РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ДРУЖБЫ НАРОДОВ

Институт иностранных языков

Кафедра теории и практики иностранных языков

УТВЕРЖДАЮ
Зав. кафедрой теории и практики иностранных
языков
______________к.ф.н., профессор Н.Л.Соколова
«______»_______________2021 г.

КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА
на тему

«Анализ использования идиоматических выражений в устной коммуникации на

британском английском в сравнении с аналогами на русском, китайском и
ингушском языках »

45.03.02 – Лингвистика

Разработчик
Студент группы ЯЛНбд-03-18
Студенческий билет № 1032181610
М.Х.Мержоева
«______»_______________2020 г.

Руководитель
к.ф.н., профессор, академик МАНПО

_________________Н.Л.Соколова

Научный консультант
К.и.н., доцент кафедры ТиПИЯ
_____________________И.И.Васильева

Москва 2021
 PEOPLES’ FRIENDSHIP UNIVERSITY OF RUSSIA

Institute of Foreign Languages

Department of Foreign Languages in Theory and Practice

APPROVED FOR PRESENTATION

The Head of the Department of Foreign
Languages in Theory and Practice

__________________Ph.D. Prof. N.L.Sokolova

‘______’_______________2021

COURSE PAPER

“Analysis of Idiomatic expressions in British English usage in oral communication

compared to the analogues in Russian, Chinese and Ingush languages”

45.03.02 – Linguistics

Submitted by
M.H.Merzhoeva
Student’s ID № 1032181610
Full-time course, group
ЯЛНбд-03-18

Course Paper Advisor

PhD, Professor
_______________________N.L.Sokolova

Scientific Advisor
_____________________ I.I.Vasilieva
PhD,Associate Professor, Department of
Foreign Languages in Theory and Practice

Moscow 2021
5
Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1
Chapter 1. Phraseology and idiomatics as means of communication in spoken
English…………………………………………………………………………………………….3
1.1. An idiom as a phraseological
unit…………………………………………………………....3
1.2. Modern classification of idiomatic expressions in
English…………………………………..5
1.3. Peculiarities of the use in oral speech
………………………………………………………..9
Conclusions of the first chapter………………………………………………………………….11
Chapter 2. Comparative analysis of idioms in British English, Chinese, Russian and Ingush
languages ………………………………………………………………………………………..12
2.1. Characteristics of modern British English idioms in oral speech………………………….12
2.2. Characteristics of modern Russian idioms in comparison with British English
ones……………………………………………………………………………………………..13
2.3. Characteristics of Chinese modern idioms in comparison with British English
ones…………………………………………………………………………………………….18
2.4. Characteristics of modern Ingush idioms in comparison with British English
ones………………………………………………………………………………………………20
Conclusions of the second chapter……………………………………………………………….23
General conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………
24
References………………………………………………………………………………………..25

6
Introduction
It's not a secret that idiomatic expressions are one of the most important aspects of learning a
particular language. In fact, this is the difficulty faced by any person who wants to fully master
the knowledge of the language. Phraseological and idiomatic expressions complement the
language, make it more colorful and varied, but at the same time complicate its development,
since the meaning of these units cannot be guessed from individual components in its
composition. You either know this expression and use it in your speech without difficulties, or
you do not and thereby hammer yourself into a dead end, because such expressions are actively
used in oral speech, especially in modern English, and it will be very difficult to understand what
a native speaker is talking about without knowledge of at least elementary idiomatic expressions.
Even if we do not take into account the live communication with a person whose native
language is English, then it should be taken into account that the Internet, U-tube is an active
resource used for learning the language in the modern world, where you can find a huge number
of videos for any the topic of interest, as well as TV shows and films in English, which are also
very actively used to replenish vocabulary and good pronunciation. So, in order to benefit from
viewing such content for language ability, it is necessary to write down and memorize all the
idiomatic expressions that occur during the viewing process, and they occur quite often. Often,
watching another film or TV series in English, you may notice a phrase consisting of several
words and at the same time extremely incomprehensible. In this case, you do not need to try to
understand the meaning from individual words in the composition of this expression, this is
exactly the moment when you need to open the dictionary and find the meaning of the idiom. If
you follow this rule, idioms and phraseological units will no longer be something scary and
incomprehensible, but, on the contrary, will allow you to enrich your vocabulary and use them to
the fullest in order to impress the interlocutor.
Considering all of the above, I want to highlight several characteristic features inherent in the
idioms of the English language:
1) The order of words in an idiomatic expression cannot be changed;
2) Such expressions are not translated verbatim;
3) Knowledge and use of such units in speech indicates a good and progressive study and
knowledge of the English language.
The relevance of my research is as follows: idiomatic expressions as phraseological units in
oral speech of the English language are interesting and difficult to learn in their own way, but at
the same time very important constructions for learning the language. Idiomatic expressions of
modern oral English make up an impressive vocabulary class and are actively used in everyday
speech. Therefore, the topic of my research is of great importance and deserves special attention.
Subject of research: the definition of idioms in the oral speech of languages.

7
Object of the research: comparative analysis of the functioning of idiomatic expressions in the
oral speech of the English, Russian, Chinese and Ingush languages.
Purpose of the research: to investigate modern idiomatic expressions of the English language in
comparison with Russian, Chinese and Ingush languages.
Research objectives:
1) give the definition and function of oral speech in the English language.
2) define and classify idioms in English
3) consider the features of oral speech and idioms in other languages.
4) to carry out a comparative and statistical analysis of idiomatic units in several languages on
texts of a certain subject.
Literature:
While writing this work, I used books related to my topic by such authors as A.V. Kunin,
Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell, I.V. Arnold, O.V. Alexandrov and many others.
The sources for achieving the goals and objectives of my research are the works of linguists
who dealt with this issue, as well as the oral corpus, in which this phenomenon functions in four
languages.
Research methods: analytical and comparative method
The work consists of an introduction, 2 chapters, divided into subsections, conclusions and a
list of sources used.

