V Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2013

One of the most urgent issues of the day in linguistics is the problem of the relation between the phraseological unit (PU) and the context.

The fact is that some contexts reproduce the PU occasional meaning and some contexts arouse a new PU meaning. Consequently, it is necessary to distinguish the context of functioning and the context of generation.

The term context of generation was suggested by V.I. Kodukhov, who wrote: «Usually, when the context is considered not as a means of realization but as a means of specialization of meaning in language units, the context of functioning is meant. Besides the specializing function, the context still possesses the function of generation of speech meaning and language meaning. It is not any more a functioning context, but a generative one» [Кодухов 1973: 26].

Trying to define the notion of the context, A.V. Kunin took into consideration V.I. Kodukhov's argument. According to A.V. Kunin, one of the most important components of any phraseological context is the phraseological catalyzer [Кунин 2005: 233].

Phraseological catalyzer is the word, the phrase, the sentence or the group of sentences which are semantically connected with the phraseological units used in these contexts, and which introduce them into speech at usual or occasional use (see also: [Федуленкова, Воронов 2012: 128]).

The context is defined by A.V. Kunin as a piece of the text isolated and united by a language unit or a speech unit which is able to pass into a language one, which are in their turn determined by a catalyzer at usual or occasional use.

Any occasional changes [Fedulenkova 2003: 86] before they are fixed in language, have a stage of speech realization in a written or oral generating context. If the context (and its maximum limit is usually considered to be the paragraph) doesn't contain the sufficient information necessary for implementation of the phraseological unit, it is necessary to go beyond the paragraph of the given text. It, in particular, belongs to the phraseological units being names of books or certain heads: cakes and ale – with the meaning of fun, entertainments (W.S. Maugham); cat among the pigeons – with the meaning of a cat on a dovecot (A. Christie); for kicks – with the meaning of for the sake of art (D. Francis); rocking the boat – with the meaning of to endanger (G. Vidal); vanity fair – with the meaning of vain social routine (W.M. Thackeray), it is never too late to mend – with the meaning of to correct a mistake is never late (Ch. Reade); etc.

Distribution of units of language is one of the ways of their contextual realization. After A.V. Kunin we think it is necessary to distinguish five main types of PU distribution, i.e. external relations of phraseological units.

1. Compatibility. From the point of view of the positional opposition we are to distinguish contact and distant compatibility.

Contact compatibility consists in adjunction of a semantically realized phraseological unit to a word or the phrase being its catalyzer both in a postposition and in a preposition. Many types of contact compatibility are widespread, for example, a combination of verbal PU with a verb or a noun, an adverbial PU with an adjective or a verb, etc. Cf.:

(e.g.1) till the cows come home – with the meaning offor a very long period of time, extremely long:

...A desire to talk till the cows come home(Gr. Greene).

(e.g.2) white as a sheet – with the meaning of extremely white, e.g. from fear:

Poor Lady Sophia looks as white as a sheet (N. Mitford).

(e.g.3) through and through – with the meaning of very thoroughly, in all respects:

Не was peculiar but she knew himthrough and through(W.S. Maugham).

(e.g.4) right and left – with the meaning of all around, without too much thinking:

Harrington was brazen in Illinois. He stole votes right and left(W. Foster).

Distant compatibility is a position in which the phraseological unit and its catalyser are divided by a word, a phrase or a punctuation mark. Cf.:

(e.g.5) as like as two peas – with the meaning of very much alike:

White-collar workers and factory hands live in ad­joining blocks in houses built on the same pattern and as like as two peas(W.S. Maugham).

The adjectival PU as like as two peasand its catalyzer houses are divided by the phrase built on the same pattern.

(e.g.6) like greased lightning(colloq.) – with the meaning of very quickly, immediately:

The cat is an animal with an almost boundless ca­pacity for self-help. It can jump up walls, it can climb trees. It can run, as the proverb says, like greased light­ning(R. Lynd).

The adverbial PU like greased lightning and its catalyzer the verb run are divided by the phrase as the proverb says standing in commas.

2. Correlation is a contact or distant position in which the phraseological unit is realized depending on the information about the situation. In this position only intejectional PUs and non-intejectional PUs with modal meaning are used. Cf.:

(e.g.7) myfoot(coloqu., familiar) – with the meaning of I don't believe that: I'll be ready very soon. – Ready, my foot! You're still not dressed (LD).

(e.g.8) byGeorge – with the meaning of admiration: By George! How wonderful! What a girl! (Th. Dreiser).

3. Coupling – is a coordinating connection of sentences, and also phraseological units with a sentence structure (such as sayings and proverbs). Cf.:

(e.g.9) one's heart is broken – with the meaning of to be completely unhappy and distressed: I am alone now, quite alone, and my heart is broken(H.R. Haggard).

