What is phraseological unit

Classification of Phraseological Units

According to the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units can be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства) and phraseological collocations (coчетания). This approach to English phraseology is based on the research work carried out in the field of Russian phraseology by Academician V.V.

Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g. as mad as a hatter – “utterly mad”; white elephant – “an expensive but useless thing”.

Phraseological unities are partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e.g. to bend the knee – “to submit to a stronger force, to obey submissively”; to wash one’s dirty linen in public – “to discuss or make public one’s quarrels”.

Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet the requirements, to attain success. In this group of phraseological units some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity; to have success, to lose success. These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the verb meet and the noun success are kept intact.

The consideration of the origin of phraseological units contributes to a better understanding of phraseological meaning. According to their origin all phraseological units may be divided into two big groups: native and borrowed.

The main sources of native phraseological units are:

1) terminological and professional lexics, e.g. physics: center of gravity (центр тяжести), specific weight (удельный вес); navigation: cut the painter (обрубить канат) – “to become independent”, lower one’s colours (спустить свой флаг) – “to yield, to give in”;

2) British literature, e.g. the green-eyed monster – “jealousy” (W.Shakespeare); like Hamlet without the prince –‘the most important person at event is absent (W.Shakespeare); fall on evil days – “live in poverty after having enjoyed better times” (J.Milton); how goes the enemy? (Ch.Dickens) – “what is the time?”; never say die – do not give up hope in a difficult situation” (Ch.Dickens);

3) British traditions and customs, e.g. baker’s dozen – “a group of thirteen”. In the past British merchants of bread received from bakers thirteen loaves instead of twelve and the thirteenth loaf was merchants’ profit.

4) superstitions and legends, e.g. a black sheep – “a less successful or more immoral in a family or a group”. People believed that a black sheep was marked by the devil.

5) historical facts and events, personalities, e.g. to do a Thatcher – “to stay in power as prime minister for three consecutive terms (from the former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher)”;

6) phenomena and facts of everyday life, e.g. carry coals to Newcastle – “to take something to a place where there is plenty of it available”. Newcastle is a town in Northern England where a lot of coal was produced; to get out of wood – “to be saved from danger or difficulty”.

The main sources of borrowed phraseological units are:

Phraseology. Classification of Phraseological Units

Lecture VI

Phraseology is a branch of lexicology studying phraseological units (set expressions, praseologisms, or idioms (in foreign linguistics). Phraseological units differ from free word-groups semantically and structurally: 1) they convey a single concept and their meaning is idiomatic, i.e. it is not a mere total of the meanings of their components 2) they are characterized by structural invariability (no word can be substituted for any component of a phraseological unit without destroying its sense (to have a bee in one’s bonnet (not cap or hat). 3) they are not created in speech but used as ready-made units. Unlike a word, a phraseological unit can be divided into separately structured elements and transformed syntactically (On the instant he was thinking how natural and unaffected her manner was now that the ice between them had been broken. (Th. Dreiser, ‘An American Tragedy’). I. found this man in a kind of seizure, and went for help. This broke the ice between us, and we grew quite chatty, without either of us knowing the other’s name. (H. Pollitt, ‘Serving My Time’).

Phraseological units are classified in accordance with several criteria.

In the classification proposed by acad. Vinogradov phraseological units are classified according to the semantic principle, and namely to the degree of motivation of meaning, i.e. the relationship between the meaning of the whole unit and the meaning of its components. Three groups are distinguished: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства), phraseological combinations (сочетания).

1. Phraseological fusions are non-motivated. The meaning of the whole is not deduced from the meanings of the components: to kiss the hare’s foot (опаздывать), to kick the bucket (сыграть в ящик), the king’s picture (фальшивая монета)

2. Phraseological unities are motivated through the image expressed in the whole construction, the metaphores on which they are based are transparent: to turn over a new leaf, to dance on a tight rope.

3. Phraseological combinations are motivated; one of their components is used in its direct meaning while the other can be used figuratively: bosom friend, to get in touch with.

Prof. Smirnitsky classifies phraseological units according to the functional principle. Two groups are distinguished: phraseological units and idioms.

Phraseological units are neutral, non-metaphorical when compared to idioms: get up, fall asleep, to take to drinking. Idioms are metaphoric, stylistically coloured: to take the bull by the horns, to beat about the bush, to bark up the wrong tree.

