Phraseological turns are the scourge of everyone who studies a foreign language, because, faced with them, a person often cannot understand what is being said. Often, in order to understand the meaning of a particular statement, one has to use a dictionary of phraseological combinations, which is far from always at hand. However, there is a way out - you can develop the ability to recognize phraseological units, then it will be easier to understand their meaning. True, for this you need to know what types of them are and how they differ. Particular attention in this matter should be paid to phraseological combinations, since they (due to the different ways of classifying them) create the most problems. So, what are they, what are their distinguishing features and in what dictionaries can you find clues?
Phraseology and the subject of its study
Science phraseology, which specializes in the study of a variety ofstable combinations, relatively young. In Russian linguistics, it began to stand out as a separate section only in the 18th century, and even then at the end of this century, thanks to Mikhail Lomonosov.
Its most famous researchers are linguists Viktor Vinogradov and Nikolai Shansky, and in English - A. McKay, W. Weinreich and L. P. Smith. By the way, it is worth noting that English-speaking linguists, unlike Slavic specialists, pay much less attention to phraseological units, and their stock in this language is inferior to Russian, Ukrainian or even Polish.
The main subject, on which this discipline focuses its attention, is a phraseological unit or phraseological phrase. What is it? This is a combination of several words that is stable in structure and composition (it is not compiled anew each time, but is used in a ready-made form). For this reason, during syntactic analysis, a phraseological unit, regardless of its type and the length of its constituent words, always appears as a single member of the sentence.
Phraseological turnover in each language is a unique thing associated with its history and culture. It cannot be fully translated without losing its meaning. Therefore, when translating, phraseological units already similar in meaning that exist in another language are most often selected.
For example, the well-known English phrase: "Keep your fingers on the pulse", which literally means "to keep your fingers on the pulse", but it means "to keep abreast of events". However, since Russian does not haveone hundred percent analogue, it is replaced by a very similar one: "Keep your finger on the pulse."
Sometimes, due to the proximity of countries, similar phraseological phrases appear in their languages, and then there are no problems with translation. So, the Russian expression "to beat the buckets" (to mess around) has its twin brother in the Ukrainian language - "baidyky life".
Often these expressions come simultaneously in several languages due to some important event, such as Christianization. Despite belonging to different Christian denominations, in Ukrainian, French, Spanish, German, Slovak, Russian and Polish, the phraseological unit “alpha and omega” is common, taken from the Bible and meaning “from beginning to end” (completely, thoroughly).
Types of phraseological units
On the issue of classification of phraseological units, linguists have not yet come to a single opinion. Some additionally include proverbs (“You can’t stay without the sun, you can’t live without a sweetheart”), sayings (“God won’t give out - a pig won’t eat”) and language stamps (“hot support”, “working environment”). But so far they are in the minority.
At the moment, the most popular classification in the East Slavic languages is the classification of the linguist Viktor Vinogradov, who divided all set phrases into threekey categories:
- Phraseological fusions.
- Phraseological unity.
- Phraseological combinations.
Many linguists correlate fusion and unity with the term "idiom" (by the way, this word has the same root as the noun "idiot"), which is actually a synonym for the noun "phraseologism". This is due to the fact that sometimes it is very difficult to draw a line between them. This name is worth remembering, since in English phraseological unions, unity, combinations are translated precisely with its help - idioms.
Question about phraseological expressions
Vinogradov's colleague Nikolai Shansky insisted on the existence of a fourth type - expressions. In fact, he divided Vinogradov's phraseological combinations into two categories: combinations proper and expressions.
Although Shansky's classification leads to confusion in the practical distribution of set phrases, it allows us to consider this linguistic phenomenon more deeply.
What is the difference between phraseological fusions, phraseological units, phraseological combinations
First of all, it should be clear that these stable units were divided into these types according to the level of lexical independence of their components.
Turnovers, which are absolutely inseparable, the meaning of which is not related to the meaning of their components, were called phraseological fusions. For example: “to sharpen the laces” (to have a stupid conversation), to wear one's heart on one's sleeve (to be frank,Literally means "to wear a heart on the sleeve"). By the way, fusions are characterized by figurativeness, most often they arise from folk speech, especially outdated expressions or from ancient books.
