In Russian, as in other languages, each word has a specific lexical meaning. The word is associated with an object, phenomenon, sign, some action.
The semantic role in the language can be played not only by the word, but also by the phraseological unit. That is, phraseological units are adjacent to vocabulary.
Phraseologisms
So what is phraseologism? Their examples are well known to every person. Take the word head. It is used in many phrases: “puzzle”, “man with a head”, “smash headlong”, “hot head”. If the word from the above examples is not used in its direct meaning, then it can be argued that it is part of the phraseology. In addition, the meaning of the word in all combinations is not the same.
“Puzzling” is to think hard about something, to solve a difficult task. A “man with a head” is one who does not make stupid decisions, he is wise, judicious. “To break completely” - to win the final victory. "Hot head" - so they say about a man reckless, reckless or quick-tempered.
A feature of the phrases given in the examples is that they are used in “frozen”, stable, unchanging grammatical and verbal forms. It is these turns of speech called phraseological units.
Signs of phraseological turns
There are several signs that can clarify what phraseological unit is. The examples given here will complement the description of the feature.
- Stable verbal form (“scruff-inverted”).
- Invariable grammatical form ("seven Fridays in a week").
- Inadmissibility of changing the order of words ("how to drink to give").
- Use in a figurative sense ("wash the bones").
- The inability to add new or remove from a combination of existing words. ("Chickens to laugh").
The meaning of the word "phraseology"
The study of stable combinations of speech deals with the section of linguistics - phraseology. To understand the meaning of the term, it is enough to translate it from Greek. The literal translation is: "the doctrine of speech."
The totality, the actual presence of stable combinations in the language is also called phraseology.
Why do phraseological units serve in the language? How to competently use them in speech? What does a concrete phraseology mean? These questions are of interest not only to children who have begun to study language as a science, but also to adults who have already learned a lot.
The origin of phraseologisms
A person using phraseological units in speech should have a good understanding of their meaning. This will help him to avoid comical, awkward situations that may arise in connection with the misuse of words or misunderstanding of their meaning. The history of phraseologisms, knowledge of the sources of their appearance in the language will allow a person to become more informed in this area.
A large group of phraseological turnovers arose from human observations of natural and social phenomena. For example, “a lot of snow - a lot of bread”, “a frightened crow of a bush is afraid”, “an apple doesn’t fall far from an apple tree”.
No less numerous is the group of phraseological units that emerged from mythology, biblical traditions, or specific historical events. Examples of such combinations can be idioms: “Babylonian pandemonium”, “Mamai passed”, “apple of discord”, “thread of Ariadne”. Acquaintance with such phraseological units will open the door to the world of history or ancient mythology.
The appearance of a certain group of phraseological units is associated with the professional activity of a person, his crafts. For example, the combination “no fluff or feather” was first used among hunters and meant the desire for good prey on the hunt.
Borrowing from other languages ​​is also a common occurrence in phraseology. From the German language came the expression "fail on the exam."
A large group of phraseological units are combinations that are associated with the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet. Examples are phraseological units: “start with the basics”, “dot the i”, “give the go-ahead”.
“There is no worse beast than a cat”, “You sang everything - this is the matter”, “Go there - I don’t know where.” Here are examples of stable combinations that came to the language from folk and copyright literary works.
The source of phraseological units can be modern forms of art - cinema, literature, theater.
Classification of phraseological units
None of the existing types of classification of phraseological units, according to linguists, can be considered exhaustive. The main reason for this is the large number of transitional forms of phraseological combinations, which sometimes can not be attributed to any particular type.
A subjective approach in determining groups of phraseological units also takes place among linguists. This fact leads to the fact that new terms appear in the discipline instead of existing ones. In this state of affairs, confusion is simply inevitable.
From the foregoing, we can conclude that the classification of phraseological units is a question that scientists have to solve in the future.
However, today the classification is used more often than others, where the degree of “cohesion”, the combination of words inside phraseological units, is taken into account. Based on this, the following groups are distinguished: fusion (idioms), phraseological unity and combination. A separate group is made up of proverbs, sayings, aphorisms, winged expressions.
Idioms
A significant part of phraseology is idioms (fusion). Translation from Greek allows you to understand the meaning of this term. Idios means "strange", "extraordinary."
Characteristic for fusion is that the meaning of the entire phraseology cannot be combined from the meanings of the words that make up it. This can be explained by the fact that idioms came to the language from ancient times.
Examples of such phraseological units: “it’s amazing to be surprised”, “it’s very bad”, “to beat the bacilli”, “to sharpen the hairs”.
