Chapter-8-English-Idioms-英语词汇学-教学课件

Chapter8EnglishIdiomsIntroductionIdiomsconsistofsetphrasesandshortsentencesandloadedwiththenativeculturesandideas.Idiomsarecolorful,forcibleandthought-provoking.Strictlyspeaking,idiomsareexpressionsthatarenotreadilyunderstandablefromtheirliteralmeaningsofindividualelements.Introductionforexample:flyoffthehandle,putupwithInabroadsense,idiomsmayincludecolloquialisms,catchphrases,slangexpressions,proverbs,etcThischapterwilldealwithidiomsintermsoftheircharacteristics,classificationanduses.idiomaticityItshouldbepointedoutthattheidiomaticityofidiomsisgradable,withthe‘true’idiomsestablishedattheupperendandregularcombinationsatthebottom.Inbetweenarethe‘semi-idioms’Bytrueidiomswemeanthatthemeaningoftheidiomcannotbededucedfromthoseoftheindividualconstituents:steppedup,intherawIdiomaticityByregularcombinationswespeakoftheregularcollocationssuchasmakefriendswith,breaksilenceandsmoothtongue,themeaningsofwhichareunderstoodfromtheliteralmeaningsoftheconstituents.Inbetweenwehaveidiomsliketurnoveranewleaf,ascoolasacucumberanddrawthecurtain,whosemeaningsareinawayrelatedtothemeaningsoftheconstituentsbutarethemselvesexplicit.IdiomaticityThefixityofidiomsdependsontheidiomaticity.Themoreidiomatictheidioms,themorefixedthestructure.Manyoftheidiomsofthelowerscaledoallowsomechanges.Forexample,breaksilencecanbechangedintokeepsilencetoexpresstheoppositemeaning.Putonthecoatcanbereplacedbyputitonintheactualcontext.ClassificationofIdiomsClassificationcanbeapproachedfromdifferentangles.Wepreferthecriterionof‘grammaticalfunctions’.Bythiscriterion,idiomsmaybeclassifiedintofivegroups.IdiomsNominalinNatureIdiomsAdjectivalinNatureIdiomsVerbalinNatureIdiomsAdverbialinNatureSentenceIdiomsUseofIdiomsThestudyofidiomsisnotjusttoknowwhichareidiomsandwhicharenot,butalsotounderstandthemcorrectlyinactualcontextandusethemproperlyinproduction.Toachievethis,oneneedstobeawareoftherhetoriccharacteristicsofidiomssuchasstylisticfeatures,rhetoricfeaturesandtheiroccasionalvariations.StylisticFeaturesAlargeproportionofidiomswerefirstcreatedbyworkingpeople:

indeepwater,tideover,takethehelmbyseamen;killtwobirdswithonstone,ifyourunaftertwohares,youwillcatchneitherusedbyhunters;abullinachinashop,haveallone’seggsinonebasketusedbyfarmers;StylisticFeaturesnewbroomssweepclean,washone’sdirtylineninpublicusedbyhousewives;

keepthepotboiling,boildownusedbycooks;

jumpatthebait,afishoutofwaterusedbyfishermen;hitbelowthebelt,playfairusedbysportsmen,etcStylisticFeaturesidiomsaregenerallyfelttobeinformalandsomearecolloquialismsandslang,thereforeinappropriateforformalstyle.Occasionally,wefindidiomswhichareextremelyformalandusedonlyinfrozenstyle.ColloquialismsSlangLiteraryexpressionsStylisticFeaturesThesameidiommayshowstylisticdifferenceswhenitisassigneddifferentmeanings.Inaddition,slangexpressionsareoftenpeculiartosocialorregionalvarieties.SomemaybeusedonlyinBritishsetting,othersmaybeappropriateonlyinAmericancontext,andstillothersmaybesuitableforcertaingroupsofpeople.Allthisneedscareonthepartoftheuserinthecourseofproduction.RhetoricalFeaturesApartfromthestylisticfeatures,idiomsmanifestapparentrhetoricalcoloringinsuchrespectsas:phoneticmanipulationlexicalmanipulationfiguresofspeech

VariationsofIdiomsCharacterizedbysemanticunityandstructuralstability,idiomsdonotallowchangesasarule.Butstructuralstabilityisnotabsolute.Occasionally,wemayfindchangesinconstituentsofidiomsReplacementAdditionordeletionposition-shiftingshorteningdismembering.First

inabrownstudyisnottobechangedintoinaredstudyInthesameway,lipserviceisnottobechangedintomouthservice;kickthebucketintokickthepailorstrikethebucket;burythehatchetintoburytheax.

