The English Language Has a Millennial History - Essay Example

Introduction English language has a millennial history. During this time it has accumulated a plenty of expressions, which people have considered to be successful, neat and proper. Thus a special layer of language has come into existence - a set of fixed expressions having an independent meaning. Good knowledge of a language, including knowledge of English, is impossible without knowledge and understanding of its fixed expressions. Such knowledge enormously facilitates reading of both publicistic literature, and fiction. Reasonable use of fixed expressions makes speech more idiomatic. Rosamund Moon claims that "fixed expressions, especially highly colorful and metaphorical idioms and proverbs, are comparatively infrequent. They appear to be more frequent in spoken text than written; although to date there are few extensive studies of their actual distribution". Strassler assesses the "frequency of idioms, excluding phrasal verbs, in spoken discourse as around one per 4.5 minutes of conversation. A survey of 240 English proverbs finds that there are around 33 instances of proverbs per million words of OHPC"1. As a matter of fact the use of fixed expressions, which are not translated literally, but are perceived after comprehension, amplifies the aesthetic aspect of language. By means of idioms the information aspect of language is supplemented with a sensual-intuitive description of our world, our life. In order to make a clear analysis of any phenomenon it is very important first to consider its terminology. While Moon is using fixed expressions and idioms (FEIs) as a general term, there are others in use, in addition to broader uses of idiom. "Phraseological unit is used in some Slavonic and German linguistic traditions as a superordinate term for multi-word lexical items: see, for example, Glser (1984: 348). Similarly phraseme is sometimes used as a superordinate term outside Anglo-American traditions, for example Mel'cuk (1995). There are, however, other uses for both terms. For example, Vinogradov and Tschernischova restrict phraseological unit to more metaphorical items, and Amosova (1963) uses phraseme for multi-word items which are not pure idioms: see Klappenbach (1968: passini). Phraseological unit and phraseme can be identified with Lyons's phrasal lexeme (1977: 23)"2. Classifications of fixed expressions and idioms Rosamund Moon's classification Now let us consider different types of classifications of fixed expressions and idioms. Moon limits classification of forms of fixed expressions to simple categories such as: Metaphors: semantically marked (non-compositional). There are three types of metaphors: 1. Opaque metaphors (for example: bite the bullet, kick the bucket); 2. Transparent metaphors (for example: behind someone's back, pack one's bags); 3. Semi-transparent metaphors (for example: on an even keel, pecking order)3. Formulae, which are pragmatically marked. Moon considers three different types of formulae4: 1. Similes (as good as gold); 2. Simple formulae/sayings: compositional strings with a special discourse function (alive and well, a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse); 3. Metaphorical/literal proverbs: (you can't have your cake and eat it, enough is enough). Anomalous collocations, collocations that are lexico-grammatically marked, grammatically ill-formed, or restricted, or contain a word or use of a word that is unique to the combination5. Within anomalous collocations Moon distinguishes four types: 1. Phraseological collocations: semi-productive constructions, occurring in paradigms (in/into/out of action, on show/display); 2. Cranberry collocations: idiosyncratic lexical component - one or more words found only in that collocation (in retrospect, kith and kin); 3. Defective collocations: idiosyncratic meaning component (in effect, foot the bill); 4. Ill-formed collocations: (at all, by and large). Collocations: "compositional word co-occurrence of markedly high frequency6. There are three types of such collocations: 1. Syntactic collocations: fully-productive phraseological collocations (too ... to ...) 2. Semantic collocations: co-occurrence preferences/priming effects (jam with FOOD) 3. Lexico-semantic collocations: collocation paradigms (rancid butter/fat, face the truth/facts/problem) Classification of V.V. Vinogradov Now let us consider Vinogradov's classification of fixed expressions, which is made from the point of view of semantic unity of their components. As it is known, fixed expression arise from a free combination of words, which is used in figurative meaning. Gradually this figurativeness forgets itself, evanesces, and the expression becomes fixed. Depending on to what extend nominative meanings of components of a fixed expression is evanesced, how strong their figurative meaning is, it is possible divide them into three types. According to Vinogradov's classification all phraseological units are divided into phraseological fusions, phraseological unities and phraseological combinations. Phraseological fusions Phraseological fusions are absolutely indivisible, indecomposable fixed expressions, which general meaning does not depend on the meaning of words making them: kick the bucket - to die, send somebody to Coventry - to boycott someone, to stop to intercommunicate with someone, at bay - to be in desperate position; be at somebody's beck and call - to be always ready to service, etc. Such fixed expressions have arisen on the basis of figurative meanings of their components, but subsequently these figurative meanings became not clear from the point of view of the modern language. For example, words 'bay', which means 'deadlock', and 'beck', which means 'wave of the hand' are archaisms and are not used anywhere except for above mentioned fixed expressions. Or for example the expression to be all thumbs has historically developed from the expression one's fingers are all thumbs. Similar it is observable in the fixed expressions Kilkenny cats, which, apparently, goes back to a legend about the fierce struggle between cities of Kilkenny and Irishtown in the seventeenth century that has led to their ruin, and send somebody to Coventry (Clarendon in his book 'The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England' writes that during English revolution in city of Coventry there was a prison for exiled royalists7. Thus, in phraseological fusions connection between direct and figurative meanings is lost, figurative meaning has become the main. For this reason it is rather difficult to translate such idioms into other languages. Phraseological fusions posses a number of characteristic attributes: 1. Their structure can include words, which are not used anywhere except for the given expression, and thereof from are not clear the point of view of the modern