Cognitive interpretation of phraseological units

Chapter 1. Basic provisions on phraseological units and methods for their translation
1.1. The concept of phraseology and its main features
Phraseology (from Greek rhrasis , 'expression' and logos 'teaching') is the phraseological composition of the language (that is, the totality of all phraseological units), as well as the section of linguistics that studies it. Although phraseological units consist of several words, they are similar in meaning (the entire phraseological unit as a whole, and not the words that make it up) and use in speech (the phraseological unit is one member of the sentence) are similar to the word, therefore they are studied in the course of lexicology. ¹ The meaning of a free phrase is made up of the meanings of its constituent words, which can be interchanged or replaced with ones that are close in meaning: The log floats along the river (to swim - 'to move on the surface of the water or in the water', for 'the flow of water, the direction of such a flow'). The meaning of a phraseological unit does not consist of the meanings of its constituent words, the components of a phraseological unit usually cannot be interchanged, replaced with others: He is used to going with the flow all the time and does not know how to make independent decisions (go with the flow - 'act as circumstances force'). The entire phraseological unit as a whole has meaning. Phraseologism is equivalent to a word not only in meaning, but also in syntactic role: it is always one member of the sentence (A real sea wolf will never get confused - subject; He always comes out dry from the water - predicate; He did it in the blink of an eye - circumstance).
So, a phraseological unit differs from a free combination of words by its constancy of composition and a single meaning, it is one member of the sentence, it is reproduced “in finished form”, and is not created in speech.
Phraseologism has the following features:
- structural dismemberment or separate form .
All phraseological units superwordy , i.e. have a dissected structure and are divided into components that only formally refer to a word, but as part of a phraseological phrase do not realize any of their lexical meanings. A week without a year.
- the constancy of the component composition
Each component of a phraseological unit retains spelling separateness - separate design . Phraseology is characterized by the constancy of components and the stability of the lexical composition. Honeymoon.
- the stability of the grammatical structure. The special nature of the grammatical structure.
Each phraseological unit is grammatically designed, i.e. it is included in one or another grammatical category, correlates with some part of speech and therefore has a set of forms, performs the same syntactic function that this part of speech performs. Come out dry, come out, come out
- semantic equivalence to the word phraseologism - a more complex unit. language than the word both in terms of structure and in terms of semantics. But for most f. functional proximity to the word and equivalence to the word are characteristic.
- reproducibility, semantic integrity, constancy of components and structure determine an important feature of the structure. In the language system f. exist as ready-made units, they are not created in the process of speech, but are retrieved from memory in a finished form.
Depending on the degree of motivation of the meaning of a phraseological unit by the meanings of the words that make up it, and on the degree of their cohesion, the following types of phraseological units are distinguished (the classification was made by academician V.V. Vinogradov ). [ Vinogradov V.V., 1946]
1. Phraseological unions. Stable, lexically indivisible phrases, the meanings of which are in no way deduced from the meanings of their constituent words, are not motivated by them: fool around, eat a dog, grated kalach. This group also includes phraseological units containing obsolete words (you can’t see anything, beat the bucks, ask the rattler) and obsolete forms of words (reluctantly , the lost sheep, the parable of the town).²
2. Phraseological units. Stable, lexically indivisible turns, the meanings of which are motivated by the meanings of their constituent words, but are not derived directly from them, but arise on the basis of figurative rethinking. In most cases, phraseological unity corresponds to a free phrase, which, being associatively rethought, served as the basis for metaphorical phraseologization (to go with the flow, neither fish nor meat, to wash dirty linen in public). We understand, we perceive the image that is created by phraseological unity: to reach a dead end (in a dead end, you cannot continue moving forward, and this motivates the meaning of the phraseological unit 'to have no perspective, further development').
3. Phraseological combinations. Stable combinations of words that include both a component with a free (realized in different contexts) meaning and a component with a non-free ( phraseologically related) meaning. For example, in combination sworn enemy, the noun enemy has free compatibility, and the adjective sworn is used only with the word enemy, has a phraseologically related meaning. Wed See also: torrential - rain; crackling - frost; pitch - darkness, darkness. A word with a phraseologically related meaning may have other, free, meanings. For example, the word dog has the meaning 'very strong' only in the phraseological combination dog cold, while the word cold here realizes its free meaning 'low temperature', and the word dog has, in addition to the phraseologically related phrase, the free meaning 'referring to a dog'. The meanings of phraseological combinations are motivated directly by the meanings of their constituent words.