Structurally prof. Smirnitsky distinguishes one-summit (one-member) and many-summit (two-member, three-member, etc.) phraseological units, depending on the number of notional words: against the grain (не по душе), to carry the day (выйти победителем), to have all one’s eggs in one basket.

Prof. Amosova classifies phraseological units according to the type of context. Phraseological units are marked by fixed (permanent) context, which can’t be changed: French leave (but not Spanish or Russian). Two groups are singled out: phrasemes and idioms.

1. Prasemes consist of two components one of which is praseologically bound, the second serves as the determining context: green eye (ревнивый взгляд), green hand (неопытный работник), green years (юные годы), green wound (незажившая рана), etc.

2. Idioms are characterized by idiomaticity: their meaning is created by the whole group and is not a mere combination of the meanings of its components: red tape (бюрократическая волокита), mare’s nest (нонсенс), to pin one’s heart on one’s sleeve (не скрывать своих чувств).

Prof. Koonin’s classification is based on the function of the phraseological unit in communication. Phraseological units are classified into: nominative, nominative-communicative, interjectional, communicative.

1. Nominative phraseological units are units denoting objects, phenomena, actions, states, qualities. They can be:

a) substantive – a snake in the grass (змея подколодная), a bitter pill to swallow;

b) adjectival – long in the tooth (старый);

c) adverbial – out of a blue sky, as quick as a flash;

d) prepositional – with an eye to (с намерением), at the head of.

2. Nominative-communicative units contain a verb: to dance on a volcano, to set the Thames on fire (сделать что-то необычное), to know which side one’s bread is buttered, to make (someone) turn (over) in his grave, to put the hat on smb’s misery (в довершение всех его бед).

3. Interjectional phraseological units express the speaker’s emotions and attitude to things: A pretty kettle of fish! (хорошенькое дельце), Good God! God damn it! Like hell!

4. Communicative phraseological units are represented by provebs (An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening; Never say “never”) and sayings. Sayings, unlike provebs, are not evaluative and didactic: That’s another pair of shoes! It’s a small world.

Some linguists (N.N. Amosova, J. Casares) don’t include proverbs and sayings into their classifications. Others (I.V. Arnold, A.V. Koonin, V.V. Vinogradov) do, on the grounds that 1) like in phraseological units their components are never changed 2) phraseological units are often formed on the basis of proverbs and sayings (A drowning man will clutch at a straw → to clutch at a straw).

In dictionaries of idioms the traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units – the thematic principle – is used.

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Types of phraseological units from the point of view of semantic and phraseological connection

Рубрика: Филология, лингвистика

Дата публикации: 23.03.2019 2019-03-23

Статья просмотрена: 2694 раза

Библиографическое описание:

Есемуратова, Г. А. Types of phraseological units from the point of view of semantic and phraseological connection / Г. А. Есемуратова. — Текст : непосредственный // Молодой ученый. — 2019. — № 12 (250). — С. 134-135. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/250/57445/ (дата обращения: 16.08.2022).

The article is devoted to a combination of words that appear in speech, and describes the features of a phraseological unit, which is an indispensable element of the language. Not only the number of words, their polysemy, their word-building capabilities, grammatical features, synonymy, but also phraseology indicates the richness, originality and originality of the language.

Key words: phraseology, combination, fixed, phrase, aphorisms, imagery, sayings, emotional coloring, polysemy, synonymy.

The richness and diversity, the originality of the speech of the speaker or writer depends largely on how he is aware of what the originality of the native language and its wealth consist in. What is the peculiarity of phraseological units? What makes up their specifics? 1. Phraseological units, like words, are not created by the speaker, but reproduced in finished form. They require memorization and are stored in our memory. 2. Words in idioms lose their semantic independence. The value is transmitted by the entire set of phraseological component words. This value is called holistic. 3. In the phraseology can not replace words at will. If, instead of catching a raven in a lesson, to say to catch cockroaches in a lesson, then a free phrase appears at the place of the idiom and the meaning will be different [1, p.100]. Idioms possess great stylistic possibilities, make speech colorful, imaginative. In a few words, they help to say a lot, because they determine not only the object, but also its sign, not only the action, but also its circumstances. So, a steady combination in a big way means not just “rich”, but “rich, luxurious, without embarrassment in the means”. Phraseologism to cover up traces means not just “to destroy, eliminate something”, but “to eliminate, destroy something that can serve as evidence in something”.