8
Chapter 1. Phraseology and idiomatics as means of communication in spoken English
1.1. An idiom as a phraseological unit
A. V. Kunin defines phraseology as the science of phraseological units, i.e., stable
combinations of words with complicated semantics that are not formed according to generating
structural and semantic models of variable combinations. In his opinion, phraseological units fill
in the gaps in the lexical system of the language, which cannot fully provide the name of the
sides of reality known by man and in many cases are the only designations of objects, properties,
processes, states, situations, etc. In the case when a phraseological unit has a lexical synonym,
they usually differ in stylistic terms. According to A.V. Kunin, "phraseology is a treasure trove
of language". He explains this by the fact that many factors, such as the history of the people, the
uniqueness of their culture and life are reflected in phraseological units. These units in English
often have a distinctly national character. [11, p. 4]
Thus, taking into account all of the above, we can conclude that phraseological units are
universal informative linguistic units that exist in all languages. In English, there is a large
number of phraseological units that have a long history.
The founder of the theory of phraseology is the Swiss linguist of French origin Charles
Bally (1865 - 1947). Bally first systematized word combinations in his books "Essay of
Stylistics" and " French Stylistics . Bally included a chapter on phraseology in his books on
stylistics. In the first book, he distinguished four groups of phrases [23,p.11] :
1) free phrases, i.e. combinations devoid of stability,
disintegrating after their formation;
2) the usual combinations (les groupements usuels), i.e. phrases with a relatively free
connection of components, allowing some;
3) phraseological series, i.e. groups of words in which two consecutive concepts merge
almost into one. The stability of these turns is fixed by the primary word usage
4) phraseological units, i.e. combinations in which words have lost their meaning and express
a single indecomposable concept. Such combinations do not allow for rearrangement of
components.
Thus, Bally distinguishes between combinations of words according to the degree of
stability: combinations in which there is freedom to group components, and combinations that
are deprived of such freedom.
However, many things have changed since then, and poorly studied phraseological units are
now a very relevant topic for linguists to study. Today, there are already various classifications
of phraseological units, a large number of definitions and scientific works devoted to the study of
this phenomenon.
9
 Phraseological units and, above all, idioms are an integral part of speech communication and
metacommunication, the subject of which is communication. They are actively used in oral
speech, this can be explained by the existence of a large number of idiomatic expressions on
various topics and their expressiveness.
A. I. Smirnitsky distinguishes between phraseological units and idioms. Phraseological units
are stylistically neutral phrases that are devoid of metaphor or have lost it. A. I. Smirnitsky
refers to phraseological units such as get up, fall in love, etc. Idioms are based on the
transference of meaning, on a metaphor clearly recognized by the speaker. Their characteristic
feature is a bright stylistic coloring, a departure from the usual neutral style, for example, take
the bull by the horns - брать быка за рога, действовать решительно; dead as a doornail - без
признаков жизни. [10, p.13]
The idiom (from the Greek idios ‘singularity, originality’) has been and will always be an
actual object of linguistic research. With all the variety of interpretations of this term, the most
common can be considered the convergence of its concept of phraseological units in a fairly
broad understanding - as a turn of speech, which is used as a whole, not subject to further
decomposition, the meaning of which is not derived from the meanings of the words included in
it.
Authors Michael McCarthy and Felicity O'Dell give the following definition of idioms:
“Idioms- expressions which have a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words. For
example, the idiom drive somebody round the bend means make somebody angry or frustrated,
but we cannot know this just by looking at the words”.
Authors write that the best thing you can do to understand idioms is to see them in the
context. Thus, first of all, we should pay attention to the context itself, and not to the individual
words in the idiom, since the meaning does not arise from them.
An idiomatic expression is a phrase whose meaning is either difficult or sometimes
impossible to guess by considering the meanings of the individual words it consists of. For
example, the expression be in the same boat can be translated literally, translation can be easily
interpreted, but this phrase also has an ordinary idiomatic expression:
She understood that he was lying to her. But Sara was in the same boat: he also lied to her.
In this case, be in the same boat means “to be in the same difficult or unfortunate situation”.
There are different types of idioms in the English language [29, p.6] :
1) Verb + object/complement (and/or adverbial). F.e.: kill two birds with one stone-
produce two useful results by just doing one action.
2) Prepositional phrase. F.e.: in the blink of an eye – in an extremely short time.
3) Compound. F.e.: a bone of contention – something which people argue and disagree
over.
4) Simile ( as + adjective + as, or like + noun). F.e.: as dry as a bone- very dry indeed.
5) Binomial (word + and + word). F.e.: rough and ready – crude and lacking sophistication.
6) Trinomial (word + word + and + word). F.e.: cool, calm and collected – relaxed, in
control, not nervous.
7) Whole clause or sentence. F.e.: to cut a long story short – to tell the main points, but not
all the fine details.

10
 Amasova points out several characteristic features inherent in idiomatic expressions,
indicated by the author V. J. Ball. These features are [4, p.15]:
1. The idiom does not allow for strong changes in the order or composition of words,
except for normal grammatical changes (usually in the category of person and time),
or those cases where there are some commonly used variations of it.
2. Idioms cannot be formed on the basis of a false analogy.
3. The idiom has its meaning once and for all.
4. Generally, the meaning of an idiom cannot be guessed, unless the context can show
that meaning.
In most cases idioms have fixed form and cannot be varied or changed, but occasionally it
can be varied a little. Michael McCarthy and Felicity O'Dell gave some examples of such
occasions. Thus, sometimes an idiom in the active voice can be used in the passive. The example
can be shown on two sentences with the same phrasal verb, but in a different voice:
1) Government Ministers always pass the buck if they’re challenged about poverty
( blame somebody else/refuse to accept responsibility)
2) The buck has been passed from Minister to Minister. No one seems prepared to
accept the responsibility.

1.2. Modern classification of idiomatic expressions in English, Russian, Ingush and

Chinese languages
Classification of idioms in the English language
There is a large number of classifications of idiomatic expressions in English, but at the
moment there is no single classification of idioms that would allow us to fully study this
phenomenon with all its features and complexities. However, all these classifications, of course,
have made a great contribution to the study of phraseological units of the English language.
Thus, the author Amasova gives an example of the classification of idioms by W. J. Ball,
who includes phrasal verbs ( to make up, to put up with e.t.c.), among idiomatic expressions,
also metaphorical expressions, the meaning of which in most cases cannot be guessed without
knowing it in advance, and finally to the number of idiomatic units W. J. Ball refers to the so-
called minor variations of the word order, which cause a change in the meaning of the
utterance. [4,p.15]
In her article on idioms in English, Matsukhova A. B. classifies idioms in several ways [12,
p.2] :
1) Nominal (substantive). This type of idiom most often means a person, object,
phenomenon. The most common structural type of nominal idioms is such a combination
is "adjective + noun", as well as a combination of two nouns connected by a preposition.
For example:
On the last leg of one's trip- the final part of the trip.
Better half - a wife.
Chip of the old block-copy of the father.

11
2) Verb idioms. Verb idioms express object or object-adverbial relationships, and can have
different structures. The simplest formations are combinations of a verb with a noun, a
verb together with an auxiliary pronoun or noun. For example:
To hit the nail on the head -hit the point.
Chew the fat -chatter.
Search one's mind- puzzle.
3) Attributive idioms, denote properties, signs of a person, object, phenomenon:

All thumbs- clumsy, awkward;

Aimed to the teeth - to be supplied with everything you need;
Blue blood - of noble birth.

4) Adverbial idioms. This type of idiom often denotes properties, qualities, signs of action.
For example:
till the cows come home- very long;
to look like a million - look great;
see eye to eye- tet-a-tet.
5) Modal idioms. They serve to identify and designate the speaker's different attitude to
what is being said:
it's another pair of shoes- is a completely different matter
it's not my cup of tea - is not mine.

