English LexicologyEnglish Idioms

Week 14

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

　 verbs

intransitive transitive ditransitive

unergative unaccusative 　 middle

　unergative: 非作格动词 middle: 中间动词ergative: 作格动词 unaccusative: 非宾格动词

Review: different types of verbs

Warming-up

till the cows come home

a feather in one’s cap the apple of one’s eye

kick the bucket bury the hatchet

put up with watch out

throw cold water on turn on/off

put all one’s eggs in one basket

Is each of the following items a lexeme, a

phrase, or a clause?

How many words does each of these chunks contain?

The Lexicon

rootroot derivational affixderivational affix idiomidiom functional affixfunctional affix

Morphological Processes

Inflection DerivationCompounding

Overview

Characteristics of idioms Classification of idioms Use of idioms

1. Semantic unity

Each idiom is a single semantic unity. The meaning of an idiom is opaque; i.e. the meaning of an idiom is not the total sum of the meaning of its constituents.

till the cows come home: The idiom functions as one word—an adverb meaning “forever.”

Characteristics of idioms

2. Structural stability

The structure of an idiom usually remains unchangeable. In other words, the constituent components of an idiom can not, generally speaking, be changed or replaced by other words.

bury the hatchet *bury the ax

in (*the) question out of (the) question

Characteristics of idioms

2. Structural stability

Many idioms are grammatically wrong, but idiomatically accepted.

Long time no see.

Like cures like.

Go great guns.

Characteristics of idioms

Gradable idiomaticity

Notice the idiomaticity of idioms is gradable and may best be thought as a continuum.

idioms

semi-idioms

loosely idiomatic expressions (the meaning can be understood from the literal meaning of the constituents)

make friends with sb.

rain cats and dogs

as cool as a cucumber

The more idiomatic the idioms, the more fixed the structure.

More examples

According to grammatical function, idioms can be divided into 5 types:

1) Nominal idioms—subject and objects

2) Adjectival idioms—complements

3) Verbal idioms—predicates

4) Adverbial idioms—adverbials

5) Sentence idioms

Classification of idioms

They function as the subject or the object in a sentence:

a white elephant ( 沉重的负担 , 无用的累赘东西 )

brain trust

apple of discord ( 祸根 )

the salt of the earth

What is the apple of discord for this disaster?

Idioms nominal in nature

They function as complements or modifiers in a sentence.

cut and dried (determined)

wide of the mark (irrelevant)

up in the air (uncertain)

The plan is still up in the air.

The plan is cut and dried.

He is as poor as a church mouse.

Idioms adjectival in nature

They function as predicate verbs in a sentence.

a) Phrasal verb: verb + particle

look up put off

turn on put on

b) Prepositional verb: verb + preposition

look after look into

dig into pick up

Idioms verbal in nature

a) Phrasal verb: verb + particle

b) Prepositional verb: verb + preposition

c) Prepositional phrasal verb: V + particle + preposition

Idioms verbal in nature

Diagnostics to different them:

Turn it off.*Turn off it. Turn the radio off.Turn off the radio.

Diagnostics to different them:

*Look him after.Look after him.Look after the baby.*Look the baby after.

Verbal idioms may also function as predicates.

keep the pot boiling （维持生活）

bite the hand that feeds one （恩将仇报）

give sb. the bag ( 解雇某人）

Idioms verbal in nature

John ate an apple. Predicate verb: atePredicate: ate an apple

They function as adverbials in a sentence:

tooth and nail: We will work tooth and nail.

heart and soul: We will serve people heart and soul.

in nothing flat: I will go there in nothing flat.

through thick and thin: We made it through thick and thin.

Idioms Adverbial in nature

Such idioms are usually in complete sentential form. They are usually proverbs or sayings.

Never do things by halves.

All is not gold that glitters.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

One swallow does not make a summer.

Sentence idioms

In order to use the idioms appropriately, one should be aware of the following features of idioms: (1) stylistic features, (2) rhetorical features, and (3) structural variations of idioms.

Stylistic features

Different idioms show different stylistic meanings. Some are casual, others formal or neural in style.

Use of idioms

1) Colloquialism 带口语色彩的习语big wheel: Chomksy is a big wheel in linguistics.

2) Slang 俚语cancer stickhit the sack in the soup: I am deep in the soup now.

3) Literary expressions 带书面语色彩的习语come to pass: take place; happenbear witness to: prove, show

His action bore witness to his kindness.

Apart from the stylistic features, idioms can bring about certain rhetorical effects in terms of sound and meaning.

(1) Phonetic manipulation 音韵手段   a. alliteration such as “part and parcel”　　押头韵 b. rhyme such as "toil and moil”　　押尾韵

Rhetorical features

(2) Lexical manipulation 词语手段a. Reiteration, which means the duplication of synony

ms such as “pick and choose”. 同义词迭用

b. Repetition, which means the repetition of the same word, such as “by and by”. 词语重复

c. Juxtapostion, which means the combination of two antonyms such as “day and night”. 并置对举

(3) Figurative manipulation 修辞手段a. Simile  　 as proud as a peacock as mute as a fishb. Metaphora white elephant a black sheepc. Metonymyfrom cradle to grave live by one’s pend. PersonificationFailure is the mother of success. Actions speak louder than words.e. Hhyperbolea world of troubles a flood of tea

rs

Despite the property of structural stability, idioms occasionally do show structural changes in terms of

1. Addition

2. Deletion

3. Replacement

4. Position-shifting

5. Dismembering

Structural Variations

3. Variations of idioms1) Addition: 增加“in good condition” from “in condition”2) Deletion: 减少“the last straw” from “It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.”3) Position-shifting: 位置替换 day and night = night and day4) Replacement: 替换“lose heart” vs. “take heart” “break one’s word” vs. “keep one’s word”

Summary

kick the bucket (= ‘die’)

Here we have a single unit of meaning, which happens to consist of three “words”. The idiom thus is a multi-word lexeme.

Classification of idioms Use of idioms