I Phraseology as a science

He played second fiddle to her in his father’s heart (Galsworthy).

…She disliked playing second fiddle (Christie).

To play second fiddle ‘to occupy a secondary, subordinate position”.

It must be rather fun having a skeleton in the cupboard (Miline).

Hate skeletons in the cupboard (Ibid).

A.V. Koonin¹ shows the possibility of morphological changes in adjectives forming part of phraseological units:

He’s deader than a doornail.

It made the night blacker than pitch.

The Centerville’s have blue blood, for instances, the bluest in the England.

It goes without saying that the possibility of a morphological change cannot regularly serve as a distinctive features, because it may take place only in a limited number of set expressions (verbal or nominal).

The question of syntactic ties within a set expression is even more controversial. All the authors agree set expressions (for the most part) represent one member of the sentence, but opinions differ as to whether this means that there are no syntactical ties within set expressions themselves. Actually the number of words in a sentence is not necessarily to the number of its member.

The existence of syntactical relations within a set expression can be proved by the possibility of syntactical transformations (however limited) or inversion of elements and the substitution of the variable member, all this without destroying the set expression as such. By a variable element we mean the element of set expression which is structurally necessary but free to vary lexically. It is usually indicated in dictionaries by indefinite pronouns, often interested in round brackets:

Make (somebody’s) hair stand on end ‘to give the greatest astonishment pr fright to another person’;

Sow (one’s) wild oats ‘to indulge in dissipation while young’.

The word in brackets can be freely substituted:

Make (my, your, her, the reader’s ) hair stand on end.

The sequence of constant elements may be broken and some additional words inserted which, splitting the set expressions, do not destroy it, but establish syntactical ties with its regular elements. The examples are chiefly limited to verbal expressions, e.g. the chairman broke the ice-Ice was broken by chairman; He has burnt his boats and… -Having burnt his boats he…

Pronominal substitution is illustrated by the following examples: “Hold your tongue, Lady L. “Hold yours, my good fool”

All these facts are convincing manifestations of syntactical ties within the units in question. Containing the same elements these units can change their morphological from and syntactical structure; they may be called changeable set expressions, as contrasted to stereotyped or unchangeable set expressions, admitting no change either morphological or syntactical. The examples discussed in the previous paragraph mostly belong to this second type indivisible and unchangeable; they are nearer a word than their more flexible counterparts.

This opposition is definitely correlated with structural properties.

All these examples proving the divisibility and variability of set expressions

Throw light on the difference between them and words.

Set expressions have their own specific features, which enhance their stability and cohesion. These are their euphonic, imaginative and connotative qualities. It has been often pointed out that many set expressions are distinctly rhythmical, contain alliteration, rhyme, imagery, contrast, are based on puns, etc. these features have always been treated from the point of view of style and expressiveness. Their cementing function is perhaps no less important.

All these qualities ensure the strongest possible contact between the elements; give them their peculiar muscular feel, so that in pronouncing something like stuff and nonsense the speaker can enjoy some release of pent-up nervous tension. Consider the following sentence:

Tommy would come back to her safe and sound.

Safe and sound is somehow more reassuring that the synonyms word uninjured, which could have been used.

These euphonic and connotative qualities also prevent substitution for another purely linguistics, though not semantic, reason-any substitution would destroy the euphonic effect. Consider, for instance, the result of synonymic substitution in the above alliterative pair safe and sound. Secure and uninjured has the same denotative meaning but sound so dull and trivial that the phrase may be considered destroyed and one is justified in saying that safe and sound admits no substitution.

Rhythmic qualities are characteristic of almost all set expressions. They are especially marked in such pairs as far and wide, far and near ‘many places both near and distant; by fits and starts ‘irregularly’; heart and soul ‘with complete devotion to cause’. Rhythm is combined with reiteration in the following well-known phrases:

more and more, on and on, one by one, through and through.