Phraseology attracts with its expressiveness, the potential opportunity to positively or negatively assess phenomena, to express approval or condemnation, ironic, mocking or other attitude. This is manifested most vividly in the so-called idioms-characteristics: a man with a capital letter, the milk on the lips is not dried, a telegraph pole, absolute zero, wind in the head, a bright personality, a mind chamber, a white crow, not a timid ten. Of particular interest are idioms, the imagery of which acts as a reflection of clarity, “pictures”, concluded in the freest phrases, on the basis of which the idiom is formed. For example, preparing for work, we roll up our sleeves so that it is more convenient to do business; meeting dear guests, we shrug our shoulders widely, showing that we are ready to embrace them; with the score, if it is small, for convenience we fold our fingers. Free phrases that call such actions of people have visibility, “picture squeness”, which “is inherited” is transmitted to phraseological units: roll up your sleeves — “do something diligently, diligently, and vigorously”; with open arms — “affably, cordially (to receive, to meet someone)”; count on fingers — “very little, little” [1, p. 107].

Among idioms stand out, above all, such steady momentum, which have a fused, undifferentiated meaning, i.e. a value that is not a simple sum of the values ​​of the words turnover. This fusion is especially clearly manifested in cases when the turnover is equivalent in meaning to one word. For example: a hare soul — a coward, to put a hand on a heart — frankly, to put sticks in wheels — to mix, white flies — snow, etc. Such idioms are called idioms. It is idioms that, first of all, are unconditionally recognized by phraseologisms by all researchers. Idioms are phraseological units that are not translated literally into another language. Idioms are represented in the language by two types — phraseological adhesions and phraseological unity. Phraseological interconnection is a turn of a figurative or ideological character, the meaning of which is completely not motivated by the values ​​of the components forming it.

Phraseological unity is a figurative turn, the meaning of which is more or less motivated by the meanings of the words that form it. For example: the white crow (‘about a person who stands out among others’), the game is not worth the candle (‘the money spent or efforts are not justified’), go with the flow (act, act, passively obeying circumstances), let the goat in the garden (“to give someone access to what was allowed to be used in order to use them for their own purposes”), build bridges (“make connections — friendly, businesslike”), eat a little porridge, lick fingers, make an elephant out of a fly («attach insignificant importance»), dance to someone else’s tune («act “kindergarten” (“about the manifestation of naivety, immaturity in behavior, assessment of something”), will stop only tanks (“about firm, uncompromising intention to do something”) [2, p. 45]. As already mentioned, many linguists followed V. V. Vinogradov to phraseological unity only revolutions, grammatically and logically equivalent to a phrase. Some scholars also include proverbs and winged words (i.e. aphorisms and quotations from verbal use from fiction and publicist works, statements by historical figures), which, having a figurative sense, can be a whole sentence, and logical content — judgment. Consequently, from the point of view of these researchers, phraseological proverbs are also afraid of phrases — not to go to the forest; don’t sit in your sleigh; all is not gold that glitters; winged words like: A casket just opened (Wings); There is life in the old dog yet; What will Princess Marya Aleksevna say?) [2, p.89].

Phraseological unity, which in its sense is close to the word or equivalent to the word (the hare’s soul is a coward), is joined by paraphrasses, i.e. descriptive descriptive designations of an object (object, person) through an indication of its signs, in which one of the words has a direct meaning and the other is a portable one and which have a meaning equivalent to one word: the king of beasts is a lion, black gold is oil, the air ocean is an atmosphere sky the daylight is the sun [3, p.234]. Some relate to phraseological units and phraseological combinations — semantically decomposable turns, in which limited use is, one of the components is phraseologically related (it is combined with one, two, less often — with a larger number of words). For example: a bosom friend, open his mouth, cry bitterly, rush headlong (rush and under), make an impact (support, help, assistance, resistance, service, trust), take to the right (left) [2, p.201]. A peculiar group consists of phraseological combinations in which the related component is not a word, but a steady turnover. Phraseological expressions are also semantically decomposable; as opposed to phraseological combinations, they consist of components, the meaning of which, in principle, is realized without restrictions, freely. The basis for the inclusion of such units in phraseology is that they are associations of words reproduced by the memory in this particular composition. Phraseological expressions include all sorts of clichés and those sayings and winged words, sayings, which have a direct (and not allegorical) meaning. For example: seriously and for a long time; at this stage; completely; truth is good, but happiness is better (proverb); Love for all ages; healthy mind in a healthy body [3, p.57].