6) Interjection. As well as interjections, such phraseological units express will, feelings,

can act as separate undivided sentences: And how - "How!"
7) Connective idioms, which serve to connect individual parts of a sentence or whole
sentences, parts of a connected text:
all in all - as a whole;
all told - considering everything;
by and large - generally speaking;
by the way-by the way.

8) Comparators (similes-as ... as ... / like ...). Comparison idioms are mainly used to
describe people, their appearance, character, mood, actions, etc. However, many of them
can also be applied to things, certain objects, places. For example:
as proud as a peacock - proud, vain, important as a peacock;
as white as sheet - pale as a sheet;
as good as gold - valuable as gold;
as heavy as lead- as poured with lead.

9) Double idioms (Binomials):

sick and tired-irritated, exhausted;

10) Idioms describing people:

to have a heart of gold - have a heart of gold;
have green fingers - have golden hands
hard as nails - rough.
12
 Clarification of the semantic structure of phraseological units is almost absent in the work of
L.P. Smith. For him, stable phrases, which he defines as "idioms", are of interest mainly insofar
as they are "verbal anomalies", "violating either the laws of grammar or the laws of logic." With
this understanding, under the category of "idioms" "along with phraseological phrases,
grammatical phenomena such as" double "expression of the comparative and superlative degree
(more better, most boldest)," double negation "observed in the past in the English language, etc.
[25, p.5]
A large group of English idioms are phraseological units of an adverbial nature, which are
combinations of prepositions with nouns and adjectives, for example: at hand., at length , at
leisure; by chance, by fits and starts, by far; for once, for ever, for good , for instance, in fact,
in general, in truth; of course, of late; on hand etc. [25, p.13]

Classification of idioms in the Russian language:

The famous Russian linguist V.V. Vinogradov gave one of the most widespread and basic
classifications of phraseological units today. According to Vinogradov, phraseological units are
classified at the level of fusion of their components and divides them into three types [10, p.140-
161] :
1. Phraseological fusions are indivisible stable turns, the integral meaning of which does not
depend on the value of their constituent components.
2. Phraseological unities, the components of which have semantic separateness. The integral
meaning of such phraseological units directly depends on the individual meaning of the words
that make up this phraseological unit.
3. Phraseological collocations, the components of which can have both free and phraseologically
connected use.
Another classification belongs to the famous Russian linguist A.V. Kunin. He distinguishes four
groups of phraseological units [13, p. 93]:
1. Nominative phraseological units - expressions that serve to name, designate objects, actions or
phenomena. This group is divided into:
• Nominative-substantive phraseological units (used to name objects or phenomena)
• Nominative-adjective phraseological units (called signs of objects or phenomena)
• Nominative-adverbial and prepositional phraseological units (used to designate the mode of
action of objects or phenomena)
2. Nominative-communicative phraseological units, which include verbal phraseological units,
can be both phrases and sentences, and more often refer to a person and his condition.
3. Interjection and modal phraseological units are used to express emotions.
4. Communicative phraseological units include proverbs and sayings. This group includes
phraseological units that are predicative sentences.
Classification of idioms in the Chinese language

13
 In Chinese idiomatic expressions are called 成语 chéngyǔ. [16, p. 10] 成语 chéngyǔ is
defined as a syntactically impenetrable formation, i.e. cannot be torn apart by other components
of the proposal, but this is not always the case. 成语 chéngyǔ has several meanings:
1) phraseological fund as a whole;
2) a separate class of phraseological units.
We can say that "practically any speech with an established source of origin, built according to
the grammatical and lexical norms of Wenyan, is classified by the supporters of the classification
approach under consideration as a unit of the “chéngyǔ” class" .
Most 成语 chéngyǔ are expressions related to some kind of medieval story that is well known
to native Chinese speakers. This class may include: [16, p.11]
1) idioms;
2) phraseologically related combinations (无价之无价之 w wújiàzhībǎo “priceless
new treasure ");
3) stable comparisons (安如泰山 ānrútàishān "unshakable as Mount Taishan");
4) ancient proverbs;
5) ancient aphorisms that have become proverbs (诲人不倦 huìrén bùjuàn "to teach others, not
knowing tired")
Units of this class include two groups of phrases:
1) 成语 chéngyǔ of a parallel construction is a group of four-place utterances, consisting strictly
of four word morphs, which are combined with each other according to the "2 + 2" scheme, i.e.
when each of the parts " 成 语 chéngyǔ" (left and right) consists, respectively, of two
syllomorphisms, the syntactic relationship between which is identical. In this type of "chengyu"
parallelism is divided, in turn, into four types: quantitative, lexical-semantic, grammatical,
phonetic.
2) 成语 chéngyǔ of a non-parallel construction - this group includes, in addition to four-syllable
phrases, phraseological units consisting of five or more syllomorphs, each of which, as a rule, is
an independent word. [16, p.12]
Also, idiomatic expressions of the Chinese language can be classified by rhetoric. Although the
idiom is short, its rhetorical means are very rich.
1. Metaphor. Comparison is the most commonly used rhetorical method in the formation of
idioms. Some linguists even take the presence of comparison as a clue to distinguish idioms.
Comparisons are classified into the following types:
1. Comparison: “势如破竹” - “just like splitting bamboo; - with extraordinary ease, almost
without difficulty to move forward, overcome obstacles);
2. Metaphor: “ 唇 枪 舌 剑 ” (lips - spears, and tongue - sword - a fierce argument, heated
polemics);

14
3. Metonymy: “ 风 驰 电 掣 ” - “to rush like a whirlwind and grab at lightning speed - swift,
lightning speed);
4. Allegory: This is to use fables to explain the truth, to achieve enlightenment education or
satire, for example; “守株待兔” - guard the stump while waiting for the hare.

Classification of idioms in the Ingush language

The phraseological unit of the Ingush language is formed by combinations of words,
systematically organized and grammatically correlated with each other. The components of
stable combinations have different morphological properties and, accordingly, are in
heterogeneous syntactic relations with each other. [11, p. 542]
Phraseological adhesions (idioms) in the Ingush language have the same characteristic features
as in other languages, which corresponds to the generally recognized classification criterion. It
seems impossible to divide stable combinations of an idiomatic nature into mergers and unity
according to the degree of motivation, due to the fact that it is not possible to draw a clear
boundary between them. [17, p.20]
Based on the analysis of phraseological combinations of the Ingush language, Patiev S.U.
distinguishes the following groups:
a) Phraseological combinations with a component used in a limited composition: йоахар
дувц- "gossip" (literally .: tells tales), к1ей т1аденнад- "thorn" (literally: whiteness found).
b) Phraseological combinations, where one of the components is figuratively rethought: мерза
безам- "love" (literally.: sweet desire), 1имерза car - "placable" (literally.: sweet person).
c) Phrasesological combinations with a desemanticized verb or verbal component: дуне даа-
«prosper» (literally.:eating world), харш тасса- «to sow» (literally.: throwing a ditch), са лаца- «
grab a weak spot » (literally.: to catch a spirit ), нахал ваккха- «disgrace» (literally.: put on
public display).
d) Phraseological combinations in which one of the components is used for figurative
comparison.
According to its structure, the phraseological unit of the Ingush language can be divided into
two categories:
1. Representative word combinations: Теза хий- " tasteless water ", нана котам- "mother hen",
миара маха-" egyptian needle " and so on.
2. Structurally equivalent to the sentence : Кулга т1а вилла лелаву-"to hold in one's arms", шин
кога тlа эттав- "to rise on legs", овла хийцаб- "to take root" e.t.c.