In addition to these types, phraseological units are sometimes referred to as so-called phraseological expressions - proverbs, sayings and "winged words". They are also reproduced in speech “in finished form”, have a constant composition, but at the same time they are divided into their constituent words, each of which has its own lexical meaning. The meaning of phraseological expressions is made up of the meanings of its constituent words, but is usually figuratively rethought: Do you like to ride, love to carry sledges; Well, how not to please your own little man!
Phraseologisms are classified on the basis of which part of speech, in terms of meaning and syntactic role in the sentence, the entire phraseological unit corresponds: verbal (throw words, sharpen lyas 'talk, chat', make an elephant out of a fly 'exaggerate'); nominal (traveling torment 'torment'); adjectives (blood with milk 'beautiful, healthy'); adverbial (open edge 'a lot', from cover to cover 'whole'). Phraseologism can be similar in its structure not only to a phrase, but also to a sentence, but in this case, in its syntactic role and meaning, it correlates with the word: This is still a grandmother said in two (= This is still unknown). The cat cried money (= Not enough money).
Sometimes phraseological units are characterized by what parts of speech their constituent words belong to (noun and noun: side by side, soul to soul; noun and adjective: a disservice, golden hands; a verb, including a gerund, and a noun: lose heart, slipshod; verb and adverb: not salty slurping, to see through).
Although phraseological units are stable combinations of words, there may be several variants of one phraseological phrase. Such variants may differ in individual elements of the lexical composition, sometimes in stylistic coloring, but these differences do not violate the identity of phraseological turnover, in phraseological units a single image is preserved: it’s not worth a penny - it’s not worth a copper penny. It is necessary to distinguish synonymous phraseological turns from variants of phraseological turnover: without a hitch without a hitch - like clockwork; beat the buckets - play the fool, drive the loafer.
Usually phraseological units have one meaning, but there are polysemantic phraseological units (to know as a keepsake, to give as a keepsake; by right 'deservedly' and by right 'for a reason'), as well as homonymous phraseological units (discuss someone behind the eyes and behind the eyes in meaning 'enough, a lot of something'). Phraseologisms are often homonymous with free combinations of words: go with the flow, wave your hand. Phraseologisms can enter into synonymous and antonymous relations with words and among themselves, for example : far away - at the middle of nowhere - far away (synonyms); rolled up sleeves / good - sleeveless / bad (antonyms). Like words, phraseological units can have limited compatibility (rolling up their sleeves, after their sleeves - only with work, work, do).
Like words, phraseological units can become obsolete. So, outdated, incomprehensible for most speakers is the idiom kill a beaver with the meaning of 'be deceived in the calculations'. The phraseological fund of the language is replenished at the expense of phraseological units-neologisms.
By origin, phraseological units, like words, are primordial, that is, they originated in the Russian language or passed into it from the predecessor language, and borrowed, including tracing (that is, word by word translated). The source of primordial phraseological units were, in particular, works of Russian fiction (monkey labor, to the grandfather’s village), Russian folklore: proverbs (bite your elbows < your elbow is close, but you won’t bite), fairy tales (beaten unbeaten luck). Many phraseological units are associated with professional activities (remove shavings, without a hitch, without a hitch, two boots of steam), with Russian life, brew porridge, not slurp salty, etc. Among the borrowings, phraseological units of Old Slavic origin stand out (the voice of one crying in the desert, without hesitation ). Tracing papers are widely represented, that is, word-for-word translated stable combinations of words in foreign languages: a black hole, not at ease. There are phraseological units-barbarisms: Finita la comedia , modus vivendi (in a tracing form - a way of life), phraseological units-internationalisms, usually arising on the basis of texts and images of the Bible and the Gospel (Babylonian pandemonium, prodigal son, unbelieving Thomas), ancient literature (Gordian knot, sword of Damocles), Western European folklore and literature (the princess and the pea, after us even a flood). Phraseological units can be assigned to certain speech genres; phraseological units and fusions are usually stylistically colored and have an expressive meaning.³
Phraseological units are to some extent reflected in explanatory dictionaries. There are also special dictionaries of phraseological units. In 1967, the Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language was published, edited by A. I. Molotkov , in which more than 4,000 phraseological units are explained. In 1984, the Educational Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language was published by E. A. Bystrova, A. P. Okuneva, N. M. Shansky , where about 800 phraseological units were explained.