ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY

THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

STRATIFICATION
Outline
1. The Concept of Phraseological Units.
2. Various Classifications of Phraseological Units.
3. Categorial Features of Phraseological Units.
4. Semantic Relations in Phraseology.
5. Stylistic Stratification of the English Vocabulary.
6. Stylistically Neutral Vocabulary.
7. Literary Words. Their Subdivisions.
8. Colloquial Words. Their Subdivisions.
Types of word combinations
• ordinary / free word-combinations (any element can be substituted by
another)
• semi-free word combinations (the substitution is possible but limited,
e.g. to cut a poor/funny/strange figure)
• non-free word combinations (the substitution is impossible, e.g. to be
in low water)
• stable word combinations (means of expression of certain notions, e.g.
sunny smile, black ingratitude, a pretty kettle of fish)
Phraseological units
• differ from free word-groups semantically and structurally:
- single concept
- structural invariability
- ready-made units
- completely or partially transferred meaning
Classifications of phraseological units
• According to V. V. Vinogradov’s semantic (degree of motivation of meaning)
criterion:
- phraseological fusions, e.g. the king’s picture (фальшива монета), to kiss the
hare’s foot (запізнюватися)
- phraseological unities, e.g. to turn over a new leaf (почати нове життя), to make
a mountain out of a molehill (робити з мухи слона)
- phraseological collocations, e.g. to be at one’s wits’ end (стати в глухий кут, не
знати, що робити), to make friends (потоваришувати), to make sure
(пересвідчитися)

• According to prof. O. I. Smirnitsky’s functional classification:

- phraseological units, e.g. to bring up, to catch a cold, to take to somebody
- idioms, e.g. to beat about the bush, to bark up the wrong tree
Classifications of phraseological units
• According to prof. O. V. Koonin’s functional classification:
- nominative, e.g. out of sight, as the crow flies.
- nominative-communicative, e.g. to set the Thames on fire – the Thames was
set on fire, to break the ice – the ice was broken.
- interjectional, e.g. A pretty kettle of fish! Hear, hear! Good God! My aunt!
- communicative, e.g. An early bird catches the worm; East or West, home is
the best; Honesty is the best policy :: That’s another pair of shoes! It’s a small
world.

• According to N. N. Amosova’s type of context classification:

- phrasemes, e.g. green hand (недосвічений працівник), bitter enemy
(запеклий ворог);
- idioms, eg.: red tape (бюрократична тяганина); mare’s nest (нонсенс).
Classifications of phraseological units
• The structural (parts of speech) principle of classifying phraseological
units:
1) verbal, e.g. to have butterflies in the stomach, to have green fingers,
2) substantive, e.g. a dark horse, small talk,
3) adjectival, e.g. spick and span, safe and sound,
4) adverbial, e.g. by hook or by crook, by a long chalk,
5) interjectional, e.g. goodness gracious! Sakes alive!
The categorial features of phraseological units

1) stability (morphological, syntactical, semantic, etc.);

2) word-group structure (each phraseological unit consists of
more than one word);
3) absence of any stereotyped pattern;
4) figurative (transferred) meaning;
5) expressiveness.

A certain stable combination may be referred to some class of phraseological units

only on the condition of the combination of all the above-mentioned features.
Semantic relations in phraseology
• Semantic relations in phraseology are the same as between words.
Like words phraseological units can be related as homonyms,
synonyms, antonyms. Furthermore, phraseological units may be either
monosemantic or polysemantic.
Phraseological antonyms
• phraseological units which are opposed in their meanings, correlated according to
the main semantic feature and belonging to one and the same grammatical class:
have a (good) head on one’s shoulders – have a head like a sieve;
hold all the trumps – have no say in the matter.

• Types of phraseological antonyms :

1) they may coincide partially in their lexical composition, e.g.
have a thick skin – have a thin skin; have (get, keep) one’s tail up – have (get) one’s
tail down;
2) they may have completely different lexical composition: have all buttons on – have
slow wits.
Phraseological homonyms
• should not be confused with numerous homophrases, i.e. phrases
identical in form but differing in meaning that belong to different
classes (free word-groups, phrasal terms), etc.
-Trojan horse (free word-group) – троянський кінь,
-Trojan horse (phraseological unit) – комп’ютерний вірус;
-old salt – (free word-group) – стара сіль,
-old salt (phraseological unit) – морський вовк.
Phraseological synonyms
-a pretty kettle of fish – a nice pair of shoes;
-there has been many a peck of salt eaten since that time – much water has flown under the bridges
since that time;
-velvet paws hide sharp claws – honey tongue, a heart of gall (на язиці мед, а на серці отрута).

