Phraseological combinations: examples

Phraseology is the scourge of everyone who learns a foreign language, because, when confronted with them, a person often can not understand what is at stake. Often, in order to understand the meaning of a particular utterance, one must 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 kinds of them are and how they differ. Particular attention in this matter should be given to phraseological combinations, because they (because of the different ways of their classification) create the most problems. So, what is it, what are their distinguishing features and in which dictionaries can you find clues?

Phraseology and the subject of its study

The science of phraseology, which specializes in the study of diverse stable combinations, is relatively young. In Russian linguistics, it began to stand out as a separate section only in the eighteenth century, and even at the end of this century, thanks to Mikhail Lomonosov.

The most famous of its researchers are linguists Victor Vinogradov and Nikolai Shansky, and in English - A. McKay, W. Weinreich and L. P. Smith. By the way, it should be noted that English-speaking linguists, in contrast to 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 the study of which this discipline concentrates its attention, is phraseological or phraseological turnover. What is it? This is a combination of several words, which is stable in structure and composition (not compiled anew every time, but used in an already ready-made form). For this reason, when syntactically analyzing phraseology, regardless of its type and length of its constituent words, always appears as a single member of the sentence.

The phraseological turn in each language is a unique thing, connected with its history and culture. It can not be fully translated without losing its meaning. Therefore, when translating, the most commonly used are phraseologies that exist in another language.

For example, the famous English phraseological combination: "Keep your fingers on the pulse", which literally means "keep your fingers on the pulse," but it makes sense to "keep abreast of events." However, since in Russian there is no one hundred percent equivalent, it is replaced by a very similar one: "Keep your hand on the pulse."

Sometimes, due to the close location of countries, similar phraseological expressions appear in their languages, and then there is no problem with the translation. So, the Russian expression "to beat the buckets" (sit back) has its twin brother in the Ukrainian language - "bytyk's life."

Often similar expressions come simultaneously in several languages due to some important event, for example, such as Christianization. Despite belonging to different Christian denominations, in the Ukrainian, French, Spanish, German, Slovak, Russian and Polish languages, the phraseology "alpha and omega" taken from the Bible and referring "from the beginning to the end" is widespread (fully, thoroughly).

Types of phraseological turns

On the classification of phraseology, so far, linguists have not come to one opinion. Some also add proverbs to them ("You can not stay without the sun, you can not live without a sweet one"), proverbs ("God will not give - the pig will not eat") and language stamps ("hot support", "working environment"). But while they are in the minority.

At the moment, the most popular in the East Slavic languages is the classification of the linguist Viktor Vinogradov, who distributed all stable phrases in three key categories:

• Phraseological fusion.
• Phraseological unity.
• Phraseological combinations.

Many linguists correlate fusion and unity with the term "idiom" (by the way, this word is rooted in the noun "idiot") which is actually a synonym for the noun phraseology. 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 fusion, unity, combinations are translated precisely with its help - idioms.

The question of phraseological expressions

Vinogradova's colleague Nikolay Shansky insisted on the existence of the fourth type - expressions. In fact, he divided Vinogradov's phraseological combinations into two categories: the actual combination and expression.

Although the classification of Shansky and leads to confusion in the practical distribution of stable phrases, but it allows you to more deeply consider this linguistic phenomenon.

What is the difference between phraseological fusion, phraseological unity, phraseological combinations

First of all, it is worthwhile to understand that these stable units were divided into these types according to the level of lexical independence of their components.

Revolutions, which are absolutely inseparable, the meaning of which is not related to the meaning of their components, were called phraseological fusion. For example: "sharpen the lasas" (lead a silly conversation), to wear one's heart on one's sleeve (literally means "to carry the heart on the sleeve"). By the way, for fusion is typical figurativeness, most often they arise from folk speech, especially obsolete expressions or from ancient books.