Alliteration occurs in many cases:

part and parcel ‘an essential and necessary part’;

from pillar to post; in for a penny, in for a pound; head over hills; without

rhyme or any reason; pick of the pops; a bee in one’s bonnet; the why and    wherefore.

It’s interesting to note that alliterative phrases often contain obsolete elements, not used elsewhere. In the above expressions these are main, an obsolete synonym to might, and rack, probably a variant of wreck.

As one the elements becomes obsolete and falls out of the language, demotivation may set in, and this, paradoxical through it may seem, also tends to increase the stability and constancy of a set expression. The process is completed, because the preservation of obsolete elements in set expression is in its turn assisted by all the features mentioned above. Some more examples of set expressions containing obsolete elements are: hue and cry; loud clamour about something’ (a synonymic pair with the obsolete word hue);leave in the lurch ‘to leave in a helpless position’(with the obsolete noun lurch meaning ‘ambitious’); not a whit ‘not at all’ (with the obsolete word whit-a variant of Wight ‘creature’, ‘thing’-not used outside this expression and meaning ‘the smallest thin imaginable’).

Rhyme is also characteristic of set expressions:

fair and square ‘honest’;

by hook or by crook ‘by any method, right or wrong’ (its elements are not only rhymed but synonymous).

High and dry was originally used about ships, meaning ‘out of the water, aground; at present it is mostly used figuratively in several metaphorical meanings: ‘isolated’, ‘left without help’, ‘out of date’. This capacity more feature that makes set expressions similar to words.

Semantic stylistic features contracting set expressions into unit of fixed context are simile, contrast, metaphor and synonymy. For example:

as like as two peas, as old as hills and older than the hills (simile);

from beginning to end, for love or money, more or less, sooner or later (contrast);

a lame duck, a pack of lies, arms race, to swallow the pill, in a nutshell metaphor); by leap and bounds, pround and haughty (synonymy).

A few more combinations of different features in the same phrase are:

as good as gold, as pleased as Punch, as a fiddle (alliteration, simile);

now or never, to kill or cure (alliteration and contrast).

More rarely there is an international pun:

as cross as two sticks means ‘very angry’.

This play upon words makes the phrase jocular. The comic effect is created by the absurdity of the combination making use of two different meanings of the word cross a and n.

For all practical purposes the boundary between set expressions and free phrases is a vague. The point that is to be kept in mind is that there are also some structural features of a set expression correlated with its invariability.

There are, of course, other cases when set expressions lose their metaphorical pictures, having preserved some fossilized words and phrases, the meaning of which is no longer correctly understood. For instance, the expression buy a pig in a poke may be still used, although poke ‘bag’ (c.f. pouch, pocket) does not occur in other contexts. Expression taken from obsolete sport and occupations may survive in their new figurative meaning. In these cases the euphonic qualities of the expression are even more important. A muscular and irreducible phrase is also memorable. The muscular feeling is of special importance in slogans and battle cries. Saint George and Dragon for Merrie England, the medieval battle cry, was a rhythmic unit to which a man on a horse could swing his sword. The modern Scholarships not battleship! Can be conveniently scanned by a marching crowd.

Semantic classification:

1. The degree of semantic isolation

2. The degree of disinformation

1. Opaque in meaning (трудный для понимания) the meaning of the individual words can’t be summed together to produce the meaning of the whole.

Ex.: to kick the bucket = to die

It contains no clue to the idiomatic meaning of this expression

The degree of semantic isolation is the highest. => phraseological fusions

2. Semi-opaque one component preserves its direct meaning

Ex.: to pass the buck = to pass responsibility –  свалить ответственность

=> phraseological unities

3. Transparent both components in their direct meaning but the combination acquires figurative sense

Ex.: to see the light = to understand

=> phraseological combinations

Koonin: “Structural-semantic classification”

1. Nominative

A hard nut to crack

2. Nominative –communicative

The ice is broken

3. Interjectional & modal

(Emotions, feelings)

Oh, my eye! (= Oh, my God!)

