4. A phraseological unit

Phrasiological units are structurally and semantically stable and they have transferred meaning, e.g. a man of the wheel (руководитель). The term “phrasiological unit” to denote certain groups of set expressions was introduced by academician V.V. Vinogradov. English and American linguists often use the term “idiom”.

Phraseological units possess the following characteristics:

1. They cannot be freely made up in speech but they are reproduced as ready-made units; they are non-productive, e.g. to skate of thin ice (рисковать), a big bug (важная шишка), to cut off with a shilling (лишить наследства), to see the light (to understand), first night – (премьера).

2. The meaning of the whole phrase cannot be deduced from the meanings of the components. For example, the meaning of the phraseological units to cook somebody’s goose (to ensure that somebody fails, e.g. When the police found his fingerprints he knew his goose was cooked.), to have green fingers (to make plants grow well, e.g. Plants don’t grow for me, but my wife has green fingers.) cannot be worked out from the meanings of the constituent words.

3. Variability is impossible in them. For instance, in the idiom to rain cats and dogs we cannot replace the words cats and dogs by the words mice and rats, or by milk and water; and instead of the verb rain we cannot use to pour. The meaning of the Russian idiom “собаку съесть” (быть хорошо осведомленным; достигнуть мастерства в каком-то деле) doesn’t deal with either word “собака” or the word “съесть”. Besides we cannot replace the words, e.g. “щенка съесть”, “съесть пуделя”. If we replace the constituent words of the phraseological unit we loose its meaning and it carries to the nonsense.

5. Distinction between free word-groups and phraseological units

Traditionally phraseological units are defined as word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech, but are reproduced as ready-made units. It is a group of words whose meaning cannot be deduced by examining the meanings of the constituent lexemes. The essential features of phraseological units are: a) lack of motivation and b) stability of the lexical components. The English language contains lots of such expressions, e.g. to dine with Duke Humphrey – остаться без обеда; nuts and bolts – the essential or practical details (He explained to us the nuts and bolts of his theory – Он объяснил нам суть своей теории); one’s cup of tea – one’s chosen or preferred thing, person, task, company, etc. (It is just not my cup of tea – Это просто не в моем вкусе. He’s not my cup of tea – Он мне не нравится).

Free word groups are formed in the process of speech according to the standards of the language, while phraseological units exist in the language side by side with separate words. Phraseological units are reproduced in speech whereas free word groups are constructed in the process of communication by joining together words into a phrase. The difference is in the interrelation of lexical components, for example: blue ribbon (or red, green, etc.) – free word group, but blue ribbon – отличие, высшая награда (an honour given to the winner of the first prize in a competition) – a phraseological unit – no substitution is possible in a phraseological unit; to see eye to eye – быть полностью согласным (а не “видеться с глазу на глаз”); under one’s hand – за собственной подписью (а не “под рукой”); strew in one’s own juice – страдать по своей собственной глупости (а не “вариться в собственном соку”).

In free word groups each of its constituents has its denotational meaning. In the case of phraseological units the denotational meaning belongs to the word group as a single inseparable unit, e.g. compare a free word-group a white elephant and a phraseological unit white elephant – обуза, подарок, от которого не знаешь как избавиться.