Phraseological unity is a more independent kind, in relation to its components. Unlike fusion, their semantics are due to the meaning of their components. For this reason, they include puns. For example: "small and remote" (people doing something well, despite their not impressive external data) or Ukrainian phraseology: "katyuzi on merit" (the perpetrator received a punishment corresponding to his own misdemeanor). By the way, both examples illustrate a unique feature of the unity: rhymed consonance. Perhaps that is why Viktor Vinogradov attributed proverbs and proverbs to them, although they are still controverted by phraseology by many linguists.

The third kind: 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 whole turnover. For example: "unrestrained drunkenness", "raise the issue."

Phraseological combinations in Russian (as in Ukrainian and English) have a special property: their components can be replaced by synonyms without loss of meaning: "to touch honor" - "to touch pride", "crimson ringing" - "melodic ringing". As an example from the language of proud Britons, the idiom is to show one's teeth, which can be adapted for any person: to show my (your, his, her, our) teeth.

Phraseological expressions and combinations: distinctive features

The classification of Viktor Vinogradov, in which only one analytical form (phraseological combinations) was distinguished by composition, was gradually supplemented by Nikolai Shanskii. Distinguishing idioms and combinations was quite simple (because of their differences in structure). But the new unit Shansky - expression ("wolves fear - in the woods not to go") was more difficult to distinguish from combinations.

But, if you look at the question, you can see a clear difference, which relies on the value of phraseological combinations. So, the expressions consist of absolutely free words, fully possessing independent semantics ("not all that gold - what glitters"). However, from ordinary phrases and sentences, they differ in that they are stable expressions that are not arranged according to a new one, but are used ready-made as a template: "the horseradish radish is not sweeter" (the Ukrainian version of the "radish of radish is not malt").

Phraseological combinations ("giving a head to a clipping" - "to give a hand to a clipping") always have a few words with unmotivated meaning in their composition, while all the components of the expressions are absolutely semantically independent ("Man is sounds proudly"). By the way, this their peculiarity makes some linguists doubt the belonging of expressions to phrases.

What combination of words is not a phraseological turn

Phraseological terms, from a lexical point of view, are a unique phenomenon: on the one hand, they have all the signs of word combinations, but they are closer in their properties to words. Knowing these features, you can easily learn to distinguish between stable phraseological combinations, unity, splices or expressions from ordinary phrases.

• Phraseological units, like phrases, consist of several interconnected lexemes, but most often their meaning is incapable of exceeding the sum of the meanings of their constituents. For example: "lose your head" (stop thinking sensibly) and "lose your wallet." The words that make up phraseology are most often used figuratively.
• When used in spoken and written speech, the composition of word combinations is formed anew each time. But the unity and fusion are constantly reproduced in the finished form (which makes them related to speech clichés). The phraseological combination of words and the phraseological expression in this question sometimes confuse. For example: "hang your head" (sad), although it is a phraseology, but each of its components is able to freely appear in common phrases: "hang your coat" and "lower your head."
• Phraseological turnover (due to the integrity of the meaning of its components) in most cases can be safely replaced with the word-synonym, which can not be done with the phrase. For example: the expression "servant Melpomene" can easily be changed to a simple word "artist" or "actor".
• Phraseologisms never act as titles. For example, the hydronym "Dead Sea" and phraseological combinations "the dead season" (unpopular season), "lying dead weight" (lying unused cargo).

Classification of phraseological units by origin

Considering the origin of phraseological combinations, expressions, unities and connections, they can be divided into several groups.

• Combinations that came from the people's speech: "get on your feet", "without a king in your head" (stupid), "without a year a week" (very short term).
• Professional clichés, which gradually turned into phraseological units: "black and white," "pour water at the mill," "at cosmic speed."
• Became cult statements of famous historical personalities or literary heroes, film characters: "The main thing is that the suit was sitting" ("Wizards"), "We need more guys" (M. Zhvanetsky), I have a dream (Martin Luther King).
• Stable phraseological combinations, borrowed from other languages, sometimes without translation. For example: o tempora, o mores (about times, about customs), carpe diem (catch the moment), tempus vulnera sanat (time heals wounds).
• Quotes from the Bible: "casting beads" (telling / showing something to ungrateful listeners / viewers), "waiting until the second coming" (wait for something long and probably meaningless), "prodigal son", "manna of heaven".
• Sayings from ancient literature: "apple of discord" (controversial subject), "gifts of the Danaites" (evil caused by the mask of good), "the look of Medusa" (something that makes you stiffen in place, like a stone).