As sure as eggs is eggs (просто, как  2х2)

4. Communicative (proverbs, sayings)

There is no smoke without fire.

Nominative:

Substantive: crocodile tears

Adjective: as mad as a hatter, as cool as a cucumber

Adverbial: by & by, to & fro

Verbal: to live like a lord

The Koonin’s classification is the latest outstanding achievement in the Russian theory of phraseology. The classification is based on the combined structural - semantic principle and it also considers the quotient of stability of phraseological units.

I. Nominative phraseological units - are represented by word - groups, including the ones with one meaningful word, and coordinative phrases of the type wear and tear, well and good.

Nominative phraseological units are units denoting objects, phenomena, actions, states, qualities. They can be: 
 
a) substantive – a snake in the grass (змея подколодная), a bitter pill to swallow; 
 
b) adjectival – long in the tooth (старый); 
 
c) adverbial – out of a blue sky, as quick as a flash; 
 
d) prepositional – with an eye to (с намерением), at the head of. 

II. Nominative - communicative phraseological units - include word - groups, of the type to break the ice - the ice is broken, that is, verbal word - groups which are transformed into a sentence when the verb is used in the Passive Voice.

Nominative-communicative units contain a verb: to dance on a volcano, to set the Thames on fire (сделать что-то необычное), to know which side one's bread is buttered, to make (someone) turn (over) in his grave, to put the hat on smb’s misery (в довершение всех его бед). 

III. Phraseological units which are neither nominative nor communicative include interjectional word - groups.

IV. Communicative phraseological units are represented by proverbs and sayings.

Communicative phraseological units are represented by provebs (An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening; Never say “never”) and sayings. Sayings, unlike proverbs, are not evaluative and didactic:  That’s another pair of shoes! It’s a small world.

V. Interjectional phraseological units express the speaker’s emotions and attitude to things:  A pretty kettle of fish! (хорошенькое дельце), Good God! God damn it! Like hell!

Koonin’s Classification:

1. With one peak (Одновершинные)

(one peak phraseological units, one form word, one notional )

Ex.: to leave for good

By heart

At bay – быть в отчаянном положении

2. Phrasemes with the structure of subordinate or coordinate word combination.

Ex.: a bitter pill to swallow

All the world & his wife

3. Partly predicative

(a word + subordinate clause )

Ex.: It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back

4. Verbal with (infinitive, passive)

Ex.: to eat like a wolf

The Rubicon is crossed

5. Phrasal units with a simple or complex sentence structure

Ex.: There is a black sheep in every flock.

It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back

A.V. Koonin classified phraseological units according to the way they are formed. He pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological units.

Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is formed on the basis of a free word-group:

a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups, e.g. in cosmic technique we can point out the following phrases: «launching pad» in its terminological meaning is «стартовая площадка», in its transferred meaning - «отправной пункт», «to link up» - «стыковать космические корабли» in its transformed meaning it means - «знакомиться».

2. A large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by transforming their meaning, e.g. «granny farm» - «пансионат для престарелых», «Trojan horse» - «компьютерная программа»;
3. Phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration, e.g. «a sad sack» - «несчачтный случай», «culture vulture» - «человек, увлекающийся культурой», «fudge and nudge» - «уклончивость».
4. They can be formed by means of expressiveness, especially it is characteristic for forming interjections, e.g. «My aunt!)), « Hear, hear!» etc
5. They can be formed by means of distorting a word group, e.g. «odds and ends» was formed from «odd ends»;
6. They can be formed by using archaisms, e.g. «in brown study» means «in gloomy meditation» where both components preserve their archaic meanings,
7. They can be formed by using a sentence in a different sphere of life, e.g. «that cock won't fight» can be used as a free word-group when it is used in sports (cock fighting), it becomes a phraseological unit when it is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically;

h) They can be formed when we use some unreal image, e.g. «to have butterflies in the stomach» - «испытывать волнение», «to have green fingers» - «преуспевать как цветовод - любитель» etc.

