. A.V. Koonin considers phraseology to be an independent linguistic science and bases his classification of phraseological units on the functions they fulfill in speech. He distinguishes:

1) Nominative phraseological units:

A grass widow (соломенная вдова), Indian summer (бабье лето), maiden speech (первая речь нового члена парламента), pin-up girl (фотография красотки), sheet anchor (последнее прибежище, единственная надежда).

2) Interjectional phraseological units:

By George! Come, come! Like hell! My foot! (черта с два). Bless me! Draw it mild! (не преувеличивай!)

3) Communicative phraseological units:

(Don’t) teach your grandmother to suck eggs (не учи ученого! Яйца курицу не учат!)

That’s all Hookey Walker! (все это вздор);

Walls have ears (и стены имеют уши);

You can’t serve God and Mammon (Syrian “mamona” mean “riches”).

4) Nominative-communicative phraseological units:

To carry the day – взять верх, выйти победителем;

To put one’s foot in the mouth – влипнуть, опростоволоситься;

To hand smb. a lemon – обмануть, обмануть кого-либо;

To set the Thames on fire – сделать что-либо необычное.

We should not confuse with phraseological units stable combinations of words that have their literal meaning, and are not of phraseological character: the back of the head, the blue sky, to read a book.

In these word-combinations we can change every element, any substitution is permitted. E.g. to go early – “go” may be preceded by any noun or followed by any adverbial. In semi-fixed combinations we deal with certain limitations (to go to bed, to go to school, to give a smile).

If substitution is only partial and the elements are constant (fixed) we deal with a set expression.

In: “as busy as a bee”, “time and again”, “green love” we see the extreme of restrictions. Here no substitution is possible because it can destroy the integral meaning of the whole, to say nothing of stylistic and emotional colouring. The expression “a square head”, for example, is a derogatory name, for a Scandinavian. Thus, “to cut bread” and “to cut a poor figure” are entirely different: the substitution of “cut” and “figure” are impossible. Only “poor” may be substituted for “miserable”, “grand”, “ridiculous”.

IV. A peculiar classification of phraseological units in the English language belongs to A.I. Smirnitsky. He classifies phraseological units from the point of view of semantic relationship between the components, from the point of view of their structure into one-summit and many-summit phraseological units. One-summit phraseological units are composed of a notional and a form word, as in “in the soup” – в затруднительном положении, “in the pink” – в расцвете, “on the rocks” – в финансовом крахе.

Many-summit phraseological units are composed of two or more notional words; “to take the bull by the horns”, “to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve”, “to know which side one’s bread is buttered”.

A.I. Smirnitsky classifies phraseological units into traditional phraseological units (фразеологические единицы) and idioms. Phraseological units (“to fall in love”, “to take to drinking”) are stylistically neutral and devoid of metaphorical expressiveness when compared to idioms (“to take the bull by the horns”, “to pay through the nose”, “to be born on the wrong side of the blanket”).

V. The traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units is thematic.

It is widely used in numerous English and American guides to idiom, phrasebooks, collections of “unusual” word-combinations. Thus, L.P. Smith gives in his classification groups of idioms used by sailors, fisherman, soldiers, hunters, etc.

In some cases the origin of these units is given though the general principle and is not etymological. This principle of classification deserves attention but it does not take into consideration the linguistic characteristics of these units.

 

Proverbs, sayings, Familiar Quotations, Cliches

They are excluded from phraseology by J. Casares and N.N. Amosova because they are independent communicative units and not fragments of other sentences and because the meaning of component parts does not show any changes when compared to the meaning of the same words in free combinations.

Proverbs express national wisdom, they are instructive and didactic sentences with a traditional and mostly figurative meaning:

The proof of the pudding is in the eating;

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

They have much in common with phraseological units due to the stability of their components and ready-made reproduction in speech. I.V. Arnold, A.V. Koonin, V.V. Vinogradov think that proverbs must be studied together with phraseological units. Set expressions are very often built on their bases:

A drowning man will clutch at a straw;

To clutch at a straw.

Familiar quotations have a literary character and constitute the cultural treasure of the language testifying to the richness of one’s background knowledge, especially those from classical sources, Shakespeare, other celebrities. Sometimes we may preserve the original form:

Cum grano salis (with a pinch of salt), O tempora, o mores! Cherche la femme! Ordnung muß sein!

Clichés are phrases which became habitual and lost their original expressiveness: the irony of fate, to break the ice, the sleep of the just.

Sayings are communicative phraseological units of colloquial character expressing positive and negative evaluation which are devoid of didactic force:

Does you mother know you are out? (у вас молоко на губах не обсохло)

Put that in your pipe and smoke it (зарубите это на носу)

Paradigmatic treatment of phraseological units must be completed by the study of their actual usage in speech where they undergo grammatical and lexical changes and determined by the context.

“I am always thinking of the bricks they may drop during my absence”.

“Everybody knows him belonging to the apple of his uncle’s eye”.

Various lexical modifications are more interesting: we may insert a word to intensify and concretize the meaning, making it applicable to this particular situation. “I wasn’t keen on washing this kind of dirty linen in public”. (C.P. Snow).

To make the utterance more expressive one of the components of the idiom may be replaced by some other;

“You’re a dog in the manger [meInGq], aren’t you dear? And it was true enough: indeed she was a bitch in the manger” (A. Christie).

One or more components of the idiom may be left out, but the integrity of the 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 the sleeping dogs lie” two of the elements are missing, and “it” refers to the preceding text.

“Bundle wondered vaguely what it was that Bill had or thought he had – up in his sleeve. (A. Christie)

(to have a card up one’s sleeve).

“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)

(a snake in the grass)