It is hard to imagine a speech in which such pearls as popular expressions and phraseological units would not sound. This is the we alth of any language, its decoration. An entire branch of linguistics, phraseology, is devoted to the study of set expressions.
What is an idiom?
Philologists in a huge number of bright and unique phrases define three types of phrases: phraseological combinations, unity and fusion. The last one is an idiom. What is a fusion? This is a phraseological unit that is not semantically divided, that is, its meaning is not at all derived from the meaning of its constituent words. Many of the components of the idiom are an already obsolete form or meaning, now completely incomprehensible.
A fairly striking example is the expression "beat the thumbs." It is used when they want to report that someone is messing around, hardly thinking about what a baclush is and why it should be beaten.
In the old days, it was quite easy work that did not require qualifications or special skills, even a child could do it: a log was split into blanks, from which the master then made various household utensils, for example, wooden spoons.
Term"idiom" from ancient Greek is translated as "feature, originality", "special turnover". By the way, what an idiom is is well illustrated by an attempt to literally translate these phrases into foreign languages. It is almost impossible to do this: as they say, an untranslatable pun.
Use of idioms in literature
It's hard to even imagine any work where idioms would not be used. Literary speech without their use becomes faded and, as it were, artificial. Idioms of the Russian language live in it so organically that sometimes they are not even noticed at the time of use.
Try to imagine a dialogue in which one person, telling another about the material we alth of someone else, would describe for a long time how rich he is. Most often, he would have expressed himself briefly and succinctly: “Yes, he doesn’t peck for money,” as, for example, the heroine of A. Ostrovsky does in the play “Own people - we will settle.”
This expression is found in A. Chekhov, and I. Shmelev, and other classics and writers. And this, of course, is not the only such common idiom. Examples are endless.
The most important feature of phraseological units is their metaphorical, figurative nature. Academician N. M. Shansky even gave them such a definition as "miniature works of art." Can great creations fully exist without them?
Use of idioms in the media
Modern newspapers and magazines try to give the presentation of their materialsexpressiveness, expressiveness. The language of the media is enriched with the ability of sustainable turnovers not only to define some object or phenomenon, but also to show their assessment by the author. The emotionality of phraseological units “works” for this. Their functional and stylistic qualities are widely used in various genres of journalism.
Idioms of the Russian language in the field of mass media "allow themselves" to swap their constituent words, as well as add or subtract them, which by and large contradicts the scientific point of view on the structure of phraseological units. This is done to enhance the desired impression.
So, in the press you can find "extended" idioms like "incite serious passions" instead of the established "incite passions", "soap your neck well" - "soap your neck". The phrase "he went through fire and water" can be found without the final words "and copper pipes".
The more inventively a journalist uses phraseological units, the more catchy material he gets, and the more adequate the reader's reaction to it will be.
Using idioms in colloquial speech
Stable lexical phrases, like words, have the main function that they are able to name objects and their features, phenomena and states, as well as actions. Idioms of the Russian language can be replaced by one word and vice versa. So, in colloquial speech, instead of the word “carelessly”, the stable expression “sleeveless” is found much more often. If you want to emphasize a small amount of something, instead of the word "little" it will sound more like "withgulkin's nose" or "the cat cried". Confuse - confuse, to your liking (not to your liking) - like (dislike). You can give many examples of idioms when they win in competition with ordinary words.
A conversation sounds much more lively if, characterizing someone's courage, the interlocutors agree that he is "not from the timid"; that someone did their job not somehow, but “through a stump-deck”; and someone else is dressed in a brand new suit, that is, a new one, and after talking, they will go to “kill the worm” instead of the banal “snack”.
The role of idioms in Russian
Phraseological units occupy a special place in our vocabulary. Idioms of the Russian language are widely used both in epic works of oral folk art, classical and modern literature, being a very important tool for their creation, and in the media and everyday colloquial speech.
They are found literally at every step, and therefore it is interesting to know their origin and it is necessary - meaning, meaning. Thanks to this, it will be possible to use them competently and appropriately, enriching and making your own speech more colorful. In addition, this knowledge will help to better understand various literary texts.
The role of idioms in our language is quite large also because thanks to them you can express your attitude to this or that event or phenomenon as figuratively as possible, “turning on” the figurative meaning.
You can also call the laconization of speech. Phraseologism, shortening it, as if squeezing it,makes her more energetic.
The role of idioms in foreign languages
Phraseological units are the we alth of Russian vocabulary. However, this language layer is sufficiently inherent in other systems. Extremely interesting are the Chinese idioms , which are one of the deepest legacies of the culture and traditions of this country. There are about 14 thousand of them in the corresponding dictionary.
Equivalent to Chinese idioms in other languages is difficult to find, because they are often based on some kind of national legend or historical fact.
In the same way, idioms of the English language represent an essential part of the English lexicon. With translation, as well as from Russian into other foreign languages, difficulties also arise here. An example of a classic set expression is the English phrase It's raining cats and dogs, which literally translates as "raining cats and dogs." This is an analogue of the Russian idiom “it pours like a bucket.”
As in our language, in English phraseological fusions are used in different speech styles and in different literary genres.
Conclusion
Some of their phraseological fusions are used quite often, others less often, but each of them is a grain from the "golden reserve" of the national language and national history.
Chinese idioms are especially noteworthy in this sense, since they not only emphasize the "wingedness" of expressions, but are carriers of traditional Chinese culture, in which such humanqualities like wisdom, honesty and fidelity, propriety and friendliness. All this is the main content of phraseological units of the Middle Kingdom.
Having found out what an idiom is, we can conclude: it is the wisdom of this or that people, collected throughout its history and preserved to this day. The presence of figurative stable turns gives depth and special coloring to any language.
