t are reproduced as ready-made units. The meaning of such expressions as distinguished from the meaning of free combinations is idiomatic. The classification is based on the motivation of the unit. (3, 100p.).
It means that this classification concerns the relationship existing between the meaning of the whole and the meaning of its component parts.
The degree of motivation is correlated with the rigidity, indivisibility and semantic unity of the expression, ie with the possibility of changing the form or the order of the components, and of substituting the whole by a single word. Units with a partially transferred meaning show the weakest cohesion between their components, The more distant the meaning of a phraseological unit from the current meaning of its constituent parts, the greater is its degree of semantic cohesion. (8,278p.).
According to the degree of idiomatic meaning of various groups of phraseological units, VV Vinogradov classified them as follows:
- phraseological fusions are units whose meaning can not be deduced from the meanings of their component parts, the meaning of phraseological fusions is unmotivated at the present stage of language development. (3, 100p.). Such word-groups represent the highest stage of blending together. The meaning of components is completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole, by its expressiveness and emotional properties. (8, 279p.).
Phraseological fusions are specific for every language and do not lend themselves to literal translation into other languages:
To come a cropper - to come to disaster;
Neck and crop - entirely, altogether;
At sixes and sevens - in confusion or in disagreement;
To leave smb. In the lurch - to abandon a friend when he is in trouble;
To dance attendance on smb.- To try and please or attract smb.
- phraseological unities are expressions the meaning of which can be deduced from the meaning of their components; the meaning of the whole is based on the transferred meanings of the components (3,100-101p.). Are much more numerous. They are clearly motivated. The emotional quality is based upon the image created by the whole. (8, 278p.). For example:
to show one s teeth - to be unfriendly;
to sit on the fence - in discussion, politics, etc. refrain from committing oneself to either side;
to lose one s head - to be at a loss what to do;
to lose one s heart to smb.- To fall in love;
a big bug - a person of importance;
a fish out of water - a person situated uncomfortably outside his usual or proper environment.
- phraseological collocations (combinations) are traditional word-groups. Word combinations are combined with their original meaning. The components are limited in the ability to combine with each other by some linguistic factors. (3, 101p.). They are partially motivated. They contain one component used in its direct meaning while the other is used figuratively. (8, 278p.). For example: meet the demand, meet the necessity, to be good at something, to be a good hand at something, to have a bite, to take something for granted, to stick to one s word, gospel truth, bosom friends, to break news.
It is obvious that this classification system does not take into account the structural characteristics of phraseological units. On the other hand, the border-line separating unities from fusions is vague and even subjective. One and the same phraseological unit may appear motivated to one person (and therefore be labelled as a unity) and demotivated to another (and be regarded as a fusion). The more profound one s command of the language and one s knowledge of its history, the fewer fusions one is likely to discover in it.
Prof. Smirnitsky AI, who worked out the structural classification of phraseological units, described them as highly idiomatic set expressions functioning as word equivalents, and characterized by their semantic and grammatical unity. The structural principle of classifying phraseological units is based on their ability to perform the same syntactical functions as words. (8,279p.). Prof. Smirnitsky suggested three classes of stereotyped phrases:
traditional phrases (nice distinction, rough sketch);
- phraseological combinations (to fall in love, to get up);
- idioms (to wash one s dirty linen in public), but only the secon...
