THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PROBLEM
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE, YOUTH AND SPORT
OF UKRAINE
Kyiv National Linguistic University
Project Work in English Lexicology
THE SOURCES OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Ianatieva Victoria
Group 315
Translators’/Interpreters’ Department
Research supervisor:
V.G. Nikonova
Professor, Doctor of Philology
Kyiv 2012
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PROBLEM
Phraseological unit / set expression / idiom – a complex word-equivalent in which the globality of nomination reigns supreme over the formal separability of elements. It is reproduced in speech.
Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are formed, according to the degree of the motivation of their meaning, according to their structure and according to their part-of-speech meaning. 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) The 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 «стартова площадка» , in its transferred meaning - «відправний пункт», «to link up» - «cтикуватися, стикувати космічні човни» in its tranformed meaning it means -«знайомитися»; b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by transforming their meaning, e.g. «granny farm» - «пансионат для старих людей», «Troyan horse» - «компьютерна програма, яка навмисне створена для виведення з ладу компьютера»;
c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. «a sad sack» - «нещасний випадок», «culture vulture» - «людина, яка цікавиться мистецтвом», «fudge and nudge» - «ухильність».
d) they can be formed by means of expressiveness, especially it is characteristic for forming interjections, e.g. «My aunt!», « Hear, hear!»etc.
e) they can be formed by means of distorting a word group, e.g. «odds and ends» was formed from «odd ends»,
f) they can be formed by using archaisms, e.g. «in brown study» means «in gloomy meditation» where both components preserve their archaic meanings, g) 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» - «відчувати хвилювання», «to have green fingers» - «досягати успіхів як садовод-любитель» etc. i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or polititions in everyday life, e.g. «corridors of power» (Snow), «American dream» (Alby) «locust years» (Churchil) , «the winds of change» (Mc Millan).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another phraseological unit; they are: conversion, e.g. «to vote with one’s feet» was converted into «vote with one’s feet»; b) 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»;
c) 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» was formed with the meaning «помилятись».
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 phonetic borrowings «meche blanche» (French), «corpse d’elite» (French), «sotto voce» (Italian) etc.
The vast majority of phraseology as word originates from the indigenous Ukrainian. Among them are Common, Common East and actually Ukrainian.
The Ukrainian phraseology are also clichéd phrases learned from other languages. Very often this expression, common in many languages. The Ukrainian phraseology statements included Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, turnovers sports and government documents. Most learned the Ukrainian language idiomatic phrases from Russian - speech Lenin, Russian writers, idiom of popular speech.
Western European languages - German, French, English, Italian and others.
Basically, an inexhaustible source of Ukrainian phraseological is the national language, which is characterized by accuracy, imagery. It is accurate, metaphorical expressions are well-established and replenish stocks phraseological language. A lot phraseological industrial - occupational origin.
Several phraseology is witty sayings with anecdotes, jokes and other genres of oral folklore: not to salt out zilch, grow pears on willow.
Key words and expressions from the text:
1) Alliteration- алітерація
2) fudge and nudge-ухильність
3) launching pad- стартова платформа
4) by means of clipping the middle of it the phraseological unit- шляхом відсікання середині цього фразеологізму
5) fudge and nudge- ухильність
6) culture vulture- людина, яка цікавиться мистецтвом
7) to have butterflies in the stomach- відчувати хвилювання
8) cold surgery- холодна хірургії
9) living space- житлової площі
10) accuracy- точність