词汇学9.docx

词汇学9.docx

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词汇学9

Chapter9EnglishIdioms

TheEnglishlanguageaboundsinidiomslikeanyotherhighlydevelopedtongues.Idiomsconsistofsetphrasesandshortsentences,whicharepeculiartothelanguageinquestionandloadedwiththenativeculturesandideas.Therefore,idiomsarecolourful,forcibleandthought-provoking.Strictlyspeaking,idiomsareexpressionsthatarenotreadilyunderstandablefromtheirliteralmeaningsofindividualelements,forexample,flyoffthehandle（becomeexcessivelyangry）andputupwith（tolerate）.Inabroadsense,idiomsmayincludecolloquialisms,catchphrases,slangexpressions,proverbs,etc.TheyformanimportantpartoftheEnglishvocabulary.Thischapterwilldealwithidiomsintermsoftheircharacteristics,classificationanduses.

9.1CharacteristicsofIdioms

9.1.1SemanticUnity

Beingphrasesorsentences,idiomseachconsistofmorethanoneword,buteachisasemanticunity.Thoughthevariouswordswhichmakeuptheidiomhavetheirrespectiveliteralmeanings,intheidiomtheyhavelosttheirindividualidentity,i.e.theirmeaningsarenotoftenrecognizableinthemeaningofthewholeidiom.Likewise,thepartofspeechofeachelementisnolongerimportant.Quiteoftentheidiomfunctionsasoneword.Forinstance,tillthecowscomehome,whichcomprisesaconjunctiontill,anarticlethe,anouncow,averbcomeandanadverbhome,means‘forever’andfunctionsasanadverb,thusreplaceablebytheword‘Thesamecanbesaidofkeepinmind（remember）,takeoff（imitate）,tonoavail（useless）,likeabreeze（easily）andsoon.

Thesemanticunityofidiomsisalsoreflectedintheillogicalrelationshipbetweentheliteralmeaningofeachwordandthemeaningoftheidiom.Manyidiomsaresemanticallyinexplicable.Forexample,Howdoyoudoisacommonformofgreetingusedbypeoplewhentheyfirstmeet.Literallyitmeans‘Inwhatwaydoyoudothings’,whichisfarfromitsidiomaticusage.Similarly,wearone’sheartuponone’ssleevewhichmeans‘showone’sfeelingsplainly’isliterallyimpossible.Raincatsanddogswhichisusedinthesenseof‘rainheavily’literallymakesnonsense.

9.1.2StructuralStability

Unlikefreephrases,thestructureofanidiomistoalargeextentunchangeable.First,theconstituentsofidiomscannotbereplaced.Takeinabrownstudyforexample.Usedasafreephrase,wecansayinabrown（red,green,white,etc.）studyorinabrownstudy（room,den,hall,studio,cell,etc.）.However,asanidiomtomean‘deepinthought’,thestructureisfixed.Inthesameway,lipservice（supportonlyinwords,notinfact）isnottobechangedinto*mouthservice;kickthebucket（die）into*kickthepailor*strikethebucket;burythehatchet（cometofriendlyorpeacefulterms）into*burytheax.

Secondly,thewordordercannotbeinvertedorchanged.Forexample,bytwosandthreesandtitfortatarenottobeturnedintobythreesandtwosandtatfortit.Similarly,thelion’sshareisnottobereplacedbytheshareofthelionthoughitisacommonpracticeinfreephrases.

Thirdly,theconstituentsofanidiomcannotbedeletedoraddedto,notevenanarticle.Forinstance,outofthequestionmeans‘impossible’.Ifthearticletheisdeleted,theidiomaticitywillbelostanditwillsignify‘noquestion’instead.Inquestion（beingconsidered）ontheotherhanddoesnotallowtheadditionoftheas*inthequestion,becausethelatterisnolongeranidiom.

Finally,manyidiomsaregrammaticallyunanalysable.Forexample,diamondcut‘diamond（twopartiesareequallymatched）isgrammaticallyincorrect,fornormallytheverbcutshouldtakethethirdpersonsingular-sasthesubjectdiamondissingular.MeanwhilethereexistsastructurallysimilaridiomLikecureslike,inwhich-scannotbedeleted.（as）sureaseggsiseggs（quitecertainly）mayserveasanotherexample.Theverbisintheidiomshouldbearetoagreewithgrammar.However,weuseitasitis.Itisgrammaticallywrong,butidiomaticandwidelyaccepted.

Itshouldbepointedoutthattheidiomaticityofidiomsisgradableandmaybestbethoughtintermsofascale,withthe‘true’idiomsestablishedattheupperendandregularcombinationsatthebottom.Inbetweenarethe‘semi-idioms’（CowieandMackin1975:

x）.Bytrueidiomswemeanthatthemeaningoftheidiomcannotbededucedfromthoseoftheindividualconstituentssuchasstepupusedin‘Hispromotionsteppedup（improveorenhance）theirsocialstatus’andintherawusedin‘Theboysareplayingintheriverintheraw（naked）.’Byregularcombinationswespeakoftheregularcollocationssuchasmakefriendswith,breaksilenceandsmoothtongue,themeaningsofwhichareunderstoodfromtheliteralmeaningsoftheconstituents.Inbetweenwehaveidiomsliketurnoveranewleaf（beginanewlife）,ascoolasacucumberanddrawthecurtain（endorconceal）,whosemeaningsareinawayrelatedtothemeaningsoftheconstituentsbutarenotthemselvesexplicit.Thefixityofidiomsdependsontheidiomaticity.Themoreidiomatictheidioms,themorefixedthestructure.Manyoftheidiomsofthelowerscaledoallowsomechanges.Forexample,breaksilencecanbechangedintokeepsilencetoexpresstheoppositemeaning.Putonthecoatcanbereplacedbyputitonintheactualcontext.Thesevariationsofidiomswillbediscussedinthesectionstofollow.

