Synonyms in Phraseology

3. Synonyms in Phraseology

Synonymy in phraseology has been greatly enriched by various processes of the meaning shift, by the influx of foreign words and phrases.

Absolute synonyms which have the same meaning and connotation are comparatively rare.

e.g.: over head and ears = up to the neck;

a pretty kettle of fish = a nice pair of shoes;

байдики бити – давати горобцям дулі.

Relative synonyms denote different shades of different degrees of common meaning:

e.g.: to come to a conclusion; to jump at a conclusion; to leap at a conclusion.

There is every reason to establish a stylistic differentiation of synonyms. The synonyms of a particular phrase are not always interchangeable with that phrase as their use depends on the linguistic situation, the audience addressed, the speaker’s attitude towards the subject. Some of them are stylistically neutral, others have an emotional connotation. In stylistic synonyms the difference is not so much in the meaning as in the emotional colouring.

e.g.: word of honour (neutral) – as I live by bread (colloquial);

to be in high spirits (neutral) – to be on high ropes (colloquial);

заснути вічним сном (neutral) – простягти ноги (colloquial).

4. Antonyms in Phraseology

Antonyms can be opposed to each other in their concrete meanings.

e.g.: an old sea wolf – a young calf of a mate; вбити собі в голову – викинути з голови, набитий гаманець – вітер у кишенях свистить.

The elements of the phraseological units-antonyms are expressed by the same part of speech.

e.g.: safe and sound – dead and gone; dead from the neck up – as wise as a serpent, макітра розуму – пустий лоб.

It is not investigated yet whether it is possible to use the negative particle not to form an antonym. We can use the negation in to step into somebody’s boots but we cannot use it in the expression to take a leaf from somebody’s book though it has the same meaning. In the Ukrainian language it is possible to use a negation in the following examples: велике цабе – невелике цабе, з легким серцем – з нелегким серцем.

5. Proverbs, Sayings

A proverb is a short familiar epigrammatic saying expressing popular wisdom, the truth or a moral lesson in a concise and imaginative way. Proverbs have much in common with phraseological units because their lexical components are also constant, their meanings are traditional and mostly figurative and they are introduced into speech ready-made. That is why some scholars following V.V. Vinogradov think proverbs must be studied together with phraseological units. Another reason why proverbs must be taken into consideration together with phraseological units is that they often form the basis of phraseological units.

A proverb is always a sentence. Very often they are realised in superphrasal units.

Proverbs may have different contents.

War is condemned: War is sweet to them who know it not. War is the sport of kings.

Fools are laughed at: Fools grow without watering. He who is borne a fool is never cured.

Lazy-bones are criticised: Idleness is the root of all evil.

Proverbs teach to be economical: A penny saved is a penny gained. Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.

Proverbs teach to work hard: He that will eat the kernel must crack the nut. He that would eat the fruit must climb the tree. He that would catch fish must not mind getting wet. He would search for pearls must dive below.

Grammatical Structure of Proverbs

1. Simple affirmative sentences.

Appetite comes with eating. A cat may look at a king. Money makes the mare go. A little pot is soon hot. The voice of one man is the voice of no one. Друзі пізнаються в біді.

2. Simple negative sentences.

You cannot judge a tree by its bark Plenty is no plague. Hungry bellies have no ears. Нема науки без муки.

3. Compound sentences.

God sends meat and the devil sends cooks. Nothing venture, nothing gain. Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper. За морем тепліше, та вдома миліше. Від меча рана загоїться, а від лихого слова – ніколи.

4. Complex sentences.

He is lifeless that is faultless. He that lies down with/sleeps with dogs must rise up with fleas. If the things were to be done twice all would be wise. As the fool thinks, so the bell clinks. Хто мусить, той і каменя вкусить. Шануй свою голову, бо друга не виросте.

5. Imperative sentences.

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs. Look before you leap. Don’t cross the bridges before you come to them. Не брудни криниці, бо схочеш водиці. Вмієш казати, вмій і мовчати.

6. Interrogative sentences.

Can the leopard change his spots? What can you expect from a hog but a grunt?

A.V.Koonin suggests the following classification of Еnglish proverbs:

1.  Proverbs with the constant dependence of their elements.

They are the most wide-spread. Their characteristic feature is that they are monosemantic.

e.g.: A burnt child dreads the fire. A great ship asks deep waters.

 2. Proverbs with the constant-variant dependence of their elements. Among them there are proverbs with lexical variants.

e.g.: Every cloud has a/its silver lining. The parson/priest always christens his own child first. Rats desert/forsake/leave a sinking ship.

Grammar variants are represented by the following examples: Constant dropping wears away/will wear away a stone. Small rain lays/will lay great dust.

There are proverbs with quantitative variants: First catch your hare then cook him = First catch your hare. There is no rose without a thorn = No rose without a thorn.