Phraseological units are a more independent type, in relation to its components. Unlike splices, their semantics are determined by the meaning of their constituents. For this reason, puns are included here. For example: “small and daring” (a person who does something well, despite his unimpressive external data) or Ukrainian phraseological unit: “katyuzі on merit” (the guilty person received a punishment corresponding to his own misconduct). By the way, both examples illustrate a unique feature of unities: rhyming consonances. Perhaps that is why Viktor Vinogradov included sayings and proverbs among them, although many linguists still dispute their belonging to phraseological units.
Third type: free phraseological combinations of words. They are quite noticeably different from the two above. The fact is that the value of their components directly affects the meaning of the entire turnover. For example: “unrestrained drunkenness”, “raise the issue.”
Phraseological combinations in Russian (as well as in Ukrainian and English) have a special property: their components can be replaced by synonyms without loss of meaning: “to hurt honor” - “to hurt pride”, “crimson ringing” - “melodic ringing”. As an example from the language of the proud Brits, the idiom to show one’s teeth (show teeth), which can be adapted to any face: to show my (your, his, her, our) teeth.
Phraseological expressions and combinations:distinguishing features
Victor Vinogradov's classification, in which only one analytical type (phraseological combinations) stood out in composition, was gradually supplemented by Nikolai Shansky. It was quite easy to distinguish between idioms and combinations (because of their difference in structure). But Shansky's new unit - the expression ("to be afraid of wolves - do not go into the forest") was more difficult to distinguish from combinations.
But if you delve into the question, you can see a clear difference, which is based on the meaning of phraseological combinations. So, expressions consist of absolutely free words, fully possessing independent semantics (“not all is gold - what glitters”). However, they differ from ordinary phrases and sentences in that they are stable expressions that are not combined in a new way, but are used in finished form, as a template: “radish horseradish is not sweeter” (Ukrainian version of “radish horseradish is not m alted”).
Phraseological combinations ("to give a head to cut off" - "to give a hand to cut off") always have several words with an unmotivated meaning in their composition, while all components of expressions are absolutely semantically independent ("Man - it sounds proud "). By the way, this feature makes some linguists doubt whether expressions belong to phraseological units.
Which combination of words is not a phraseological turn
Phraseologisms, from a lexical point of view, are a unique phenomenon: on the one hand, they have all the features of phrases, but at the same time they are closer in their properties to words. Knowing thesefeatures, you can easily learn to distinguish stable phraseological combinations, units, fusions or expressions from ordinary phrases.
- Phraseologisms, like phrases, consist of several interconnected lexemes, but most often their meaning is unable to go beyond the sum of the meanings of their components. For example: “lose your head” (stop thinking sensibly) and “lose your wallet”. The words that make up the phraseologism are most often used in a figurative sense.
- When used in oral and written speech, the composition of phrases is formed anew each time. But unities and fusions are constantly reproduced in finished form (which makes them related to speech clichés). Phraseological combination of words and phraseological expression in this matter are sometimes confusing. For example: “hang your head” (to be sad), although it is a phraseological unit, each of its components is able to freely appear in ordinary phrases: “hang a coat” and “lower your head”.
- Phraseological turn (due to the integrity of the meaning of its components) in most cases can be safely replaced by a synonymous word, which cannot be done with a phrase. For example: the expression "servant of Melpomene" can easily be changed to a simple word "artist" or "actor".
- Phraseologisms never act as names. For example, the hydronym "Dead Sea" and phraseological combinations "dead season" (unpopular season), "lie dead weight" (lie unused load).
Classification of phraseological units by origin
Considering the question of the origin of phraseological combinations, expressions, units and unions, we can divide them into several groups.
- Combinations that came from folk speech: “get on your feet”, “without a king in your head” (stupid), “a week without a year” (very short term).
- Professional clichés that gradually turned into idioms: “in black and white”, “pouring water on the mill”, “at space speed”.
- The statements of famous historical figures or literary heroes, movie characters that have become cult: “The main thing is that the suit sits” (“Magicians”), “You need to be more careful, guys” (M. Zhvanetsky), I have a dream (Martin Luther King Jr.).
- Stable phraseological combinations borrowed from other languages, sometimes without translation. For example: o tempora, o mores (o times, o morals), carpe diem (seize the moment), tempus vulnera sanat (time heals wounds).