1.3. Peculiarities of the use in oral speech

If we use idioms correctly in our speech they can become very powerful and advantageous
tool. This is easily explained: idioms are an easy way to sound more confidently and advanced.
It is hard to disagree with the fact that when we hear someone using idioms in his speech we feel
the high level of English and speech seems more complex and interesting due to the use of such
complicated expressions instead of ordinary words. For instance, when we say out of work
15
instead of saying unemployed, lend an ear instead of single word listen, as safe as houses
instead of very safe, a peace of cake instead of very easy and so on.
So, one of the peculiarities of using idioms in oral speech is that thereby we can enrich our
speech and sound more fluently. It also should be noticed that idioms can add a more
pronounced emotional coloring in our speech and make, for example, funny news much more
fun, show enthusiasm, sadness, joy to a large extent, and so that the speech sounds very
interesting.
It is not a secret that idioms are more commonly used in colloquial speech. They are used by
speakers to sound more original and it is a great way to do it. Nowadays, if you are not a native
speaker of the English language but you like to watch movies, different TV shows in this
language you should be ready to hear a lot of strange and unknown phrases. These are just
idiomatic expressions. It is another reason to start learn at least the most necessary of them to
understand the speech of modern shows e.t.c.
Another feature of idiomatic expressions is the fixed order of their constituents. We cannot
change the order of words in idioms, since this will not be an idiom at all, but a combination of
words, possibly having no meaning at all. It is in the unity of all components, although not
related to each other in most cases, that the peculiarity and uniqueness of idioms lies. This is the
main difference between an idiom and a regular phrase: fixed meaning and word order.
Idioms in oral speech are represented as units of the modern phraseological system, complex,
multidimensional units that are difficult to distinguish from the total number of words. These are
stable combinations of words, constant in their component composition, having a holistic unified
meaning. Thus, the main features of idiomatic expressions are stability, constancy of
composition (immutability of the word order, and so on), reproducibility and integrity of
semantics (words that are part of an idiomatic expression do not have separate meanings).
Idiomatic expressions, like ordinary words, denote a wide variety of concepts:
1. Actions aimed at a specific goal:
to be ready/fit to drop, to be on one’s last legs: After walking several miles I was ready
to drop;
to put someone in the picture: I was new to this project and the manager put me in the
picture;
to be on the go: With three children to look after she is always on the go from morning till
night;
to weigh one’s words: I had to weigh my words carefully before asking my boss for more
pay.
1. Different states:
to have had one too many; to have had a few (too many): He looks as if he has had one
too many;
as drunk as a lord: When he came home last night, he was as drunk as a lord;
2. Others:
music to someone’s ears: What he said was music to my ears;
in one’s heart of hearts: In her heart of hearts, she knew that she wasn’t cut out to be a
surgeon;
in the twinkling of an eye: The new machine can do all the calculations in the twinkling
of an eye;

16
 in full swing: The party was in full swing;
in one’s element: She is in her element when she’s singing;
in the worst comes to the worst: If the worst comes to the worst, we’ll have to stay in the
hotel for another night. [16]

Conclusions of the first chapter

Phraseological units fill the gaps in the lexical system of the language, which cannot fully
provide the name of the sides of reality cognized by a person, and in many cases are the only
designations for objects, properties, processes, states, situations, etc. The phraseological unit
reflects the history of the people, the originality of its culture and life.
Phraseological units in different languages have their own characteristics and classifications, but
in many languages they coincide. So, in the Russian language, it is customary to distinguish
three main types of phraseological units: phraseological unity, phraseological adhesions and
phraseological combinations, as in the Ingush language. However, in the Ingush language,
according to their structure, idioms can be divided into two categories:
1. Representative word combinations: Теза хий- " tasteless water ", нана котам- "mother hen",
миара маха-" egyptian needle " and so on.
2. Structurally equivalent to the sentence : Кулга т1а вилла лелаву-"to hold in one's arms", шин
кога тlа эттав- "to rise on legs", овла хийцаб- "to take root" e.t.c.
In Chinese, for example, there is a name for idiomatic expressions : 成 语 chéngyǔ.
Chinese idioms are mainly composed of individual syllables, with a basic form of four words.
There is still no definite generally accepted classification of idiomatic expressions in the Chinese
language. This issue remains controversial. However, there are various classifications proposed
by reputable scholars and linguists. Thus, the phraseological units of the Chinese language are
divided into idioms; phraseological combinations (无价之宝 wújiàzhībǎo) , stable comparisons
( 泰 山 ); ancient proverbs; ancient aphorisms that have become proverbs ( 诲 人 不 倦 huìrén
bùjuàn )
As for the idiomatic expressions of the English language, there is also no single generally
accepted classification, since there are a large number of them. Idioms in English can be
classified in various ways. Most linguists and linguists divide them into nominal (substantive),
verb idioms, attributive idioms, adverbial idioms, modal idioms and so on. This classification is
called thematic and implies the consideration of idiomatic expressions taking into account their
constituent components.
Idiomatic expressions are an important language tool and phenomenon used equally in both
oral and written speech. Nevertheless, in oral speech, the use of idiomatic expressions is more
pronounced, since these phrases in the language reflect its history, culture and certain concepts,
then people like to use them in their everyday speech. Another reason for this is the more
expressive emotional coloring of these words, since they are more emotional and naturally
people prefer to use them when describing a situation that evokes feelings and emotions.
Thus, idioms are an important tool in the system of any language that has a certain structure
and features, in many languages similar, but also having its own characteristics and differences,
17
serving as an integral part of the language and describing various cultural and historical
phenomena of a given language.