It is clear that phraseological units, logically equivalent to a sentence (expressing judgment) or equivalent to a phrase or word, can play a different syntactic role. They act as predicates (“the cat cried for money,” “he will not offend the flies”) of the subjects (“there were evil tongues talking about it”.So, the colloquial phraseologisms include: the grandmother said in two, with pitchforks on the water it is written, it burns in its hands, it heals before the wedding, he speaks his teeth, out of hand, bite his elbows, tear his hair, do not believe his ears, shot sparrow, rubbed roll, pull the bother, tongue without bones, etc. The vernacular are phraseological units that came under the tail, straighten brains, hang noodles on the ears, clap eyes, give oak, shut the throat, like a ram on a new gate, bowel, crawl into a bottle, spread a bodie, mouth open, snout turn up pour the teeth, wind up fishing rods, remove shavings, poke your nose, snipe into the snout, a lump on level ground [1, p.59]. A certain part of the phraseology is made up of books of a character: attic salt, incense incense, stumbling block, crying stones, a book after seven seals, a cornerstone, a promised land, a panurg herd, rest on its laurels, a Procrustean bed, dress up in a toga and others. Finally, the fabric of the language includes stylistically neutral phraseological units: railroad, open voting, open an account, stand your own, in a matter of days, by all means, word for word, in any case, in no case, pull yourself together word ass numbered, confused, New Year, pansies, isosceles triangle, order table, help desk, etc.

Many phraseological units express their attitude to the situations they designate, qualities, properties, actions, persons: irony, mockery, playful admiration, neglect, contempt, etc., and, therefore, an assessment of what is called with the help of a phraseological unit. The stylistic and emotional coloring of idioms is largely due to the source of their occurrence, the sphere of their initial use, which in turn largely determines the nature of the word-components that make up the idiom. So, turnovers that came from scientific terminology (lead to a common denominator, specific gravity, center of gravity, chain reaction), from biblical texts (eat from the tree of knowledge and goodness, stumbling block, cry out), from ancient literature usually have a book character. Idiom, the appearance of which is associated with the speech of those who are engaged (engaged) in some craft, manual labor, some type of technical activity, with the speech of those whose occupation is «non-prestigious» character or socially condemned, have a conversational or colloquial character.

FEATURES OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS OF MODERN ENGLISH

Ташева Эътибор Бахтиёровна,
студентка магистратуры направления «Лингвистика»,
Самаркандский государственный институт иностранных языков,
Узбекистан

Abstract: This article discusses the phraseological units of modern English, its history and development paths, as well as different types of phraseological units.

Keywords: phraseological units, teaching English, speech, language, phraseological expressions

The English language has a thousand-year history. During this time, it has accumulated a large number of expressions that people found successful, accurate and beautiful. So, there was a special layer of language — phraseology, a set of stable expressions that have an independent meaning. Learning English is widely spread in our country.

A good knowledge of the language, including English, is impossible without knowledge of its phraseology. Knowledge of phraseology makes it extremely easy to read both journalistic and fiction literature. Reasonable use of phraseological units makes speech more idiomatic.

The aesthetic aspect of the language is enhanced by using phraseological expressions that are not translated verbatim, but are reinterpreted. “With the help of idioms, as with the help of various shades of colors, the informational aspect of language is supplemented by a sensually intuitive description of our world, our life.”

The world of phraseology of modern English is large and diverse, and every aspect of its research, of course, deserves due attention.

Borrowings are one of the main sources of replenishment of English phraseology. Borrowings from English literature are especially numerous. There are separate borrowings from the literature of Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and other languages.

For students of English as a foreign language, this layer of language is difficult to master, but after mastering phraseological units, we begin to speak like the English, we understand them in half a word, our speech readiness increases dramatically. We can Express our thought briefly and very accurately, being sure of the correctness of its expression.

Phraseology (Greek: phrasis — “expression”, logos — “teaching”) is a branch of linguistics that studies stable combinations in language. Phraseology is also called a set of stable combinations in the language as a whole, in the language of a particular writer, in the language of a particular work of art, etc.