Some lexico-grammar variants have been registered: A burden of one’s choice is not felt = The burden one likes is cheerfully borne. Do in Rome as the Romans do = When at Rome do as the Romans do. Still waters run deep = Still waters have deep bottoms. There are spots even in the sun =There are spots on the sun.

Sayings

Sayings are communicative phrasal units of a non-proverbial character.

They can be represented by affirmative sentences: The answer is a lemon. The world is a small place. That is a horse of another colour. All is fish that comes to his net. Часом густо, а часом і пусто. Сорока на хвості принесла.

Interrogative sentences: Do you see any green in my eye? What’s the good word? Where do you hail from?

Negative sentences: Не нашого поля ягода. Не святі горшки ліплять.

Imperative sentences: Carry me out! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

THE ETYMOLOGY

1. The native element and borrowed words.

2. Causes and ways of borrowing words.

3. Criteria of borrowings in English.

4. The Celtic element in the English vocabulary.

5. The classical element in the English language.

6. The Scandinavian element in the English vocabulary.

7. The Norman-French element in the English vocabulary.

8. Various other elements in the vocabulary of the English and Ukrainian languages.

9. False etymology.

10.Types of borrowings.

1. The Native Element and Borrowed Words

The most characteristic feature of English is usually said to be its mixed character. Many linguists consider foreign influence, especially that of French, to be the most important factor in the history of English. This wide-spread viewpoint is supported only by the evidence of the English word-stock, as its grammar and phonetic systems are very stable and not easily influenced by other languages.

To comprehend the nature of the English vocabulary and its historical development it is necessary to examine the etymology of different layers, the historical causes of their appearance, their volume and role and the comparative importance of native and borrowed elements in enriching the English vocabulary.

According to their origin words can be native and borrowed. A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period.

Native words are further subdivided into the words of the Indo-European stock and those of the Common Germanic origin. The words having cognates in the vocabularies of different Indo-European languages form the oldest layer. It has been noticed that they readily fall into definite semantic groups. Among them we find terms of kinship (mother, father, son, daughter), names of animals and birds (cat, wolf, goose), parts of human body (arm, eye). Some of the most frequent verbs belong to this word stock: come, sit, stand. Most numerals are also of the Indo-European origin.

A bigger part of the native vocabulary consists of the words of the Common Germanic word stock. Such nouns as summer, winter, rain, ice, hat; the verbs to bake, to buy, to make, to meet; the adjectives deaf, dead, deep are of the Common Germanic origin. Most adverbs and pronouns also belong here.

Together with the words of the Common Indo-European stock the Common Germanic words form the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech.

Characteristic Features of the Native Vocabulary

1. The words are monosyllabic: sun, wood, break.

2.  They are polysemantic: hand – 1. Part of the human body. 2. Power, possession, by a responsibility.3. Influence. 4. Person from whom news comes. 5. Skill in using one’s hands. 6. Person who does what is indicated by the context, performer. 7. Workman. 8. Share in activity. 9. Pointer, indicator. 10. Position or direction. 11. Handwriting. 12. Signature. 13. Number of cards held by a player. 14. Unit of measurement. 15. Applause by clapping.

3. They are characterised by high frequency.

4. Native words are usually found in set-expressions.

5. Verbs with post-positions are usually native: to look for, to look after.

6. They are characterised by a wide range of lexical and grammatical valency.

7. If words begin with wh, wr, tw, dw, sw, sh. th; if at the end they have dge, tch,nd, ld; if the roots have ng, aw, ew, ee, oo they are native.

2. Causes and Ways of Borrowing into English

In its fifteen century long history recorded in written manuscripts the English language happened to come in long and close contact with several other languages, mainly Latin, French, Old Norse. The great influx of borrowings from these sources can be accounted for by a number of historical causes. Due to the great influence of the Roman civilisation Latin was for a long time used in England as the language of learning and religion. Old Norse was the language of the conquerors who brought with them a lot of new notions of a higher social system – developed feudalism – it was the language of upper classes, of official documents from the middle of the 11^th century to the end of the 14^th century.

In the study of the borrowed element in English the main emphasis is as a rule placed on the Middle English period. Borrowings of the later periods became the object of investigation only in recent years. These investigations show that the flow of borrowings has been steady and uninterrupted. The greatest number of them has come from French. A large portion of them (41) is scientific and technical terms.

The number and character of borrowings do not only depend on the historical conditions, on the nature and length of contacts but also on the degree of the genetic and structural proximity of the languages concerned. The closer the languages the deeper and more versatile is the influence. Thus under the influence of the Scandinavian languages, which were closely related to Old English, some classes of words were borrowed that could not have been adopted from non-related or distantly related languages.

Borrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral and written speech. Oral borrowing took place chiefly in the early periods of history, whereas in recent times written borrowing gained importance. Words borrowed orally are usually short and they undergo more changes in the act of adoption. Written borrowings preserve their spelling.

Borrowings can be borrowed through transcription (football, trailer, jeans), transliteration (cruise, motel, club). Besides there can be loan words (blue stocking, collective farm).