Second

Forexample,bytwosandthreesandtitfortatarenottobeturnedintobythreesandtwosandtatfortit.Similarly,thelion’sshareisnottobereplacedbytheshareofthelionthoughitisacommonpracticeinfreephrases.

Third

Forinstance,outofthequestionmeans‘impossible’.Ifthearticletheisdeleted,theidiomaticitywillbelostanditwillsignify“noquestion”instead.Inquestionontheotherhanddoesnotallowtheadditionoftheasinthequestion,becausethelatterisnolongeranidiom.

Finally

Forexample,diamondcutdiamondisgrammaticallyincorrect,fornormallytheverbcutshouldtakethethirdpersonsingular-sasthesubjectdiamondissingular.Meanwhilethereexistsastructurallysimilaridiomlikecureslike,inwhich-scannotbedeleted.(as)sureaseggsiseggsmayserveasanotherexample.Theverbisintheidiomshouldbearetoagreewithgrammar.However,weuseitasitis.Itisgrammaticallywrong,butidiomaticandwidelyaccepted.IdiomsNominalinNatureIdiomsofthisclasshaveanounasthekeywordineachandfunctionasanouninsentences:Whiteelephant[a+n]Braintrust[n+n]Fleshandblood[n+conj+n]Anappleofdiscord[n+prep+n]Jackofalltrades[n+prep+det+n]Flyintheointment[n+prep+n]IdiomsAdjectivalinNatureAlltheidiomslistedbelowfunctionasadjectivesbuttheconstituentsarenotnecessarilyadjectives:Cutanddried[a+a]Aspoorasachurchmouse[as+a+as+n]Wideofthemark[a+prep+n]Beyondthepale[prep+n]Upintheair[adv+prep+n]IdiomsVerbalinNatureThisisthelargestgroupofall.Thestructuresofsuchidiomsarequitecomplexandthuscanbesubdividedintophrasalverbsandotherverbphrases.Phrasalverbsareidiomswhicharecomposedofverbplusaprepand/oraparticleLookinto[vi+prep];Goon[vi+adv]Putoff[vt+prep/adv];Turnon[vt+adv]Getawaywith[vi+adv+prep]Putdownto[vt+adv+prep]IdiomsVerbalinNatureOtherverbphraseMakeit;Followone’snoseFallflat;GivesbthebagSingadifferenttune;CallitdayChopandchange;SwimagainstthestreamComebacktoearth;MakeendsmeetKeepthepotboiling;LetthedogseetherabbitBitethehandthatfeedsoneIdiomsAdverbialinNatureToothandnail[n+n]Innothingflat[prep+n+a]Throughthickandthin[prep+n+conj+n]Thisclasscontainsnumerousprepositionalphrase,whichinnatureareeitheradjectivaloradverbialandinmanycaseshavebothfunctionsatthesametime.Forinstance,incloverorintheclovercanbeusedbothaspredicativeandasadverbialTherefore,thisidiommaybeplacedinthesecondgroupandinthefourthgroupaswell.SentenceIdioms

Asthetermsuggests,allidiomsofthiscategoryarecompletesentences.Theyaremainlyproverbsandsayings,includingcolloquialismsandcatchphrases.Abirdinthehandisworthtwointhebush.Howareyou?NeverdothingsbyhalvesThat’sthetimeofday!Uponmyword!Artislong,lifeisshort.Allisnotgoldthatglitters.Killthegoosethatlaidthegoldenegg.Colloquialisms

Hangin(there):Hanginthere,oldbuddy;theworstisyettocome.Bigwheel:UncleFerdinandisabigwheelinWashington,maybehecanhelpyouwithyourproblem.Makewaves:Joeisthewrongmanforthejob;heisalwaystryingtomakewaves.Canofworms:Let’snotgetintobigcitypolitics---that’sadifferentcanofworms.Slang