(e.g.10) a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – with the meaning of better an egg today than a hen tomorrow:

It may be small pay, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (SPhI).

4. Accession is a subordinative connection of sentences, including phraseological units with a sentence structure, as a part of a compound sentence. Cf.:

(e.g.11) birds of a feather flock together – with the meaning of people having the same interests communicate closer to each other:

It is literally true in the systematized roguery in Lon­don that birds of a feather flock together(E. Bulwer-Lytton).

5. Conjunctionless connection of sentences, i.e. connection of two or more sentences without a coordinating or subordinative connection. Cf.:

(e.g.12) it'salonglanethathasnoturning(proverb)– with the meaning of bad luck cannot last for ever:

Florrie: Fat chance I've got of going to France now. Bessie: It's a long lane that has no turning.(W.S. Maugham)

(e.g.13) pridegoesbeforeafall(proverb) – with the meaning of it is better to keep a low profile:

"I suppose he thinks he'd be mayor himself," said the people of Blackstable. They pursed their lips. "Pride goes before a fall,"they said. (W.S. Maugham)

Conjunctionless connection of sentences includes also an enumeration of sentences, e.g.: His favourite proverbs are birds of a feather flock together, every cloud has a silver lining, a great ship asks deep waters.

We distinguish, after A.V. Kunin, three types of the phraseological context: intra-phrasal, phrasal and super-phrasal.

Intra-phrasal phraseological context consists of the PU and its catalyzer which may be expressed by a word or a word combination within the frame of a simple or a complex sentence.

Phrasal phraseological context consists of the PU and its catalyzer which is expressed by a simple or a complex sentence.

Super-phrasal phraseological context consists of the PU and its catalyzer which is expressed by two or more simple or complex sentences.

As both the intra-phrasal phraseological context and the phrasal phraseological context have already been exemplified (for which see the text above), we will illustrate only the super-phrasal phraseological context here:

(e.g.14) my world – with the meaning of who could think of it:

"My world,"said Chester. "We can't work today. Do you know what today is? It's Washington's birth­day" (J. O'Hara).

(e.g.15) half а mо(colloq.) – with the meaning of could you wait a bit, please:

Frederick: ...How's that cork going? – William: Haifa mo,it's just coming (W.S. Maugham).

(e.g.16) go through the motions – with the meaning of to do routine actions, to do something automatically:

Both knew there was no chance of saving the pa­tient. They were simply going through the motions(W. Mauchester).

Super-phrasal phraseological context is a complex syntactical unit. It consists of the sentences united in the semantic and syntactic terms. The above examples show that the super-phrasal phraseological context can be dialogical, monological and may be encountered in the author's speech. Phrasal contexts do not often provide sufficient information about PU speech mainstream. In such a case a larger context is required. This is also clear from the following example:

(e.g.17) But there it is, as large as life(P. White).

The meaning of the PU as large as life becomes clear from the following two missing sentences:

"How did you cut your knee, Ray?"

"I didn't," he said.

This example relates to the PU nicked knee, used jokingly in the meaning in all its glory.

When phraseological units are used as head-lines, we must get to know a broader context to decode them, i.e. the advertising text, the article, the chapter or the whole book.

When using the phraseology of usual, their dictionary meaning is realized, and referential correlation of phraseology is set up, receiving target in the designation of the person objects, processes, events, situations, etc.

The volume of the functions performed by a phraseological context depends on the communication tasks, on the type of phraseological unit and on the genre of a piece of literature.

The context helps to distinguish between frazeosemantic variants of a polysemantic idiom. Cf.:

(e.g.18) The old dog looked up and wagged his tail. “Poor old boy!” thought Jolyon shifting back to the other window (G. Galsworthy).

(e.g.19) Father used to give me what he called "heritage les­sons". That's why I know so much about the old boys(J. Steinbeck).

To sum it up, the problem of the relation between the PU and the context is far from its final solution. The next stage of our research in this field is phraeological configurations.

References

Кодухов В. И. Контекст как лингвистическое понятие // Языковые единицы и контекст. – Л., 1973. – С. 50-67.

Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – 3-е изд., перераб. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2005

Федуленкова Т.Н., Воронов Р.А. Фразеологическая стилистика Аниты Начисчионе: новое слово в мировой лингвистике // Европейский журнал социальных наук (European Social Science Journal). Рига, Москва, 2012, № 6(22). – С. 128-134.

Fedulenkova T. Phraseological Units in Discourse: Towards Applied Stylistics by Anita Naciscione, 2001. Riga: Latvian Academy of Culture, pp. xi + 283, ISBN 9984 95 19 01 // Language and Literature. – London, 2003, № 12 (1), p. 86-89.

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