Topics of phraseological

research:
 syntax of idioms,
 semantics of idioms,
 pragmatics of idioms,
 cognitive research.
Characteristics of classifications of PUs:
1. lexico-grammatical & pragmatic aspects;
2. division into:
 ‘word-like’ units: in the nick of time;
break one’s journey
 ‘sentence-like’ units:There’s no fool like
an old fool;
3. 1. & 2. result in binomials, stereotyped
comparisons, proverbs, winged words,
formulae, etc. → not restricted to a
particular language.
Defining characteristics of PUs:
1.Polylexemic structure;
2.Semantic and syntactic
stability: (as) dry as a bone;
by/in leaps and bounds; sweep
sth under the rug/carpet;
3.Lexicalization: memorized
holistically;
Defining characteristics of PUs
(cont.):
4.Idiomaticity: pull one‘s leg =
tease sb;
5.Connotative features:
He showed me forever that true
love takes effort and involves not
caring two hoots what other people
think (= not care at all).
Idiom defined by three
characteristics:

 stability (or reproducibility),

 idiomaticity,
 polylexicality.
Stability:
 prefabricated units;
 reproduced with the same form &
meaning;
 not freely constructed anew.
Priority given to:
 Lexicalization
 Conventionalization
Idiomaticity:
Idioms → semantic irregularity
Figurative idioms:
 primary conceptual level → literal meaning
 secondary conceptual level → lexicalized
meaning = figurative meaning
 semantic bridge between the above two
levels → image component
Polylexicality:
a constitutive factor → idioms & and other
PUs
Idiom: complex (structure) : simplex
(meaning):
She washed her hands of the matter. (=
refuse to have anything more to do with
sth)
1) Pure idioms:
 constant re-use → figurative extension →
petrification
 fixed & semantically opaque or metaphorical
kick the bucket (= to die)
2) Figurative idioms:
 variation rare, but a close shave/call
 pronoun substitution unlikely, but Bill had a
narrow shave and Fred an even narrower
one.
Binomials:
 two words of the same grammatical category,
 identical level of syntactic hierarchy,
 lexical link (and, or, but; prepositions): law and
order; sooner or later; slowly but surely; from
top to bottom,
 patterns:
 identical words: side by side; by and by,
 near-synonyms: first and foremost, EMPHASIS
 co-hyponyms: bits and pieces; hammer and tongs,
 mutually complementary items: knife and fork; food
and drink,
 opposite notions: sink or swim; rain or shine.
Elements expressing the following ideas
generally first:
 here: here and there; this and that;
 now: now and then; sooner or later;
 adult: father and son; cat and kitten;
 male: man and woman; husband and wife;
 positive: plus or minus; more or less;
 singular: one or two; once or twice;
 friendly: friend or foe; for or against;
 power source: bow and arrow; car and
driver.
Stereotyped comparisons (= (frozen) similes):
 structurally fixed + emphatic function

Aristotle:
 metaphors and similes similar → metaphors abbreviated
similes.
 metaphors: comparandum, comparatum and tertium
comparationis (TC).

Structure of similes:

Peter is as proud as a peacock

comparandum (= topic, tenor)

TC (= ground)
comparatum (= vehicle)
Two frequent types:
 (as) + adjective + as + noun phrase:
(as) strong as a horse; (as) white as snow
 (verb) + like + noun phrase: eat like a horse;
(behave) like a bull in a china shop

Intensifying figurative NPs may vary:

work like a horse / a dog / a slave / a Trojan /
a black / a nigger / like stink
Adjectival comparisons → analogy expressed
explicitly:
(as) strong as a horse

Verbal comparisons → TC inferred by the

reader/hearer:
‘a lot’ in eat like a horse;
‘in a rough awkward manner’ in (behave) like a
bull in a china shop.
Transparent vs. non-transparent meaning:
(as) white as snow vs. as right as rain (=
perfectly all right)
Fossilized or rare words as constituents:
as plain as a pikestaff (= very obvious).

Alliteration (in adjectival comparisons):

as busy as a bee; as dead as a/the dodo,
Rhythm and rhyme:
(as) drunk as a skunk (= very drunk).
Proverb:
 concise, well-known sentence → general
truth, shared experience, piece of advice,
moral principle
 easy to memorize, handed down from
generation to generation.
Characteristics:
 metaphorical: The early bird catches the
worm.
 intelligible in content + wide circulation:
Liars should have a good memory.
Structure:
 simple sentences: A bird in the hand is worth two in
the bush.
 complex sentences: When the cat’s away, the mice
will play.
 elliptic construction without a finite verb: Waste not,
want not.
Proverbial wisdom expressed grammatically by:
 determiners (all, every, no; a, an):
All roads lead to Rome. / A woman’s place is in the home.
 adverbs with generalizing, ‘categorical’ meaning (always,
never):
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
The construction he who → formal
marker of proverbs:
He who laughs last laughs longest.

Stylistic features:
 alliteration: Live and let live.
 assonance: A stitch in time saves
nine.
 repetition: Different strokes for
different folks.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Netherlandish Proverbs (also called: Flemish
Proverbs, The Blue Cloak, The Topsy Turvy World), 1559
To bang one's head against a brick wall →
To try to achieve the impossible

To be armed to the teeth →

To be heavily armed
 The die is cast →
The decision is made

To look through one's fingers → To

turn a blind eye
 To hang one's cloak according to
the wind →
To adapt one's viewpoint to the
current opinion

To try to kill two flies with one stroke

→
To be efficient (equivalent to today's
To kill two birds with one stone)
To throw one's money into the water →
To waste one's money

If the blind lead the blind both

will fall in the ditch →
There is no point in being guided
by others who are equally
ignorant
To cast roses before swine →
To waste effort on the unworthy
Winged words:
defined by their origin → an author or a historical
source.
Types of winged words:
 catchphrases, slogans, sententious remarks,
quotations.