Other classifications: the version of Peter Dudik

• In addition to Vinogradov and Shansky, other linguists tried to separate the phraseology, guided by their own principles. So, the linguist Dudik singled out not four but five types of phraseological units:
• Semantically inseparable idioms: "to be on a short leg" (close to someone to know).
• Phraseological unity with a more free semantics of the constituent elements: "lather your neck" (punish someone).
• Phraseological expressions, completely consisting of independent words, to the total value of which can not be chosen a synonym. To them, Dudik mainly refers proverbs and proverbs: "Goose pig is not a comrade."
• Phraseological combinations are phrases based on metaphorical meanings: "blue blood", "falcon eye".
• Phraseological word combinations. Characterized by the lack of metaphoricality and the syntactic unity of the components: "big tsatsa."

Classification by Igor Melchuk

Apart from all of the above, the classification of Melchuk's phraseological units is worthwhile. According to it, much more species are allocated, which are divided into four categories.

• Degree: complete, semifrazen, quasi-free.
• The role of pragmatic factors in the formation of phraseology: semantic and pragmatems.
• To which language unit is: a lexeme, a phrase, a syntactic phrase.
• A component of a linguistic sign that has undergone phraseology: the syntactical sign, meaning and signified.

Classification of Boris Larin

This linguist distributed stable combinations of words according to the stages of their evolution, from usual phrases to phraseological units:

• Variables of word combinations (analogues of combinations and phrases): "velvet season".
• Those who partially lost their primary meaning, but could find metaphoricality and stereotypy: "keep the stone in your bosom".
• Idioms completely devoid of the semantic independence of their components, and also lost their connection with their original lexical meaning and grammatical role (analogous to phraseological fusion and unity): "out of the blue" (badly).

Common examples of phraseological combinations

Below are a few fairly well-known stable phrases.

• "To be not at ease" (to feel uncomfortable).
• "Dull eyes" (embarrassed).
• "Defeat" (defeat someone).
• "A sensitive issue" (a problem that requires a tactful consideration).

Although the classification of Vinogradov and Shansky is not applied to the idioms of the English language, one can choose stable phrases that can be classified as phraseological combinations.
Examples:

• Bosom friend - bosom buddy (bosom friend - bosom buddy).
• A Sisyfean labor (Sisyphean labor).
• A pitched battle - a fierce battle. A fierce battle is a 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 an absolute guarantee of the absence of error. Therefore, it is still worthwhile to know which dictionaries you can find a hint, if you can not accurately determine the type of phraseology. All dictionaries of this type are divided into monolingual and multilingual. Below are translated the most famous books of this kind, in which you can find examples of stable expressions, the most common in the Russian language.

• Monolingual: "Educational Phraseological Dictionary" by Elena Bystrova; "Burning verb - the dictionary of folk phraseology" by V. Kuzmich; "Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language" by A. Fedoseyev; "The Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language" by I. Fedoseyev and "Mikheil Mikhelson's Great Dictionary of Values and Phraseology".
• A. Kunina, "The Great Polish-Russian, Russian-Polish Phraseological Dictionary" Yu. Lukshina and Random House Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms by Sofia Lyubenskaya. Multilingual: "The Big Anglo-Russian Phraseological Dictionary" (twenty thousand phraseological revisions).

Probably, having learned that sometimes it is not easy to discern at once, to which kind this or that phraseology belongs, this topic can seem incredibly complex. However, the devil is not as terrible as he is painted. The main way to develop the skills 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 the history of the occurrence of such phrases and memorize them. This will not only help in the future not to fall into embarrassing situations, but also make the speech very beautiful and imaginative.