i) They can be formed by using expressions of writers or politicians in everyday life, e.g. «corridors of power» (Snow), «American dream» (Alby) «locust years» (Churchil), «the winds of change» (Mс Millan). Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another phraseological unit; they are:

1. Conversion, e.g. «to vote with one's feet» was converted into «vote with one's feet»;
2. Changing the grammar form, e.g. «Make hay while the sun shines» is transferred into a verbal phrase - «to make hay while the sun shines»;
3. Analogy, e.g. ((Curiosity killed the cat» was transferred into «Care killed the cat»;

d) Contrast, e.g. «cold surgery» - «a planned before operation» was formed by contrasting it with «acute surgery», «thin cat» - «a poor person» was formed by contrasting it with «fat cat»;

e) Shortening of proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb «You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear» by means of clipping the middle of it the phraseological unit «to make a sow's ear».

f) Borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as translation loans, e.g. «living space» (German), « to take the bull by the horns» (Latin) or by means of phoneticborrowings «meche blanche» (French), «corpse d'elite» (French), «sotto voce» (Italian) etc.

Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style and are not used very often.

 

The etymological classification of phraseological units 
 
According to their origin phraseological units are divided into native and borrowed. 
Native phraseological units are connected with British regalia, traditions, history: 
By bell book and candle (jocular) – бесповоротно. This unit originates from the text of the form of excommunication (отлучение от церкви) which ends with the following words: ^ Doe to the book, quench the candle, ring the book! 
To carry coal to Newcastle (parallells: Ехать в Тулу со своим самоваром, везти сов в Афины, везти пряности в Иран) 
According to Cocker athletics – по всем правилам, точно. E. Cocker is the author of a well-known book. 
To native phraseological units also belong familiar quotations came from works of English literature. A lot of them were borrowed from works by Shakespeare: a fool’s paradise (“Romeo and Juliet”), the green-eyed monster (“Othello”),murder will out – шила в мешке не утаишь (“Macbeth”), etc.  
A great number of native phraseological units originate from professional terminologies or jargons: one’s last card, the game is up/over lay one's cards on the table hold all the aces (terms of gambling). 
 
Borrowed phraseological units come from several sources.  
 
A number of units were borrowed from the Bible and were fully assimilated: to cast pearl before swine, the root of all evil, a woolf in sheep’s clothing, to beat swords into plough-shares. 
A great amount of units were taken from ancient mythology and literature: the apple of discord, the golden age, the thread of Ariadne, at the greek calends ( до греческих календ, никогда), etc, They are international in their character.

A lot of phraseologisms were borrowed from different languages – let’s return to our muttons (revenons à nos moutons),blood and iron (принцип политики Бисмарка – Blut und Eisen), blue blood, to lose face (кит. tiu lien) and from the other variants of the English language (AmE) – a green light, bark up the wrong tree, to look like a million dollars, time is money (B. Franklin “Advice to a Young Tradesman”)

2. Semantic structures and features of phraseological units

In linguistics, phraseology describes the context in which a word is used. This often includes typical usages and sequences, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and multi-word lexical units.

Phraseology appeared in the domain of lexicology and is undergoing the process of segregating as a separate branch of linguistics. Lexicology deals with words and their meanings, whereas phraseology studies such collocations of words (phraseologisms, phraseological units, idioms), where the meaning of the whole collocation is different from the simple sum of literal meanings of the words, comprising a phraseological unit. F.e. ‘Dutch auction’ is not an auction taking place in Netherlands. The meaning of this phraseological unit refers to any auction, where instead of rising, the prices fall (compare “Dutch comfort”, “Dutch courage”, “Dutch treat” reflecting complicated historical factors). Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings ("to kick the bucket", “Greek gift”, “drink till all's blue”, “drunk as a fiddler (drunk as a lord, as a boiled owl)”, “as mad as a hatter (as a march hare)”).