Chapter 2. Comparative analysis of idioms in

This chapter is based on a comparative analysis of idiomatic units in four languages: English,
Russian, Ingush, and Chinese. As mentioned in the first chapter, idioms are found in all
languages, although in each language they have their own characteristics, reflect a particular
feature of the people, their history, culture, etc.
Some idioms of English have equivalents in other languages, but of course not always. Also,
the equivalent may be in another language, but very different, again due to the peculiarities of
this language and the culture of the people who speak it. For example, an idiomatic expression of
English can be represented in Chinese, but it can be absent in Ingush and Russian, and vice
versa.
I decided to investigate phraseological units and their use in oral speech in these four
languages on the basis of YouGram corpora to achieve my goals.
YouGlish is a tool that provides the correct pronunciation of words in multiple languages via
YouTube videos. [31] This tool uses YouTube to provide the accepted pronunciation of words in
various languages by employing native speakers. It is very simple to use and, thanks to it being
YouTube based, YouGlish is accessible from any device that has a web browser. The main
reasons I used it are ：
1. It is based on spoken languages
2. You can choose variants of speech
3. Multiplicity of languages

2.1. Characteristics of modern British English idioms in oral speech

Modern idioms of the English language in oral speech have the following features:
1. fixed order. So, for example, the English idiom hell on earth [13, 5 p] cannot have a different
word order. We cannot say earth on hell, since it will already have a completely different,
extremely strange meaning. Or, for example, the English idiom to be afraid of one’s own shadow
also has a fixed order, and when the position of its constituents is changed, the idiom will not
only acquire a new meaning, but lose it altogether.
2. frequency of use. Native speakers love to use various idiomatic expressions in their everyday
speech, it is literally filled with them. This is due to the greater expressiveness and emotional
coloring of these expressions. They express the different concepts, characteristics, culture and
history of a given people.

18
3. polysemy/ monosemy. When comparing idiomatic expressions in English, Russian, Chinese
and Ingush languages in oral speech, I noticed that some idioms can have not only a basic
meaning, but also an additional one. So, the idiom of the English language bag of bones can be
translated not only as an idiomatic expression with the meaning of catastrophically thin, but also
as a simple phrase that has a literal meaning - a bag of bones. While in Russian, the analogue of
this idiom has only one idiomatic meaning – a bag of bones. (= thin)

2.2. Characteristics of modern Russian idioms in comparison with British English ones
I used the YouGlish platform to look at the idioms of modern British English and Russian and
then compare them, as mentioned above. For review, I took a few common English idioms [13]
and looked at their frequency and characteristics by watching various videos that YouGlish gives
out after typing a word or phrase into a search engine.
The first idiom I looked at is a bag of bones. This is a fairly common idiom in colloquial
English. In fact, the meaning of this idiom is not difficult to guess by its components, bag and
bones, so if you think carefully and look at the context, it is quite possible to guess the meaning
of this idiom. YouGlish gave me 15 videos that mention this idiom. I took some of them for
consideration:
First video:
…quote unquote, in his words, a bag of bones with a heartbeat. In this context, the idiom a bag
of bones is used to indicate a person's excessive thinness. Literally: a bag of bones with a beating
heart. This idiom in this context is used to emphasize basic information, to highlight the fact that
even though a person's heart beats, he literally dried up, became bony. Of course, it was possible
to use an ordinary word instead of an idiom, but then it would not be so exaggerated and
emotional, but it would just sound like a person lost weight.
Eight video:
Her own husband dismissed her as a, quote, "bag of bones." This video has the main topic - an
extremely thin woman who suffered from anorexia and quotes her husband who disowned her
with the words “bag of bones”. In this context, the idiom is again used for a more emotional and
expressive description of a person's state.
In all other videos offered by YouGlish, 'a bag of bones' is used in context not as an idiomatic
expression, but as a simple phrase that is translated in accordance with the meanings of its
constituents. That is, in this case, it is no longer an idiomatic expression, and accordingly has no
other meaning than literal. For example
Her remains were merely a skull and a bag of bones. (in the meaning of a set of bones left after
the decomposition of the body, and not in the meaning of an extremely thin person)
In Russian, there is an analogue of the idiom a bag of bones. This idiomatic expression in
Russian sounds like this: кожа да кости. It also consists of three components and is used in
speech when it is said about a very thin, emaciated person. There were fewer results on the
search for the use of this idiom in Russian on the YouGlish website, only 4 videos, but
19
nevertheless this idiom is not rarely used in the language, but it must be admitted that mainly by
the older generation, young people still use this idiom rarely, or does not use at all.
First video:
…человека: худой, кожа да кости, с небольшой реденькой… In this context, the idiom is
used classically to describe the physique of a very thin person.
…и просто шел. Он стал одни кожа да кости. Выглядел как скелет. In the context of this
sentence, the idiomatic expression a bag of bones again describes an extremely thin person,
literally a human skeleton.
…дребезжащая шейка, истонченная кожа - кости да кожа. In this example, the idiomatic
expression carries the same meaning as in the previous one. Only now the word order is slightly
changed, which means that in the Ursian language the word order in the idiomatic expression can
change.
The next English idiom I chose to consider is a piece of cake. [18, 122 p.] This idiom express
the idea that something is easy to do. A given idiom in speech can be not only an idiomatic
expression, but also an ordinary phrase, depending on the context. So, for example, we can say:
“Wow, it looks delicious. Can you put this piece of cake on my plate?” In this case, we mean
dessert and you can understand this from the context. But if someone says : “I completed this
task in half an hour. It was a piece of cake”, then this is already an idiomatic expression meaning
the simplicity of doing something and there is no question of any cake.
The idiom a piece of cake is more often used, especially young people like to use it in their
speech. For this reason, after searching for this idiom on the YouGlish site, there were much
more results, namely - 53. I looked at some of them.
First video:
That pop quiz was a piece of cake. In this context, it is implied that the quiz was very simple,
we understand this from the context, but of course, without knowing this idiom, it is impossible
to understand this sentence, since a piece of cake refers to a type of idiomatic expression whose
meaning cannot be guessed by its components.
Second video.
…either make a cup of tea and have a piece of cake. But in this sentence, in the context, not
an idiom is used, but just a phrase. This is clear from the context of the sentence, since earlier it
was said about the desire to drink tea and there is no indication of the ease of performing any
action. Therefore, there is no idiomatic expression in this context.
Third video.
Therapies for cancer isn't a piece of cake. In this video, the idiom a piece of cake is used in
context, as it talks about the problems of cancer treatment and how it is not easy.
Thus, in the rest of the videos YouGlish suggested, the use of this expression changed from an
idiom to a regular phrase. In most cases, the expression a piece of cake was represented by the
usual phrase:
…after we've had a cuppa tea and a piece of cake. (=dessert)
…or you can say, do you mind if I take a piece of cake home. (=dessert)
20
 Just put your hand up if you want a piece of cake. (=dessert)
But the use of the idiom was also common :
Once they've got that sorted, it's gonna be a piece of cake. (=really easy)
So to stand in front of, I don't know, 1,000 people is a piece of cake. (=really easy)
They clearly thought at that time that winning would be a piece of cake. (=really easy)
In Russian, the idiom a piece of cake has analogues: проще простого, проще пареной репы
.
YouGlish showed 59 results for “проще простого” and 4 results for “проще пареной репы”.
Both options are used in Russian colloquial speech, but the second option “проще пареной
репы” was used mainly earlier, and now it appears mainly in the speech of the older generation,
while its analogue “проще простого” is used mainly by young people today. It should also be
noted that the image inherent in the Russian version of this idiomatic expression. Unlike the
English a piece of cake, which is based on the image of a sweet dessert, in the Russian version of
the idiom is the image of a turnip. This is because steaming turnips was extremely simple and
gave them a sweet taste. It was this meaning that formed the image of the idiom a piece of cake
in the Russian version. Using YouGlish, I have selected several examples of the use of two
analogs of the a piece of cake idiom in oral Russian speech.
1. “Проще простого”.
В современном мире это сделать проще простого. (=really easy)
И отравить людей изделиями из фарша проще простого (=really easy)
Очистить картошку от мундира проще простого. (=really easy)
2. “Проще пареной репы”.
…это страна-агрессор ну это же проще пареной репы. (=really easy)
И совершать их было проще пареной репы. (=really easy)
Вы уверены, что общение с клиентом проще пареной репы? （=really easy）
Having considered all of the above examples with the idiom a piece of cake in Russian, we
can come to the conclusion that both options, “проще пареной репы” and “проще простого”,
have the same meaning, it is just that option “проще простого” is used more often now.
The next frequently used idiom in the English language is upside down [15, 14 p.] According
to The free dictionary by Farlex, this idiom has the following meaning: In a state of utter chaos,
confusion, or disorder. [21]
YouGlish has produced a large number of videos using idiomatic upside down expressions in
British oral speech - 461 videos in total. I've looked at some of them:
First video:
I will show you but it'll be upside down. (= in a state of utter chaos). In this sentence, an
idiomatic expression is used by a girl talking about the plot of the Harry Potter book when she
mentions a tattoo with a character from the film, but does not want to show it on camera at the
moment, as it will look like it is “upside down”.
21
Fourth video:
…going to basically trim off the edges of the cake. I'm going to turn it upside down and…
(=inverted). In this context, the idiomatic expression upside down is used precisely to mean to
turn something upside down. The girl in the cooking process talks about the stages of making a
cake and uses this idiom in order to indicate an action that involves turning something over from
one side to the other.
Fifth video:
Not only did Stratton turn his world upside down, he undertook additional experiments… (= in
a state of utter chaos). In this context, the man in the video uses this idiom in his speech to
highlight the dramatic change that Stratton has brought about. He turned his world upside down.

