currrent approaches towards idiomaticity.docx

currrent approaches towards idiomaticity.docx

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currrentapproachestowardsidiomaticity

Termpaperby

DominikWolff

（PS）

Vocabulary-Description&Acquisition

TrialandError?

-

AboutPastandCurrentApproachesTowardsIdiomaticity

TableofContents

1Introduction2

2Makkai´sandSträssler´sViewsontwoearlierapproachestowardsIdiomaticity

2.1KatzandPostal4

2.2Chafe6

3Gibb´sViewsontheAnalyzabilityofIdioms10

4Conclusion17

Appendix18

Bibliography19

Introduction

"Peoplearenotconsideredcompetentspeakersofalanguageuntiltheymasterthevariousclichéd,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´sandSträssler´sViewsontwoearlierapproachestowardsIdiomaticity

2.1.KatzandPostal

In1963thelinguistsKatzandPostalusedashortarticlecalled´SemanticInterpretationofidiomsandsentencescontainingthem`for"thefirstattempttodealwithidiomswithinatransformationalgrammar",asSträsslerremarks（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"（Makkai1972:

47）,insteadtheideaoflexicalidiomsisillustratedwiththe