- Bible quotes: "throwing pearls" (to tell/show something to ungrateful listeners/spectators), "to wait until the second coming" (to wait for something for a long time and probably pointless), "prodigal son", "manna from heaven".
- Sayings from ancient literature: "an apple of discord" (a controversial subject), "gifts of the Danaans" (evil caused under the guise of goodness), "the look of Medusa" (that which makes it freeze in place, like a stone).
Other classifications: Petr Dudik's version
- Besides Vinogradov and Shansky, other linguists also tried to separate phraseological units, guided by their own principles. So, the linguist Dudik singled out not four, but as many as five types of phraseological units:
- Semantically inseparable idioms: "to be on the short foot" (close to someone).
- Phraseological unity with freer semantics of constituent elements: “soap your neck” (punish someone).
- Phraseological expressions, completely consisting of independent words, to the total value of which it is impossible to find a synonym. Dudik mainly refers to them sayings and proverbs: “A goose is not a comrade to a pig.”
- Phraseological combinations - phrases based on a metaphorical meaning: "blue blood", "hawk's eye".
- Phraseological phrases. They are characterized by the absence of metaphor and the syntactic unity of the components: “big swell”.
Classification by Igor Melchuk
Apart from all of the above is Melchuk's classification of phraseological units. According to it, significantly more species are distinguished, which are distributed into four categories.
- Degree: full, semi-phrase, quasi-phrase.
- The role of pragmatic factors in the process of phraseologism formation: semantic and pragmatems.
- What language unit does it belong to: lexeme, phrase, syntactic phrase.
- The component of a linguistic sign that has undergone phraseologicalization: syntacticssign, signifier and signified.
Boris Larin classification
This linguist distributed stable combinations of words according to the stages of their evolution, from ordinary phrases to phraseological units:
- Variable phrases (analogous to phraseological combinations and expressions): "velvet season".
- Those that have partially lost their primary meaning, but were able to acquire metaphor and stereotyping: "keep a stone in your bosom".
- Idioms that are completely devoid of the semantic independence of their components, as well as that have lost touch with their original lexical meaning and grammatical role (analogous to phraseological fusions and units): "out of hand" (bad).
Common examples of phraseological combinations
The following are a few more well-known set phrases.
- "Being out of your element" (feeling uncomfortable).
- "Down your eyes" (be embarrassed).
- "Defeat" (defeat someone).
- "A touchy subject" (an issue requiring tactful consideration).
Although the classification of Vinogradov and Shansky is not applied to idioms of the English language, however, it is possible to select stable phrases that can be classified as phraseological combinations.
Examples:
- Bosom friend - bosom buddy (bosom friend - bosom buddy).
- A Sisyfean labor.
- A pitched battle - a fiercebattle (fierce battle - fierce battle).
Phraseological dictionaries
The presence of a large number of classifications of phraseological units is due to the fact that none of them gives a 100% guarantee of the absence of errors. Therefore, it is still worth knowing in which dictionaries you can find a hint if you cannot accurately determine the type of phraseological unit. All dictionaries of this type are divided into monolingual and multilingual. The most famous books of this kind are translated below, in which you can find examples of set expressions that are most common in the Russian language.
- Monolingual: "Educational Phraseological Dictionary" by E. Bystrova; "A burning verb - a dictionary of folk phraseology" by V. Kuzmich; "Phraseological dictionary of the Russian language" A. Fedoseev; "Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language" by I. Fedoseev and "Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary" by M. Michelson.
- Multilingual: "Big English-Russian Phraseological Dictionary" (twenty thousand phraseological turns) by A. Kunina, "Big Polish-Russian, Russian-Polish Phraseological Dictionary" by Y. Lukshin and Random House Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms by Sofia Lyubenskaya.
Perhaps, having learned that sometimes it is not easy to immediately distinguish what kind this or that phraseological unit belongs to, this topic may seem incredibly complicated. However, the devil is not as terrible as he is painted. The main way to develop the ability to correctly find a phraseological combination of words among other phraseological units is to train regularly. And in the case of foreign languages - to study historyoccurrence of such phrases and memorize them. This will not only help you avoid embarrassing situations in the future, but will also make your speech very beautiful and imaginative.