Phraseology has emerged relatively recently as an independent linguistic discipline. “The subject and tasks, scope and methods of studying it are not yet clearly defined, have not received full coverage.”

The tasks of phraseology as a linguistic discipline include a comprehensive study of the phraseological Fund of a particular language. Important aspects of the research of this science are: stability of phraseological units, system of phraseology and semantic structure of phraseological units, their origin and main functions. A particularly complex branch of phraseology is the translation of phraseological units, which requires considerable experience in the field of research of this discipline.

The subject of the history of phraseology is the study of the primary, initial forms and meanings of phraseological units, determining their sources from all available monuments, identifying the areas of their use in different epochs of the language, as well as establishing the volume of phraseological composition and its systematic ordering in a particular historical epoch of language development.

Equivalence of phraseology to the word

The development of phraseology as a linguistic science has recently presented researchers with a very complex problem — the relationship of a phraseological unit with a word. In modern linguistics, there are different points of view regarding the very formulation of this question. Some consider PU to be equivalent to words, others point to their correlation with the word, replacing the theory of equivalence with the theory of correlation of phraseological combination with the word.

It should also be borne in mind that Proverbs and sayings, i.e. phraseologisms with sentence structure, can only be identified using sentences, for example, birds of a feather flock together — people who have the same interests, ideas, etc. are attracted to each other and stay close together; the blind leading the blind — a situation in which the person who is leading or advising others knows a little as they do.

The semantic integrity of the PU can be established by comparing its meaning with the meaning of its components as separate words, as well as identifying the features of its use in the context.

In the problem of “phraseology and the word” there are mainly two directions: a narrow, lexicological understanding of phraseology as an integral part of lexicology, PU as the equivalent of a word, and a broad understanding of phraseology as an independent linguistic discipline.

Phraseological splices have a number of characteristic features:

1. they may include so-called necrotisms-words that are not used anywhere except for this fusion, and are therefore incomprehensible from the point of view of the modern language;

2. part of adhesions can include archaisms;

3. they are syntactically non-decomposable;

4. in most cases, it is not possible to rearrange components in them;

5. they are characterized by impenetrability — they do not allow additional words in their composition.

“Phraseological unities are somewhat closer to phraseological splices in their imagery and metaphor.”

Characteristic features of phraseological units:

1. vivid imagery and the resulting possibility of matching with parallel existing phrases (cf.: to throw dust into smb.’s eyes, to be narrow in the shoulders, to burn one’s fingers, to burn bridges);

2. preserving the semantics of the individual components (to put a spoke in smb.’s wheel);

3. inability to replace some components with others (to hold one’s cards close to one’s chest);

4. emotional and expressive coloring plays a crucial role (to throw dust into smb.’s eyes, to paint the devil blacker than he is);

5. the ability to enter into synonymous relations with individual words or other phraseological units (to gild refined gold = to paint the lily).

The phraseological Fund of the English language is so large that a complete study of it would not fit into the framework of this work. Nevertheless, on the example of the considered phraseological units, it is possible to clearly imagine how diverse in their semantics and expressiveness the PU of the modern English language are. Thanks to the literary works of writers and poets, both in the UK and around the world, the English language currently has a huge number of phraseological units. But we should not forget that from the history and culture of various countries of the world in the English language also came a huge number of phraseological units.

LITERATURE

The concept of phraseology and the basic types of phraseological units

ABSTRACT

This article is devoted to the study of the phraseology origin. In this article the authors are trying to define the word phraseology and its isolation from lexicology. In order to comprehend the word phraseologism they first introduced it to the scholars, who made their initial attempt to study this field of linguistics, which is called phraseology. It is clear that this branch of linguistics is very young and very few scientists managed to see the world that is brought by phraseology. In this article the basic types of phraseological units are analyzed relating to the degree of idiomaticity in the process of learning a foreign language. The authors have tried to define the types of phraseological units by using numerous examples.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Данная статья посвящена исследованию возникновения фразеологии. В данной статье авторы уточняют вопрос о том, как определить слово фразеология и его обособление от лексикологии. Для понимания слова фразеологизм они сначала познакомили ученых, которые предприняли свою первоначальную попытку изучить область лингвистики, которую мы называем фразеологией. Из их заметок ясно, что эта отрасль лингвистики очень молода, и мало кому из ученых удалось увидеть мир, который принесла фразеология. В данной статье анализируются основные типы фразеологических единиц, относящиеся к степени идиоматичности в процессе изучения иностранного языка. Авторы попытались определить типы фразеологических единиц с помощью примеров.