9.2ClassificationofIdioms

Classificationcanbeapproachedfromdifferentangles.StudiesonEnglishidiomstothisdayandvariousdictionariesofidiomshaveprovidedavarietyofcriteriaforclassifyingidioms.Inthisbook,wepreferthecriterionof‘grammaticalfunctions’（SeeLu1983）.Thisisbecausesuchclassificationwillbemorehelpfulintheactualuseofidioms.Thedifficultyinusingidiomsappropriatelyliesfirstinthedifficultyofgraspingtheelusiveandfigurativemeaningandtheninthedifficultyofdeterminingthesyntacticfunctionsofidioms.Forinstance,heartandsoulisanidiommadeupoftwonounsconnectedbyand.Itlookslikeanounphraseonappearance,butitisinfactusedasanadverbial.Aknowledgeofthegrammaticalfunctionsofidiomswillundoubtedlybebeneficialtolearners.Bythiscriterion,idiomsmaybeclassifiedintofivegroups.

9.2.1IdiomsNominalinNature

Idiomsofthisclasshaveanounasthekeywordineachandfunctionasanouninsentences,e.g.

whiteelephant[a+n（somethinguselessandunwantedbutbigandcostly）

braintrust（n+n]（agroupofpeoplewithspecialknowledgewhoanswerquestionsorgiveadvice）

fleshandblood[n+conj+~n]（relativesorfamily）

anappleofdiscord[n+prep+n]（causeofdisagreementorargument,etc.）

Jackofalltrades[n+prep+det+n]（apersonwhocandomanydifferentkindsofworkbutmaynotgoodatanyofthem）

flyintheointment[n+prep+n]（somethingthatspoilstheperfectionofsomething）

9.2.2IdiomsAdjectivalinNature

Alltheidiomslistedbelowfunctionasadjectivesbuttheconstituentsarenotnecessarilyadjectives,e.g.

cutanddried[a+a]（alreadysettledandunlikelytobechanged）

aspoorasachurchmouse[as+a+as+n]（having,orearning,barelyenoughmoneyforone’sneeds）

wideofthemark[a+prep+n]（notatallsuitable,correct,etc.）

beyondthepale[prep+n]（beyondthelimitofproperbehaviour）

upintheair~[adv+prep+n]（uncertain）

9.2.3IdiomsVerbalinNature

Thisisthelargestgroupofall.Thestructuresofsuchidiomsarequitecomplexandthuscanbesubdividedintophrasalverbsandotherverbphrases.

1.Phrasalverbsareidiomswhicharecomposedofaverbplusaprepand/oraparticle,e.g.

lookinto[vi+prep]（investigate）

goon[vi+adv]（continue）

putoff[vt+prep/adv]（discourage...from;cause...todislike,etc./delay;makeexcusesinordertoavoidaduty,etc.）

turnon[vt+adv]（switchon;exciteorintereststrongly,andoftensexually）

getawaywith[vi+adv+prep]（dosomethingwrongwithoutbeingpunished）

putdownto[vt+adv+prep]（statethatsomethingiscausedorexplainedby）

2.Otherverbphrases

makeit[v+pron]（arriveintime;succeed）

followone’snose[v+poss+n].（gostraightahead,gointhesamedirection）

fallflat[v+a]（failcompletelyinitsintendedorexpectedeffect）

givesbthebag[v+pron+n]（fireordismisssomebody）

singadifferenttune[v+a+n]（changeone’sopinionorattitude）

callitaday[v+pron+n]（decideoragreetostopeithertemporarilyorforgood）

chopandchange[v+conj+v]（fluctuateorvaryconstantly;keepchangingone’sopinion,etc.）

swimagainstthestream[v+prepphrase]（dotheoppositeofwhatmostpeoplewanttodo;goagainstthewaythingsarehappening）

comebacktoearth[v+adv+prepphrase]（stopimaginingordreaming）

makeendsmeet[v+n+v]（earnwhatitcoststolive）

keepthepotboiling[v+n+v-ing]（earnenoughtomaintainanadequatestandardofliving;

keepasituationactive,amusing,etc.）

letthedogseetherabbit[v+n+inf]（donotgetinthewayofanotherwhowishestoseeordosth.）

bitethehandthatfeedsone[v+n+attrclause]（repaykindnesswithwrong,turnagainstorhurtahelperorsupporter）

9.2.4IdiomsAdverbialinNature

toothandnail[n+n]（withgreatviolenceanddetermination）

innothingflat[prep+n+a]（inaverylittletime;soon）

throughthickandthin[prep+n+conj+n]（throughalldifficultiesandtroubles）

Thisclasscontainsnumerousprepositionalphrases,whichinnatureareeitheradjectivaloradverbialandinmanycaseshavebothfunctionsatthesametime.Forinstance,incloverorintheclover（inrichcomfortorhavingapleasantoreasylife）canbeusedbothaspredicativeasin