Sixth video:
To have it on the other side, what you need to do is take it off, turn it upside down, and put it on
again.
In this sentence, the girl uses the idiom upside down not in the meaning of in a state of utter
chaos, but in the meaning of inverted, implying that something is simply inverted in reality, and
not figuratively, as in the previous sentence.
Thus, after considering these examples, we can conclude that the idiomatic expression upside
down in British English is used quite often in various fields: science (Not only did Stratton turn
his world upside down, he undertook additional experiments ...), everyday life, cooking ( ...
going to basically trim off the edges of the cake. I'm going to turn it upside down and ...; To have
it on the other side, what you need to do is take it off, turn it upside down, and put it on again.)
and so on.
In Russian, the idiom upside down has the following analogs :
1. вверх ногами
2. вверх тормашками
3. вверх дном
I decided to review all three options on the YouGlish website and find out which of them is the
most commonly used in Russian oral speech.
1. Вверх ногами. For this option, the site showed 68 results. Here are some of them:
First video:
…вверх ногами, одета воронка. In this video, a man describes a picture of several people
and, when describing the image of one of them, uses an idiomatic expression upside down to
indicate that the object is upside down, dressed incorrectly.
Fourth video:
…утверждал, что видел экран телевизора вверх ногами… (=inverted)
Eleventh video:

22
…все вверх ногами. Поэтому не стоит… (=in a state of utter chaos, inverted)
Twelfth video:
Надо понимать, что мы его закладываем сейчас вверх тормашками, вверх ногами.
(=inverted)
In this video, a man prepares a dish and in his speech in the cooking process uses two versions of
the upside down idiom at once: вверх ногами и вверх тормашками
2. Вверх тормашками. At the request of this equivalent of the upside down idiom,
YouGlish offered fewer videos than in the previous version, only 16 videos. For
consideration, I again took some of them.

Second video:
…на ВДНХ в "Салюте-6" вверх тормашками висел. (=inverted)
Сюжет картины "Мир вверх тормашками" из венского… (=in a state of utter chaos, inverted)
From this it follows that this equivalent has the same meaning as the previous one and is no
different, except for the frequency of use: “вверх тормашками”is used less often than “вверх
ногами” in Russian speech. Also, in the same context, both options can occur, as was the case in
the example above.
3. Вверх дном.
This option, according to the YouGlish search results, turned out to be the least used in
Russian. There are 15 videos in total. For example:
First video:
…перевернул всё вверх дном (= in a state of utter chaos) в мастерской, добавьте сюда
мою фамилию – Бесов…
Второе видео:
…были перевернуты вверх дном; помещения, где жил… (=in a state of utter chaos, inverted)
Пятое видео:
Не нужно сразу переворачивать вверх дном весь гардероб. (=to invert, in a state of utter
chaos)
This equivalent of the upper down idiom does not have any differences from the previous two
varantas, except for the frequency of use (one time less than “вверх тормашками”) and also the
fact that the last option – “вверх дном” is more often used in Russian when describing a mess in
a house, wardrobe, room, etc.
Thus, I looked at three idiomatic expressions: a bag of bones, a piece of cake and upside down
and compared their use in oral Russian and British speech. Based on the work done, I came to
some conclusions about the features of these idioms in two languages:
1） Variability. Equivalents of English modern idioms in Russian have more meanings, more
options. Thus, in British English we use upper down, while in Russian there are three variants of
this idiom.

23
2 ） Word order. Both in British English and in Russian, the idiomatic expressions I have
considered have a strict word order and cannot be used as idioms with their own meaning
without one of the components in their structure.
3） Idiomatic image. The image inherent in the idioms I have considered is different in British
English and Russian. This is due to the fact that idioms use exactly those aspects and concepts
that describe a given country, its culture and history.
4 ） Frequency of use. Thanks to the YouGlish website, you can easily calculate in which
language idioms are used more often and which are not. The idioms that I took for consideration
are still more often used in British English, since there were more results (video) on them. It is
difficult to say why this is due to the fact that the British more often use such expressions in oral
speech.