Keywords: vocabulary, language, phraseology, study, stylistic, PU, word-group, style, origin, idiom, stability, phraseological fusions, phraseological unities, phraseological collocations.

Ключевые слова: лексика, язык, фразеология, исследование, стилистика, ФЕ, словосочетание, стиль, происхождение, идиома, устойчивость, фразеологические сращения, фразеологические единства, фразеологические словосочетания.

Language is the most essential factor of characterizing every nation’s beliefs, culture and the attitude to the world. As beliefs, worldviews and cultures do not look like to each other, proverbs and sayings of different nations are not the same. One of the most outstanding linguists Nida said that it is important to study the language of the nation when we study its culture. According to his point of view language and culture is an interrelation system, which was developed together at the same time. He explains it as follows: ‘Cultural factors are deeply interwoven with the language, and thus are morphologically and structurally reflected in the forms of the language.’ [5, p. 55].

Phraseology of each language makes a significant contribution to the formation of figurative pictures of the world. Knowing the phraseology allows to get a deeper understanding of the history and character of the people. Phraseologisms exist in close connection with vocabulary. Their study helps to get better understanding of the vocabulary structure, education and the use of lexical units in speech. When we talk about this term, our tongue instantly curves into another notion that signifies the above concept. This is the phraseological units (PU) term. They are special language means in which the originality and uniqueness of any language is concentrated. Considering PU in this aspect, we come to the disclosure of the ‘phraseology’ concept in the broad sense of the word. In a narrow sense, phraseology is a section of linguistics that studies stable speech speed [3, p. 942].

For the first time, the concept of PU was formulated by the linguist S. Balli, a representative of the French school of linguistics. He called the PU as ‘combinations that have firmly entered to the language’ [4, p. 380]. English and American researchers such as L.P. Smith, A. Mackay, J. Seidlou, and W. McMordi use the term ‘idiom’ in their writings on the study of PU. By an idiom they mean an expression whose value is not inferred from the value of its individual elements.

The richness of vocabulary of every language depends on not only the ways of forming new words, but also on the permanent idioms it may form. The science which studies the ‘world’ of those units is called phraseology. Phraseology is the science about idioms, and it was firstly used in 1928 by Y.D. Polovinov. [1, p. 208]

Phraseology resembles a picturesque gallery comprising the samples of eternal and marvelous customs and traditions of a nation, historical memorials, fairy tales and songs. Phraseology is not only the most colourful part of vocabulary, but also the most democratic layer.

For the first time, phraseology was used in the study of literature. While translating some fiction from one language into another it became impossible to translate inseparable word combinations. Then the phraseological unities in those languages were researched. The term phraseology was first used in philology in 1558 by the English literary scholar Neander. While translating the literary works Neander had to use this term. Although the biggest part of phraseological materials are included in vocabulary and other sources, the research works on the theory of phraseology have been rarely met in the sources concerning linguistics (L. Smith, D. Curry, W. Ball, Ch.Bally). Up to now the matters of English phraseology have been studied within grammar, stylistics, lexicography and the history of language. Later phraseology has been studied as a branch of lexicology. As the linguistics developed, nowadays phraseology has been admitted and is being researched as an independent branch of linguistics in most languages. It is worth pointing out that a number of Eastern European and Russian scholars researched this field in their works. A lot of results were achieved. Though French scholar Charlie Bally put the term phraseologie into the science, this term wasn’t used in the works of Western European and American linguists. Bally uses phraseology within stylistics. The matter of studying phraseology as an independent branch of linguistics was advanced by Russian linguist E.D.Polivanov. As he maintains positively, lexis studies separate words’ meanings, morphology studies words’ structure, syntax studies the structure of word combinations. In his opinion, there is a necessity for an independent field which studies peculiar unique word combinations. E.D.Polivanov was sure that phraseology would become firmly fixed in linguistics and it occurred. The matter of studying phraseology as a separate branch of linguistics was promoted by Russian scholar V.V.Vinogradov too. V.V.Vinogradov’s great service is that he separated phraseological unities into semantic groups. However, phraseology remained a part of lexicology, because the principal criteria proving that phraseology could be an independent field of linguistics hadn’t been worked out yet. So, phraseology was being learned as the part of lexicology. After E.D.Polivanov and V.V.Vinogradov the first who promoted the idea of studying phraseology independently was scholar B.A.Larin. He affirmed that enough scientific research hadn’t been done in phraseology. In Russian linguist A.V.Kunin’s opinion, phraseology came off the lexicology circle: its range and significance have been raised. Though a lot of, sometimes controversial ideas were expressed concerning phraseology a number of scientific research works had been done. Such outstanding linguists as N.N. Amosova, A.V. Kunin, V.A. Smirnitsky, S.S. Gorelik, V.L. Arkhangelsky, V.V. Vinogradov, B.A. Larin, I.A. Melchuk, I.I. Revzin, S.N.Savitskaya, Yu.D. Apresan have great services to this science.[1, p. 210]