Cancerstick:Throwawaythatcancerstick!Smokingisbadforyou!Hitthesack:I’msleep;let’shitthesack.Dishthedirt:Stopdishingthedirt,Sally,it’sreallyunbecoming!Feelnopain:Afterafewdrinks,themanfeltnopainandbegantoactfoolishly.Inthesoup:Whenhiswifeoverdrewtheirbankaccountwithouttellinghim,Mr.Cooksuddenlyfoundhimselfreallyinthesoup.Literaryexpressions

Cometopass:Strangethingscometopassintroubletimes.Beitthat:Inthewakeof:Faminefollowedinthewakeofwar.Givethelieto:Thepolicegavethelietothemanwhosaidthathehadbeenathomeduringtherobbery.Ofnote:HeisanovelistofnoteinIndia.Crossswords:ThatwaswhereIcrossedswordswithhim.PhoneticmanipulationAlliterationChopandchange;Mightandmain;Roughandready;Partandparcel;Tossandturn;Bagandbaggage;sumandsubstance;Neitherfish,flesh,norfowlRhymeKithandkin;Wearandtear;Toilandmoil;Byhookandbycrook;Fairandsquare;Alittlepotissoonhot;Afriendisinneedisafriendindeed;There’smanyaslipbetweenthecupandthelipLexicalmanipulationReiteration(duplicationofsynonyms)Screamandshout,cutandcarve,pickandchoose,roughandtough,oddsandends,bitsandpieces,pushandshoveRepetitionByandby,outandout,suchandsuch,daybyday,allinall,facetoface,handinhand,wordforword,fromtimetotime,yearinyearout.Juxtaposition(ofantonyms)

Hereandthere,upanddown,hitormiss,rainorshine,wealandwoe,Figuresofspeech

Idiomsareterseandvividbecauseofthecopiousimagescreatedbythem.Largenumbersofidiomsareusedintheirmetaphoricalmeaning.SimileMetaphorMetonymySynecdochePersonification

EuphemismSimile

(As)muteasafish,asdeadasadoornailasgracefulasaswan,likearatinaholeeatlikeahorse,sleeplikealogTimeflieslikeanarrowspendmoneylikewater.Metaphor

Insomeidioms,animalsareusedtorefertopeople:blacksheep,adarkhorse,greymare,snakeinthegrassinanimatethingstorefertopeople:newbroom,flattire,thesaltoftheearththingstorefertosomethingelse:bedofdust,crocodiletears,awetblanket,blackbottleactions,statetorefertoabstractideasorotheractions,state,etc:sitonthefence,cutthegroundfromundersb,fallfromgraceMetonymy

Thisreferstoidiomsinwhichthenameofonethingisusedforthatofanotherassociatedwithitinthecradlelivebyone’spenfromcradletogravemake(up)apurseSynecdoche

Bothmetonymyandsynecdocheinvolvesubstitutionofnames,yettheydifferinthattheformerisacaseofusingthenameofonethingforanothercloselyassociatedwithitandthelatteristhatofsubstitutingpartforthewholeandviceversaearnone’sbreadfallintogoodhandstwoheadsarebetterthanonePersonification

Failureisthemotherofsuccess.Actionsspeaklouderthanwords.ThepotcallsthecattleblackFireandwateraregoodservants,butbadmasters.Euphemism

Thecallofnature,sleeparound,powderone’snoseSomeidiomsarealwaysusedinahumorousway:kickthebucket,giveleg-bailsomeareironicandsardonicintones:bigdeal,perfumedtalksomearederogatory:abigcheeseThereareinstancesofhyperbole:aworldoftroubleandafloodoftearsReplacementInsomeidioms,aconstituentmaybereplacedbyawordofthesamepartofspeechVerb:catch[get,seize,take]holdof,keep[break]one’swordNoun:downinthebushes[mouth],adropintheocean[bucket]Adjectives:onalarge[big,vast]scale,byall[no]meansAdverborpreposition:dropin[over,by],turnon[off]Articl