language; 2. The structure of such expressions can include archaisms; 3. They are syntactically indecomposable; 4. The rearrangement of their components in most cases is impossible; 5. They are characterized by tightness. They do not accept any additional words in their structure. On losing their independent lexical meaning, the words entering into the structure of a phraseological fusion, turn to components of a complex lexical unit, which by meaning comes near to a separate word. Therefore many phraseological fusions are synonymous to words: kick the bucket - to die; send somebody to Coventry - to ignore, etc. But it is necessary to remember that from the point of view of stylistics a fixed expression and a word are distant from each other. Phraseological unities Phraseological unities are such steady combinations of words, in which, at presence of the general figurative meaning, attributes of semantic separateness of components are distinctly kept: to spill the beans, to burn bridges, to have other fish to fry, to throw dust into somebody's eyes, to burn one's fingers, to throw mud at somebody, to be narrow in the shoulders, to paint the devil blacker than he is, to put a spoke in somebody's wheel, to hold one's cards close to one's chest, to gild refined gold, to paint the lily. Such fixed expressions to some extent close to phraseological fusions due to their figurativeness, metaphoricalness. But unlike phraseological fusions, where the figurative maintenance reveals only diachronically, in unities figurativeness is realized from the point of view of the modern language. That is why not without reason we may consider figurativeness as a characteristic attribute of only phraseological unities. The coherence between components of phraseological unity is motivated, and metaphorisation is distinctly felt. For understanding of phraseological unity it is necessary to perceive its components in figurative meaning. For example, the meaning of expression make a mountain out of a molehill - i.e. strongly to exaggerate something (which literally means to do a mountain from a hillock a mole's burrow), reveals only if to consider a word molehill in the meaning of 'something insignificant, small', and a word mountain as 'something very big'. In structure of phraseological unities there are no words, not clear from the point of view of the modern language. Characteristic attributes of phraseological unities: 1. Bright figurativeness and following from here opportunity of concurrence with in parallel existing word-combinations (to throw dust into somebody's eyes, to be narrow in the shoulders, to burn one's fingers, to burn bridges); 2. Preservation of semantics of separate components (to put a spoke in somebody's wheel); 3. Impossibility of replacement of one components others (to hold one's cards close to one's chest); 4. Emotional-expressive coloration plays the main role (to throw dust into somebody's eyes, to paint the devil blacker than he is); 5. Ability to enter synonymic relations with separate words or other phraseological units (to gild refined gold = to paint the lily). Phraseological combinations Phraseological combinations are steady phrases, which structure includes words both with free, and with phraseologically connected meaning: a bosom friend, a pitched battle, (to have) a narrow escape, to frown one's eyebrows, Adam's apple, a Sisyphean labor, rack one's brains, to pay attention to somebody - to pay to someone attention, etc. Unlike phraseological fusions and the phraseological unities, which possess holistic indecomposable meanings, phraseological combinations are characterized by a possibility of semantic decomposition. In this respect they close to free word-combinations. Characteristic attributes of phraseological combinations: 1. The alternativeness of one of components (a bosom friend, a bosom buddy) is admissible; 2. Synonymic replacement of a core word (a pitched battle, a fierce battle) is possible; 3. Inclusion of attributives (he frowned his thick eyebrows) is possible; 4. Rearrangement of components (a Sisyphean labor, a labor of Sisyphus) is admissible; 5. Necessarily free use of one of components and the connected use of another (a bosom friend: an enemy or someone another cannot be bosom). Phraseological expressions Some linguists, who "stick to the general understanding of phraseology and refer to it communicational units (sentences) and winged words, define the fourth type of phraseological units. Phraseological expression is a stable by form and usage semantically divisible construction, which components are words with free meanings. Phraseological expressions are proverbs, sayings and aphorisms of famous politicians, writers, scientists and artists"8. Their unique feature is reproducibility: they are used as ready speech units with constant lexical structure and certain semantics. Phraseological expressions are only phrases with literal meaning of components. In structure of phraseological expressions include numerous English proverbs and saying, which are used in direct meaning and have no figurative allegorical meaning: live and learn; better untaught than ill taught; many men; many mind; easier said then done; nothing is impossible to a willing heart; East or West, home is best; marriages are made in heaven; still waters run deep. Functions of fixed expressions According to Moon, the text functions of fixed expressions may be classified according to "the way in which they contribute to the content and structure of a text. In the text under consideration, four functions are seen, according to whether the expression primarily informs (conveys new information); evaluates (conveys speaker/writer's opinion or attitude); modalizes (conveys speaker/writer's attitude towards the truth value of his/her utterance) or organizes and functions as a discourse signal9". To these four functions may be added a fifth, "situationally bound, typically found in spoken interaction, and typically lexicalized as a convention or closed-set turn: this covers fixed expressions that show a speaker's reaction to something in the extra linguistic situation"10, for example a greeting, valediction, apology, request or warning such as So long!, Excuse me, A penny for them and Talk of the devil. Reference list: "Classification principles of phraseological units." 19 Aug. 2007 . Coulthard, Malcolm. Advances in Written Text Analysis. London: Routledge, 1994. Cowie, Anthony Paul. Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, and Applications. Oxford studies in lexicography and lexicology. Oxford [England]: Clarendon Press, 1998. Moon, Rosamund. Fixed Expressions and Idioms in English: A Corpus-Based Approach. Oxford studies in lexicography and lexicology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. "Multiword Expression Reading Group Blackboard". 19 Aug. 2007 . Read More