The meaning of phraseology is not deduced from the value of the sum of its elements, but is determined by rethinking. This is because the phraseological phrase is not a free phrase, but one of its main properties is reproducibility. So the free combinations are the expressions ‘white snow’, ‘black pen’, ‘yellow pencil’, which are created from separate words in the process of communication, at the same time, the expressions ‘white lie’, ‘black gold’, ‘black market’, ‘yellow papers’ are PU that are retrieved from the memory just like individual words. Any violation in the syntactic or semantic structure of these PU irreparably leads to the loss of their meaning.

It has been repeatedly pointed out that word-groups analyzed as functionally and semantically inseparable units are considered to be the subject matter of phraseology. It should be noted that proper scientific investigation of English phraseology has not been attempted until quite recently. English and American linguists tried to collect various words, word-groups and sentences by presenting some features of view, style, origin and usage which are peculiar to them. These units are usually described as idioms but no attempt has been made to analyze these idioms as a separate class of linguistic units.

However, the existing terms, [ 4, p. 480] such as set-phrases, idioms, word-equivalents reflect to a certain extent the main debatable issues of phraseology. The term set-phrase implies that the basic criterion of differentiation is the stability of lexical components and grammatical structure of word-groups. The term idioms generally imply that the essential feature of the linguistic units under consideration is the idiomaticity or lack of motivation.

Phraseological units are habitually defined as non-motivated word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as a ready-made system. This definition proceeds from the assumption that the essential features of phraseological units are considered to be the stability of the lexical components. [ 3, p. 942] It is frequently assumed that unlike components of free word-groups which may vary due to the needs of communication, words of phraseological units are reproduced as single unchangeable collocations.

Taking into account mainly the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units may be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions, phraseological unities and phraseological collocations.

Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups, such as red tape- “bureaucratic methods”; heavy father—“serious or solemn part in a theatrical play”; kick the bucket-“die” and the like. The meaning of the components has no connections whatsoever, at least synchronically, with the meaning of the whole group. Idiomaticity is, as a rule, combined with complete stability of the lexical components and the grammatical structure of the fusion.

Phraseological unities are partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit. For example, to show one’s teeth, to wash one’s dirty linen in public if interpreted as semantically motivated through the combined lexical meaning of the component words would naturally lead one to understand these in their literal meaning. The metaphoric meaning of the whole unit, however, readily suggests ‘take a threatening tone’ or ‘show an intention to injure’ for show one’s teethand ‘discuss or make public one’s quarrels’ for wash one’s dirty linen in public. Phraseological unities are as a rule marked by a comparatively high degree of stability of the lexical components.

Phraseological collocations are motivated but they are made up of words possessing specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stability in such word-groups. In phraseological collocations variability of member words is strictly limited. For instance, bear a grudge may be changed into bear malice, but not intobear a fancy or liking. We can say take a liking(fancy) but not take hatred (disgust). These habitual collocations tend to become kind of clichés where the meaning of member-words is to some extent dominated by the meaning of the whole group. Due to these phraseological collocations are felt possessing a certain degree of semantic inseparability.

To conclude the article, it can be reviewed that by taking into consideration the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units are classified into three groups such as phraseological fusions, phraseological unities and phraseological collocations. [ 2, p. 125 ] They are differentiated according to their idiomaticity and they are proven with the examples.