• Phraseological synonyms may denote different shades of common meaning, e.g. to come to a
conclusion – to arrive at a conclusion – to draw a conclusion – to jump at a conclusion – to leap
at a conclusion. All of these express one and the same general notion, the last two giving
additional indication of a hasty conclusion.
• A stylistic differentiation of phraseological synonyms. Some of them are stylistically neutral,
others have an emotional connotation that makes them more expressive, e.g.
-to breathe one’s last – to go to glory – to quit the scene – to pass away (poetic or
euphemistic) – to kick the bucket – to hop over the perch – to turn up one’s toes (slangy vulgarism)
-to do one’s best – to do ones damnedest (slang).
The word-stock layers
• neutral (words are marked by stability, devoid of any emotive
coloring, used in language in their denotative meaning, fulfill the
function of the synonymic dominant)
• literary (contain stylistically marked words, bookish character)
• colloquial (contain stylistically marked words, lively spoken
character)
The subgroups of the literary vocabulary
• learned words
• terms
• barbarisms
• archaic words
• neologisms
Learned words include
• a) literary or refined words which are mostly of foreign origin : commence,
exploration, pertain.
• b) poetic words (poetic diction), which have a high-flown, archaic coloring, are
normally used only in poetry, e.g. oft, alas, betwixt, behold, constancy, Alas!, realm,
wroth, eve (for “evening”), welkin (небосхил). Most of them have stylistically neutral
synonyms, e.g. save (except), hapless (unlucky), lone (lonely), frail (fragile). They are
sometimes created by poets and used as words only in that particular piece of poetry.
• c) words that are used in scientific prose, which may be identified by their dry, matter-
of-fact flavor, e.g. homogeneous, compile, experimental.
• d) officialese are the words of bureaucratic language (штамп, кліше (документи
офіційно- ділового стилю)): assist (for “help”), proceed (for “go on”), inquire (for
“ask”), approximately (for “about”).
Terms or technical vocabulary
• express certain concepts of science, engineering, politics, diplomacy, linguistics, etc.
• They distinguish between:
• 1) terms which exist as terms only and function within the limits of certain terminology
only (videosystem, satellite, orbit);
• 2) terms which may be used in several systems of terms with different specialized meanings
(experiment, analysis, framework);
• 3) those which may function as terms and ordinary words , e. g. nut – fruit of a nut-tree;
small block usually of metal pierced with a hole-screw for securing a bolt) and have
homonyms in different systems of terms, e.g. to dress – to bandage; to prepare earth for
sowing).
• Coined and borrowed terms, e.g. English terms of sports start, finish, forward, goal; Italian
artistic and musical terms, French political terms.
• Word-terms and word combination terms, e.g. heat, vapor, compressor, oil separator, fiber
filter
Barbarisms, archaic words
• Barbarisms (unassimilated borrowed words and phrases) are words or expressions
borrowed without (or almost without) any change in form and not accepted by
native speakers. Etymologically they are often Latin, Greek and French: tete-a-
tete, de facto, dejа vu, etc.
• Archaic and obsolete words are partially or fully out of circulation and can be
found in books only: damsel (for “girl”), foe (ворог), chop-house (харчевня,
трактир) – lexical archaisms, thou (ти), thy, thine (твій), speaketh (for “you
speak”) – grammatical archaisms. Some linguists use the terms “obsolete” and
“archaic” as synonyms. Others believe that obsolete words are words which have
completely fallen out of use, while archaisms are words which are rare in present
usage. Anyway, the borderline between “obsolete” and “archaic” is uncertain.
Besides, words very rarely drop out of use forever, the majority of them are found
at the periphery of the lexicon.
Historisms, neologisms
• Historisms denote social relations, institutions, objects of material culture and phenomena of
the past which no longer exist, e.g. goblet (келих), lute (лютня), cataphract (кольчуга);
• Neologisms are newly coined terms, words or phrases that may be in the process of entering
common use, but have not yet been accepted into mainstream language; formed according to
the productive structural patterns or borrowed from another language, e.g. corporatocracy
(2000s), Islamofascism (2001), Chindia (2004), laundromat, blog (late 1990s), PowerPoint
presentation, webinar (early 2000s), Brangelina (2005) – used to refer to supercouple Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie; photoshop, a verb meaning digital photo manipulation; Google often
used as verb for searching on internet, primarily through Google Search Engine.
• A neologism may also be a new usage of an existing word, sometimes called a semantic
extension, e.g. friend, a verb meaning to add another user as a friend on a social networking
service like Facebook.
• Among neologisms one can find occasional words (or nonce-words) coined for a particular
situation or context and aimed at a certain stylistic effect, e.g. “A what?” “Coffeeholic. A
word I’ve just made up to describe someone with an addiction to coffee”. Nonce-words are
often created as part of pop culture and advertising campaigns.
The subgroups of colloquial layer
• colloquial words
• dialectical words
• slang
• jargon
• professionalisms
• vulgarisms
Literary and non-literary colloquialisms
• literary (standard) colloquial words (units of standard English vocabulary; used in
everyday conversational speech both by educated and uneducated people: kid (for
“child”), pal, chum (for “friend”), hi, hello, zip (for “zip fastener”), exam, fridge, flu,
doc; have stronger emotional colouring.
• Dialect words are used in a variety of a language which prevails in a district, e.g. the
Lancashire, Dorsetshire, Yorkshire, Norfolk dialects in Britain, etc. Dialectal words can
migrate: dialect - everyday colloquial speech or slang - the common stock (words
which are not stylistically marked) - the literary language.
• non-literary colloquialisms (sub-standard English vocabulary) (slang, jargonisms,
professionalisms, vulgarisms)
• Slang is a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very
informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a
particular context or group of people, e.g. attic (head), beans (money), dough (money),
soaked (drunk). Slang words are easily understood by all native speakers as they are not
specific for any social or professional group.
Jargonisms, professionalisms, vulgarisms
• Jargonisms are special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are
difficult for others to understand. Such words are usually motivated and have
metaphoric character (like slang words), e.g. spiv (a person who makes a living by
underhand dealings or swindling; black marketer); getting on a soapbox (making a
speech in public) – political jargon, grass, tea (narcotic) – drug addicts’ jargon.
• Professionalisms are sub-standard colloquial words connected with the productive
activities of people united by a common occupation or profession. Professionalisms
are understood only by the members of a certain professional group. Such words are
informal substitutes for corresponding terms, e. g. to shoot holes through (to find
drawbacks in the instalment), a run (an experiment), a circuit (a scheme), to let hot
air out (to remove drawbacks) – conversational expressions peculiar to physicists
• Vulgarisms are words or expressions that are considered inelegant, especially those
that make explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions, include swear
words, e.g. the devil, goddam, bloody, as well as obscene words (or taboo, four-
letter words) which are highly indecent.
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