Certain winged words → figurative expressions

derived from a source and metaphorically convey
its general sense:
forbidden fruit (Bible),
Potemkin villages (from 18th century memoirs).
Catchphrases:popular entertainer or a well-
known public figure:
The buck stops here
If you can't stand the heat President
Truman
(get out of the kitchen)
Function and form → varied from time to time:
The harsh truth is that the buck started here
and that it stops here as well.
Slogan: a word or word
combination used by a
political party or in
advertising
Just Do It (Nike’s slogan)
A sententious remark (= learned
proverb):
 heavier diction,
 source in literature.
One swallow makes no summer
(Aristotle)
Honesty is the best policy (Sir Edwin
Sandys)
Quotations:
 word-for-word references to a particular
text;
 develop into figurative lexical units;
 initial use as a citation lost;
 related to a specific text/author;
 origin identified → special wording.

(to be balanced) on a knife-edge (based on

a verse in the Iliad, Homer)
Routine formulae (= pragmatic idioms,
functional idioms): conventionalized
utterances with discoursal functions.

Functions & the social situations:

 greetings & leave-taking formulae: How do
you do?; Take care!;
 congratulations & commiserations: Merry
Christmas; May I express my sympathy;
 inquiries: May I ask who’s calling?; How
come?;
Functions & the social situations (cont.):
 apologies: Excuse me; No hard feelings;
 encouragements: Never mind; Keep smiling!;
 replies: You’re welcome; Touch wood!;
 warnings: Wet paint!; Beware of dog!;
 rhetorical formulae: so to speak; to the best of my
knowledge.
you know

filler
attention-seeking device
appeal for shared knowledge
Collocation: a combination of words in
close proximity to each other in
discourse.
strong tea (*heavy tea), to have patience
(*to keep patience), a close look (*an
exact look)
Types of collocations:
 open;
 restricted.
Anomalous collocations:
1. ill-formed: at all; of course; thank you;
2. cranberry: on behalf of; kith and kin;
3. defective
 one item with a meaning not found in other
collocations or contexts: at least
 one or more of the items semantically depleted: in
time;
4. Phraseological: on show & on display; to a …
degree & to a … extent.

Defective & phraseological collocations =

restricted collocations.
Paraphrasal verbs (support verb
construction, light verb construction):
 transitive verb (have) + noun phrase (a look);
 paraphrasal verbs in a broad sense,
 paraphrasal verbs in a narrow sense →
etymologically, the verb & the noun the same
root → simple verbs as synonyms:
to make use of – to use
to have a fight – to fight
to give a smile – to smile
Multi-word verbs (MWVs):
verb + particles → idiomatic meaning
Particles:
 prepositions,
 spatial adverbs.
Characteristics:
 widespread in native speech, especially in
spoken English,
 new MWVs constantly created.
Meaning:
 particles make MWVs unpredictable;
 prepositions arbitrary themselves;
 the meaning of the verbs less
controversial;
 if expressions refer to spatial locations &
movements → the meanings transparent;
 if they refer to more abstract concepts,
feelings, relations, etc. → the meanings
not transparent.
Types of MWVs:
 phrasal verbs,
 prepositional verbs,
 phrasal-prepositional verbs.
Criteria for different sub-classes:
1.transitivity & position of DO;
2.the number of particles.
 always followed by an object (transitive):
call for (John), look at (him)
 the object cannot follow the verb:
*call John for, *look him at
Meaning:
 ask for, refer to → meaning derived from
that of its constituents;
 go into (a problem) ‘investigate’, come by (the
book) ‘obtain’ → idiomatic expressions.
 transitive: bring up ‘raise’, look up ‘visit’,
 intransitive: give in ‘admit you have been defeated’, sit
down ‘move from a standing position to a sitting position’.
Transitive phrasal verbs:
 the particle precedes or follows the DO:
They switched on the light.
They switched the light on.
 the particle cannot precede personal pronouns:
They switched it on,
*They switched on it.
Intransitive phrasal verbs:
 main verb + particle (→ adverbials of place);

 inseparability: *broke again down;

 particles referring to directions → modified
by intensifiers: come right back, go straight
ahead, go straight on.
Meaning:
 deducible from components: play around
‘behave, treat sth in a careless way’,
 unpredictable: give in ‘surrender’, catch on
‘understand’, turn up ‘appear’.
 verb + two particles
 transitive: check up on (my friend),
stand up for (your rights).
Meaning:
 predictable from components: stay away
from ‘avoid’, keep out of ‘avoid’;
 figurative: stand up for ‘support’, walk
away with ‘steal and take away’;
 unpredictable: put up with ‘tolerate’,
walk out on ‘desert’.
Fusion of verb + one of the particles:
put up with
‘tolerate’ in I can’t put up with heavy
smokers
‘stay with’ also put up.
keep up with (the Joneses)
‘to compete with one’s neighbours or stay level with
prepositional verb keep
social changes’ →
up + preposition with