Phraseology. History of phraseology. Criteria of distinguishing between phraseological units and free word combinations

Phraseology is a branch of lexicology studying phraseological units (idioms, set expressions, phrasemes). PU is a group of words with fully or partially transferred meaning (Koonin). The father of phraseology is Chares Bally (the 20-s of XX century). Foreign linguists who devoted their researches to phraseology: L.P. Smith, Murat H. Roberts, T. Katz, U. Weinreich, G. Grace.

Criteria of distinguishing between PU and FWC:

1) Semantic – PU can be equivalent to a word, while every element of FWC has its own meaning;

2) Structural:

a) Substitution – components of a PU cannot be substituted with other words, while it is possible with FWC;

b) Addition – it is possible to add new words to FWC and impossible to PU;

c) Grammatical restriction – it is impossible to change grammatical forms of every component in a PU, while it is possible in FWC;

3) Syntactic – PU has one syntactic function in a sentence, FWC – several.

Classifications of phraseological units

1) Etymological (Smith) – criterion of classification – origin of a PU;

2) Semantic (Vinogradov) – criterion – between the elements of a PU. There are 3 groups:

a) Phraseological combinations – it is possible to see connection between the meaning of the whole unit and each of its parts. The meaning is motivated (to be a good hand at smth);

b) Phreseological unities – constituents lose their direct meaning, but it is possible to understand the meaning of the whole unit from the meanings of its parts (to lose one’s head);

c) Phraseological fusions – meaning is not motivated (to set one’s cap at smb);

3) Structural – criterion – part of speech:

a) Substantival – dog’s life;

b) Verbal – to talk turkey;

c) Adjectival – as blind as a bat;

d) Adverbial – in cold blood;

e) Interjectional – by George!

4) Classification by Smirnitsky:

a) one semantic unit (meaningful component);

b) 2+ semantic components;

c) Proper PU – non-figurative meaning;

d) Idioms – figurative meaning based on metaphor.

5) Classification by Koonin:

a) Nominative – equal to nouns, adjectives, adverbs and cannot make a sentence;

b) Nominative-communicative – equal to verbs with an object that can make sentence in passive form;

c) Interjectional – express feelings and emotions and can be an introduction to the sentence;

d) Communicative – proverbs and sayings.