2.3. Characteristics of Chinese modern idioms in comparison with British English ones
This clause will focus on comparing the idiomatic expressions of British English discussed
above in comparison with their Chinese equivalents.
So, the first idiom - a bag of bones in Chinese according to the Russian-Chinese online
dictionary is represented as follows: 骨瘦如柴 gǔshòurú chái. [18] In Chinese, it has the same
meaning as in English and Russian. But besides this idiom, there are two other idioms in Chinese
too ：
1. 瘦骨嶙峋 - shòugǔlín xún – literally translated as bony. According to the dictionary, it is
more often used in informal speech.
2. 面黄肌瘦 - miàn huángjī shòu – literally means to be emaciated by malnutrition, bag of
bones.

I decided to explore the use of all three idioms in Chinese speaking using YouGlish.
1． 骨 瘦 如 柴 gǔshòurú chái. When searching for this type of idom, the site showed 17
results. Here is some of them:
First video:
原 來 是 一 個 人 一 個 骨 瘦 如 柴 身 形 枯 槁 的 人 yuánlái shì yī gè rén yī gè gúshòurúchái
shēnxíng kūgăo de rén. This sentence describes a person by using an idiomatic expression: It
turned out to be a person, a bag of bones. (= very skinny like a skeleton)
Second video:
我 們 能 看 到 埃 塞 俄 比 亞 人 骨 瘦 如 柴 ， 很 慘 Wǒmen néng kàn dào āisāi'ébǐyǎ rén
gǔshòurúchái, hěn cǎn.

2． 瘦骨嶙峋 - shòugǔlín xún. The search results for this equivalent of the idiom a bag of
bones turned out to be much less, only 5 videos. For example:
Second video:
居然是如此普通 甚至有些瘦骨嶙峋 [jūrán shì rúcǐ pǔtōng shènzhì yǒu xiē shòugǔlín xún]

24
This video describes the girl and uses an idiom to emphasize her thinness. "She's so ordinary,
even a little bony."
Fifth video:
每天咳嗽 越來越虛弱 瘦骨嶙峋 měi tiān késòu yuèláiyuè xūruò shòugǔlín xún
Used with the same meaning as in the previous sentence. "He coughs and gets weaker and bony
every day." (=turn into a bag of bones)
3. 面黄肌瘦 - miàn huángjī shòu. At the request of this variant of the idiom a bag of bones,
only one video was found in the Chinese oral speech:
当时面黄肌瘦 觉得非常辛苦 dāngshí miànhuángjīshòu juédé fēicháng xīnkŭ (It was very
hard for me when I was like a bag of bones)
Perhaps this suggests that this equivalent is used more in written Chinese, while the other two
are more often used in oral speech.
The next idiom in the English language is a piece of cake. According to the Chinese-Russian
online dictionary in Chinese, this idiom has the following equivalents:
1. 举手之劳 jǔ shǒu zhī láo
2. 轻而易举 qīng'éryìjǔ
I considered both options in oral speech using the example of a video from YouGlish:

1. 举手之劳 jǔ shǒu zhī láo. There were not many videos with the use of this version of
the idiom in Chinese, only 3:
First video:
举手之劳就可以来让我们的生活有一些变化 jǔshǒuzhīláo jiù kěyǐ lái ràng wǒmen de
shēnghuó yǒu yīxiē biànhuà. This sentence means that changing something in life is quite easy,
but a person must make an effort to do so.
Second video:
只是举手之劳 我就做 Zhǐshì jǔshǒuzhīláo wǒ jiù zuò. In this video, a man uses an idiom
along with another lexically well-established phrase, so you can understand such a sentence like
this: Yes, it's very easy (= it’s a piece of cake), I'll do it with one hand. But the meaning of the
idiom in the context does not change.
Третье видео:
不 就 是 帮 忙 送 修 而 已 么 举 手 之 劳 而 已 至 于 么 ？ bù jiùshì bāngmáng sòng xiū éryĭme
jŭshŏuzhīláo éryĭ zhìyú me ？The same meaning- a piece of cake

2. 轻而易举 qīng'éryìjǔ
Many more videos were found on the second version of the a piece of cake idiom - 57 in
total. Here are some of them:
Первое видео:

25
 所有这样的好的优点可能就轻而易举地 Suǒyǒu zhèyàng de hǎo de yōudiǎn kěnéng
jiù qīng'éryìjǔ de. (All these good benefits can be a piece of cake)
Third video:
其实真正的证悟和成就 并不是 轻而易举 的 Qíshí zhēnzhèng de zhèng wù hé
chéngjiù bìng bùshì qīng'éryìjǔ de. (In fact, real enlightenment and attainment are not a
piece of cake)
3. 乱七八糟 luànqībāzāo
The third idiom of the English language upside down in Chinese also has an equivalent: 乱
七八糟 luànqībāzāo. Literally, the idiom means a mess and in its composition has such
characters as: "mess, seven, eight, lousy / rotten / confusing" Searching for this idiom on
the YouGlish website found the most videos - only 154. This suggests that this idiom is
often used by the Chinese in oral speech, much more often than the previous two. Here are
some examples from YouGlish:
First video:
就这怎么乱七八糟的说不清楚了 jiù zhèi zĕnme luànqībāzāo de shuōbùqīngchŭ le
(I have no idea why everything here is in such a mess =upside down)
Sixth video:
大家在这上面看到这一片一片乱七八糟的 dàjiā zài zhèi shàngmiàn kàndào zhèi yī
piàn yī piàn luànqībāzāo de
(Everyone can see that everything is upside down here)
Based on all of the above, the following conclusions can be drawn about idioms in oral
Chinese versus British:
1.Has several options that are used in speech or writing:
骨瘦如柴 gǔshòurú chái, 瘦骨嶙峋 - shòugǔlín xún, 面黄肌瘦
2. An idiom consists of four elements, like most Chinese idioms:骨(1) 瘦(2) 如(3) 柴(4)
While the number of words and units in idiomatic expressions of the English language is not
fixed.
3.Idioms are less commonly used in spoken language by Chinese than in British English.

2.4. Characteristics of modern Ingush idioms in comparison with British English

ones
If we talk about the phraseology of the Ingush language, then it is one of the most relatively
new and little-studied branches of linguistics. As a result, there are very few resources for
studying the idiomatic expressions of the Ingush language.
Unfortunately, the Ingush language is not represented on the YouGlish website, so I made a
comparison of Ingush idioms with English on the basis of the dictionary, the works of Ingush

