12. Word-building (minor types)

1. Sound interchange

2. Stress interchange

3. Sound imitation

4. Blends

5. Back-formation

Sound interchange: to strike – stroke, to sing – song; hot – to heat (hotian), blood – to bleed (blodian); bath - to bathe, life - to live, breath - to breathe.

Stress interchange: `accent - to ac`cent; to af`fix – `affix, to con`flict – `conflict, to ex`port – `export, to ex`tract – `extract.

Sound imitation: a) to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle; b) to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter; c) to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle.

Blends: smog, hustle, cinemaddict, dramedy, detectifiction, faction, medicare, magalog, slimnastics, slanguist.

Back-formation: -er (speak- speaker); beggar (form French) – to beg; to accreditate, to collocate, to enthuse, to compute (from computer), to emote, to televise.

13. Phraseology

1) Phraseological units and free phrases. Phraseological units and words.

2) Ways of forming phraseological units

3) Classifications of phraseological units

4) Proverbs. Quotations. Cliches.

1) Free combination: I’m talking to you. You are writing. 2) Collocations: to commit a murder, dark night, blue sky, bright day. 3) Idiom (phraseological units, set expressions): to cry a blue murder.

Terms. “phraseology” – V.V. Vinogradov, A.I. Smirnitsky, A.V. Koonin; N.N. Amosova – “fixed context units”. I. Arnold – “set expression”.

Set expressions and free phrases. Two main criteria. 1) The semantic criterion. A.V. Koonin: “A phraseological unit is a stable word-group characterized by a completely or partially transferred meaning”: a) to skate on thin ice, to have one’s heart in one’s boots; b) to lose one temper, to fall in love, bosom friends.

2) The structural criterion. Structural invariability: “to give somebody the cold shoulder”. Substitutions: The cargo ship is carrying coal to Liverpool. The ship/vessel/boat carries/transports/takes coal to any port. Introducing any additional components: This big ship is carrying a large cargo of coal to the port of Liverpool. Grammatical invariability: to find fault; exceptions to the rule: build a castle in the air (castles); a skeleton in the cupboard; “I’m sure they have skeletons in the cupboard!”

“give up” type. Go: go ahead; go away; go back; go by; go down. Bring up. I. Arnold: 1) set expressions: fall out, give in, leave off; 2) free combinations: a) turn – turn away, come – come back; b) eat – eat up, stand – stand up; c) end – end up.

A set expression and a word.

Rhythm: far and wide; by fits and starts.

Alliteration: part and parcel, with might and main, rack and ruin.

Rhyme: fair and square, by hook or by crook; high and dry.

Semantic stylistic features: as like as two peas, as old as the hills (simile); from beginning to end, for love or money; in a nutshell; by leaps and bounds. As fit as a fiddle.

To be on the rocks, to rest on the oars; to plough the land, to reap a rich harvest.

A.V. Koonin: Ways of forming of phraseological units

Primary ways: a) launching pad; b) granny farm, as old as the hills, Troyan horse; c) alliteration: a sad sack, culture vulture, fudge and nudge; d) rhyming: “by hook or by crook”; “high and dry”; e) “to pick and choose”; “really and truly”; f) expressiveness: My aunt!, Hear, hear !; g) distorting a word group: odds and ends; h) archaisms: in brown study; i) “that cock won’t fight”; j) “to have butterflies in the stomach”, “to have green fingers”; k) “corridors of power” (Snow), “American dream” (Alby), «the winds of change» (Mc Millan).

Secondary ways: a) “to vote with one’s feet” – “vote with one’s feet”; b) “Make hay while the sun shines” – “to make hay while the sun shines”; c) “Curiosity killed the cat” – “Care killed the cat”; d) “thin cat” – “fat cat»; e) “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” – “to make a sow’s ear”; f) “living space”, “to take the bull by the horns”, “sotto voce”.

Semantic classification of phraseological units

V.V. Vinogradov: a) fusions: as mad as a hatter; b) unities: to stand / stick to one’ guns, to know the way the wind blows; c) combinations: to meet the requirements, to meet the necessity, demand.

Structural classification of phraseological units

Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky: 1) clenched fists, to shrug one’s shoulders; 2) to get up; to fall in love; 3) to take the bull by the horns; as dead as a doornail.

Phraseological units. One-top units: a) to give up, to art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich in; b) to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at; to be young, to be aware of; c) on the doorstep, on the nose, in the course of. Two-top units: a) a month of Sundays, grey matter; high road, first night, red tape, blind alley, shot in the arm; b) to read between the lines, to fall in love, not to know the ropes, to burn one’s boats; to have a glance, to have a smoke. c) now or never, part and parcel, country and western; ups and downs, back and forth; cakes and ale, as busy as a bee; cool as a cucumber, bread and butter.

More than two tops: to take a back seat, a peg to hang a thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a shadow of one’s own self.

Syntactical classification of phraseological units. I.V. Arnold:

Nominal phrases. N + N (maiden name); N’s + N (cat’s paw); Ns’ + N (ladies’ man); N + prep + N (the arm of the law, сила закона); A + N (high tea); N + and + N (lord and master, супруг); N + subordinate clause (ships that pass in the night).

Verbal phrases. V + N (to take advantage); V + postpositive (give up); V + and + V (pick and choose); V + (one’s) + N + (prep) (to snap one’s fingers at); V + subordinate clause (to see how the land lies).

Adjectival phrases. A + and + A (high and mighty); (as) + A + as + A (as mad as a hatter).

Adverbial phrases. N + N (tooth and nail); prep + N (by heart); adv + prep + N (once in a blue moon); prep + N + or + N (by hook or by crook).

Prepositional phrases. prep + N + prep (in consequence of).

Conjunctional phrases: as long as.

Interjectional phrases. God bless me! Take your time. Hang that all!

Formulas: How do you do?; I beg your pardon, Never say die!

Functional and semantic classification (A.V. Koonin): (1) nominative: a bull in a china shop, as the crow flies; (2) Nominative-communicative: to break the ice – the ice is broken; (3) interjectional: fine, nice, pretty kettle of fish; (4) communicative: Laugh before breakfast you'll cry before supper.

Proverbs. Quotations. Cliches.

Proverbs: the last straw breaks the camel’s back :: the last straw; it is useless to lock the stable door when the steed is stolen :: to lock the stable door.

Familiar quotations: “To be or not to be”; “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (“Hamlet”).

Cliches: in the arms of Morpheus; irony of fate; consigned to oblivion.