currrent approaches towards idiomaticityWord文件下载.docx

currrent approaches towards idiomaticityWord文件下载.docx

《currrent approaches towards idiomaticityWord文件下载.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《currrent approaches towards idiomaticityWord文件下载.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

TrialandError?

-

AboutPastandCurrentApproachesTowardsIdiomaticity

TableofContents

1Introduction2

2Makkai´

sandSträ

ssler´

sViewsontwoearlierapproachestowardsIdiomaticity

2.1KatzandPostal4

2.2Chafe6

3Gibb´

sViewsontheAnalyzabilityofIdioms10

4Conclusion17

Appendix18

Bibliography19

Introduction

"

Peoplearenotconsideredcompetentspeakersofalanguageuntiltheymasterthevariouscliché

d,idiomaticexpressionsthatareubiquitousineverydaydiscourse."

（Munro,1989ascitedinGibbs,1995:

97）

IdiomsplayasignificantroleinthenaturaluseofnotonlytheEnglishbuteverylanguage.Wheneveronewantstoachievethelevelofanativespeakeritisabsolutelyindispensableforhimorhertointernalizetheuseoftheseexpressions.Apparently,themeaningsofthewordsusedinanidiomoftendonotdeliverenoughknowledgetodecipherthecorrectmeaningofthewholeexpression.Thisisamajorpointthatmakestheacquisitionsodifficultforforeignlearners.

Thispaperwill,ofcourse,notbeusedtodealwiththetopicofidiomsasawhole.Idiomaticityrepresentstoolargeafield,inwhichentirestudiescandealwithonesingleidiom.Instead,mygoalistodeliveranideaofwhatidiomsareand´

scratchthesurface`,so-to-speak,oftheincrediblywideandalwayschangingfieldofidiomaticity.

Amajorpointthatistobediscussed,dealswiththeactualanalyzabilityofidioms.Asmentionedbeforethereisoftenakindofincongruitybetweentheexpressionanditssingleparts.InthispartthefocuswillbeonRaymondGibbs´

studiesconcerningthissubject.Heconsidersmanyaspectsinvolvedinthetopicofanalyzabilityandreferstotheviewpointsofmanyotherlinguists,hencealotofdifferentideaswillbediscussedandalsocriticized.Perhaps,thereisevenmoreofanexplanationgiveninsomecasesbytheconstituentsoftheidiomthanoneusuallyexpects.

WhileGibbs´

dealingwithanalyzabilityisoneofthemorecurrentstudiesonidiomaticaspects,anotherpartofthispaperwillrathergiveaninsightonpastapproacheswhichwerepublishedinsuccessioninthe1960´

s.Becauseidiomaticityisasectoroflinguisticsthatisconstantlychanginganddevelopingnewprospectswillalwaysbediscovered,butneverthelessprecedingstudies,forexamplebytheherepresentedKatz,Postal,andChafeshallnotbeforgotten.

However,firstofallithastobeagreedonadefinitionfortheterm´

idiom`.Asonemightexpecttherehavealreadybeeninnumerableapproachesinvariousdifferentmannerstowardsthislittleword.Hockettin1956,forinstance,pointedout:

"

Thereisnoupperlimittothesizeofanidiom;

onecanvalidlyconceiveofawholepoem,ornovel,ortheKingJamesversionoftheBible,asalongidiom"

（Hockett1956:

222）.Bythisstatementoneisabletoseehowfaradiscussionevenaboutthedefinitionmaygo.Oneappropriatedefinition,inmyopinion,istheonegiveninNTC´

sAmericanIdiomsDictionary（1994:

iv）:

Alllanguageshavephrasesorsentencesthatcannotbeunderstoodliterally.Evenifyouknowallthewordsinaphraseandunderstandallthegrammarofthephrasecompletely,themeaningmaystillbeconfusing.Aphraseorsentenceofthistypeissaidtobeidiomatic.Manyproverbs,informalphrases,andcommonsayingsofferthisproblem."

Theideaofliteralmeaning,asreferredtointhisdefinition,willalsobeoneofthesignificantpointsdiscussedthroughoutthepaper.Asaconclusionforthisstudythepresentedapproacheswillbecomparedtoeachotherandthiswillprobablygivealittlehintaboutthedevelopmentofstudiesconcerningidiomaticityoverthelastdecades.

2.Makkai´

2.1.KatzandPostal

In1963thelinguistsKatzandPostalusedashortarticlecalled´

SemanticInterpretationofidiomsandsentencescontainingthem`for"

thefirstattempttodealwithidiomswithinatransformationalgrammar"

asSträ

sslerremarks（1982:

30）.Tobeginwith,ithastobementionedthatthetwolinguistsmadeageneraldistinctionbetweentwotypesofidioms,lexicalidiomsandphraseidioms.Ingeneral,idiomsaredefinedasfollows（Makkai1972:

47）:

Theessentialfeatureofanidiomisthatitsfullmeaning,andmoregenerallythemeaningofanysentencecontaininganidiomaticstretch,isnotacompositionalfunctionofthemeaningsoftheidiom´

selementarygrammaticalparts."

AtthispointKatzandPostalarecriticizedbyMakkaiforleavingout"

suchobvious（lexical）idiomsashotdog（or）man-of-war,..."

（Makkai1972:

47）.Herecognizestheseidiomsasbeing"

genuine,multi-wordlexicalidioms"

47）,insteadtheideaoflexicalidiomsisillustratedwiththe