26
linguists, as well as my knowledge, since I am a native speaker of this language and know these
idioms.
So, the first idiomatic expression a bag of bones in the Ingush language according to the
online dictionary Akademik is represented as follows: цIокеи-тIехкаши. [18]
Indeed, this is the idiom that is used by the Ingush both in oral and written speech. This idiom is
quite often consumed, especially in oral speech. You can often hear how elders use it in
addressing their children, as if in a comic form. And of course, as in all the languages
considered: Chinese, Russian and English, this idiom in the Ingush language is used to describe
an extremely thin person. This idiom is taken from Russian “кожа да кости”, therefore it
consists of two words: ц1ок – skin and т1ехкаш – bones. Only now, unlike the Russian “да” in
the meaning “and” in the middle, which connects two words skin and bones in the Ingush
language, “еи” is added to the end of the word, which also has a meaning in the Ingush language
when it is added at the end of the word.
The next idiom in the English language is a piece of cake. Unfortunately, there is no analogue
of this idiomatic expression in the Ingush language. Instead, the Ingush just use words: атта –
easy, elementary, ч1оаг1а атта – super easy. These words are used both in oral speech and in
writing equally.
And the last idiom of the English language I have considered - upside down in the Ingush
language has an analogue consisting of only one word -1ункара. This distinguishes the Ingush
language from all those I have discussed above, since in almost all languages the idiom consists
of at least two words, but in the Ingush language things are different. Basically, idioms have at
most two elements. This idiom is used both in the oral and written speech of the Ingush people
and is often used, especially in the oral speech of the Ingush people, in everyday life.
Since there is little information on the above idiomatic expressions, I would like to cite
other idiomatic expressions of the Ingush language as an example and characterize them. So, for
example, in the Ingush language, phraseological units are quite widespread, the support of which
is the words "soul", "heart":
Дог к1аьдде - to touch the soul, to pity
Доккха дог – kind heart
Ц1ена дог – pere heart
Б1еха дог – evil heart
Дог лаза – heart aches
Дог дилла - despair
Дагалаттар кхоачаш ца хила – to fail
Observations indicate that the concept of "heart" plays a more important role in the mental
space of the Ingush people than the concept of "soul".
Also, in the Ingush language there are phraseological units with the meaning to die, to be in a
dying state. For example:
Ши ког хьалха араваккха – out in the end
Са хьалдала – punch out
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 Ший даьдаь когаш б1оахбе ваха - to visit one’s ancestors.
Цхьа ког каша болаш - at death's door

Thus, comparing the use of idiomatic expressions in British English with their counterparts in the
Ingush language, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Idioms of the Ingush language, as a rule, consist of fewer words than idioms of the English
language
2. Many idioms of the English language do not have equivalents in the Ingush language, or have,
but are poorly studied
3. Idioms in the Ingush language in oral speech are used as often as in written speech
4. In the Ingush language, idiomatic expressions have only one meaning
5. Idioms of the Ingush language, if they consist of several words, have a fixed order

28
Conclusions of the second chapter
Thus, phraseological units, and in this case idioms, exist in all languages, although in each
language they are used with their own characteristics and are based on concepts and
characteristics inherent in the country in which this language is spoken.
So, in the Chinese language, for example, idiomatic expressions have their own name: 成语
chéngyǔ and in addition, they all always consist of four components, which distinguishes them
from idiomatic expressions in other languages, in which there is no fixed number of elements in
the idiom. Also, idioms in Chinese differ from idiomatic expressions in other languages in that
the Chinese idiom usually has several variants, some of which are used in oral speech and others
in writing. While in other languages I have considered, this is not observed.
As for idiomatic expressions in Russian, it also has its own peculiarities of use in oral speech,
which include the presence of idiom variants in Russian, which exceeds the number of variants
in British English. Also, the idioms I have discussed in Russian oral speech are used less often
than in English. And what is important, the idiomatic expressions of the Russian and British
languages are based on different concepts that reflect the history and culture of their people. So,
the same idiom in Russian and English will differ not only in their structure (composition), but
also in the meaning inherent in it.
And finally, the least researched and fewest Ingush idioms. In the Ingush language, of
course, there are equivalents to the idiomatic expressions of the English language, but due to the
fact that they are still poorly studied, it is very difficult to give a complete analysis, given the fact
that there are no oral corpuses, corpuses of sounding speech for considering Ingush idioms in
speech. But despite this, it was still possible to identify the differences between the idioms in
Ingush and British English. First of all, this is that the idiomatic expressions of the Ingush
language consist of fewer words than in English idioms, and moreover, Ingush idioms are mainly
based on the concepts of "honor", "homeland", "heart", "soul", that talks about the importance of
these concepts for this people.
For greater clarity, I made a comparative table with the idiomatic expressions I have
considered in Russian, English, Ingush and Chinese:
British English Russian Chinese Ingush
a bag of bones кожа да кости 骨 瘦 如 柴
Gǔshòurúchái
瘦 骨 嶙 峋 ц1океи-т1ехкаши
Shòugǔlínxún

a piece of cake проще простого, 举 手 之 劳 jǔ shǒu

проще пареной zhī láo -
репы 轻 而 易 举
qīng'éryìjǔ
upside down вверх ногами, 乱 七 八 糟

29
 вверх тормашками, Luànqībāzāo 1ункара
вверх дном

General conclusion
Thus, phraseological units are present in any language and enrich the speech of its speakers.
The fact that an idiomatic unit of a language is such a unit that is characterized by the non-
derivability of the value of the whole from the sum of the values of the parts can be seen from
the example of British English, Russian and Chinese. But as far as the Ingush language is
concerned, here already in some idioms there are clear indications of its meaning. Although at
this point the same idiomatic expression may differ in different languages, their characteristics
are mostly the same.
It follows from this that an idiom in every language is a unit, a characteristic feature of which is
the presence in it of archaic words and forms used only in it, often completely incomprehensible.
This especially enhances the indivisibility of idioms, their integrity. They are lexical units along
with words.
The general stylistic meaning of idioms boils down to the fact that they, acting as synonyms for
words and word combinations, enrich vocabulary. In addition, idioms are a characteristic feature
of a given language, as they are usually not translatable verbatim into other languages. So, we
cannot translate an idiomatic expression that is only what we heard through an online translator
or with our own guesses, since the translator will translate each word separately and, as a result,
a poor-quality incomprehensible translation will come out, which will make it difficult to
understand the context, the meaning of what was said, the same will happen if we will try to
guess the meaning ourselves. You either know the idiom, or you don't. For this, there are already
equivalents of idioms in many languages, so we cannot translate them ourselves in this case. This
is another characteristic feature of idioms in all languages: they give speech a pronounced
national character.
In the first chapter of the course work, I generally considered the phenomenon of idiomaticity in
the language, gave various definitions of idioms and idioms, based on the works of domestic and
foreign linguists on this topic, and also considered the inner content of the concept of idioms.
In the second chapter of the course work, I examined, firstly, the functioning of the idiomatic
expression of British English in oral speech using the YouGlish website, which acts as a corpus
of sounding speech, and secondly, I compared the idioms of the English language with their
equivalents in Russian, Chinese and Ingush languages, revealing the peculiarities of use in each
language.
Based on my comparative analysis, I came to the conclusion that idiomatic expressions are
often used in languages, especially in oral speech, and can have several meanings. Also, some
idioms of the English language may not have an equivalent in another language, such as in

30
Ingush, or may contain at its core a different image characteristic of the mentality of a given
culture or country.

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