Phraseologisms of this type are characteristic of a particular language, and their literal translation into other languages ​​is impossible without loss of meaning. As an example, let us consider how we can describe a situation when people meet in private.
In the Russian language they will say that they met “face to face”. To the speakers of this language, the meaning of what has been said will be extremely clear. The French will describe the situation with the words: tête-à -tête. Translation of an expression into Russian will cause a smile - “head to head” means that expression. From English, face to face will be translated as “face to face”. And the German zwischen den vier Augen will mean "between the four eyes."
Using this example, we can once again make sure that idioms are peculiar expressions that can exist in the language of a particular people, their meaning is understandable only when the words are used together, is indivisible.
Phraseological Unities
In the Russian language there are figurative turns of speech, the lexical meaning of which can be revealed to some extent, based on the meaning of the words that compose them. Such turns of speech are called phraseological units. Examples: “splurge”, “put teeth on a shelf”, “zero attention”, “like water off a duck”.
One of the features of phraseological unity is that it has a direct and figurative meaning. For example, "come to a standstill." The first meaning is direct - to be in that part of the road from which there is no way out, and the figurative meaning is not to see the way out of the current life situation.
Phraseological combinations
There is another significant group of phraseological units, which is called "phraseological combinations." This includes words with free and related meanings. In this case, the integral semantic meaning of phraseologism is made up of the individual meanings of the words that make up it. “Bosom friend”, “delicate question”, “sworn enemy”, “dumb nose” - examples of such combinations.
You can write phraseologisms from this group in different ways, that is, it is possible to replace at least one word in it - “burn with shame”, “burn with hate”, “burn with love”, “burn with jealousy”.
Phraseological Expressions
A special group of phraseological units consists of proverbs, sayings, winged words, aphorisms , familiar from childhood. Speech stamps can also be attributed to it. Such lexical units are called phraseological expressions.
Compared with other types of phraseological units, this group is most used in colloquial and book speech.
Synopsis Phraseologisms
Sometimes you can meet different phraseological units, denoting the same phenomenon, object, sign, action. Phraseologisms of this kind may belong to one or different languages.
For example, in Russian, everyone knows the phraseology “make an elephant out of a fly”, which means “exaggerating the significance of an event”. Phraseologism with a similar meaning exists in other languages. “Make pitchforks from a needle” - this is what they say in Poland. In Czech, there is also an expression with a similar meaning. It sounds like this: "make a camel out of a mosquito." And in the English language there is a phraseologism “to make a mountain out of a molehill”.
Synonym phraseological units can exist in one language. For example, consider a situation where it is necessary to say about how a person works, how he works. In order for his action to be described vividly and figuratively, one of the existing phraseological units is most accurately used - “work tirelessly”, “work roll up your sleeves”, “work sweat”.
Pronouns in phraseological units
If you look at stable combinations from the point of view of using different parts of speech in them, you will notice that phraseological units with pronouns are very common. At the same time possessive, reflexive, definitive pronouns are most commonly used. Examples of such phraseological units: “to be off the mark”, “to pull yourself together”, “to piss off”, “to bear on our shoulders” and many others.
Phraseologisms with pronouns vividly characterize a person, give him an assessment, reflect behavior, state and his activity.
Why do the words phraseological units serve in the language?
Phraseological turns decorate speech, making it figurative, expressive. Sustainable combinations enrich a person’s vocabulary, which allows him to most accurately and clearly express his thoughts. Using phraseologism, a person can express a broad, deep thought accurately and concisely - in two or three words.
Phraseologisms are able to decorate the language of literary works, therefore, writers and poets make extensive use of this tool, making their creations bright, inimitable and colorful.
Attention to the history of the appearance of phraseological units, their significance will allow anyone to increase their general level of knowledge.
Reflecting on the question of why the words of phraseological units serve in the language, one involuntarily comes to the conclusion that these stable combinations are a kind of reminder of the life and culture of the people, its centuries-old traditions, and historical experience. Phraseologisms are the memory of people who belong to a particular national culture.
Phraseological Dictionaries
The lexical meaning of phraseological units, the history of their appearance in the language, acceptable forms of use can be found in one of the phraseological dictionaries. Today, a fairly large number of them have been published.
The material of the directories is divided into dictionary entries. They collected all the available information about a particular phraseological unit. Such a dictionary can provide invaluable assistance in improving the culture of speech and enriching vocabulary.
In addition, experts note that the existing supply of phraseological units - this is the wealth of the language - is not fully used by the people, to a limited extent. Therefore, some of the philologists even advise to learn new expressions for themselves. After such classes, a person begins to better understand why phraseological units serve in the language and use them in speech.