Ignatova E., Maksimenko L.

Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University

Idiomatisms in the grammatical system of the English language.

Phraseological composition of the language in its semantic and grammatical development is being actively examined in modern linguistics, which is trying to ascertain the position of phraseology in the grammatical context as well. The problem of distinguishing grammatical idiomatisms is the point of peculiar interest.

«Like in lexics where words overgrow into idioms and phrases, in grammar a word can acquire complex, analytical forms something like grammatical idiomatisms» [1, 9-45]. In the grammatical system of this or that language the particular place is taken by the combinations of various degrees of stability with grammatical orientation – so called grammmatical idiomatisms characterized by a certain semantic shift, asymmetric shape and contents.

We are going to consider the grammatical idiomatisms in the modern English language in our article. Being able to express such categories of the verb as voice, aspect, tense, modality set combinations act as grammatical and synonymous filling of the corresponding verb categories. We are adducing the instances of combinations of various degrees of stability which can compete with the grammatical passive voice form. They are prepositional nominal combinations of the type: beyond (past) help: The poor dog that was hit by a truck is beyond help. (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com); beyond detection: Security needs to move beyond detection; beyond description: The play was boring beyond description; (be) under construction, in use, in (within) reach: A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken in the street... All the people within reach had suspended their business, or their idleness, to run to the spot and drink the wine. (Ch. Dickens, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ch. V); in (under) review: All the soldiers passed in review on the Fourth of July. As they passed in review, each of them saluted the officers on the reviewing stand (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com); without description; as well as combinations formed by the transitive verbs and semantically abstract verbal nouns of the type: command respect: We command respect from others by walking our talk (http://www.emergingleader.com/article); have (get, receive) help (backing): Talk United States if you want me to get help to what you're drivin' at. (J. Conroy, ‘The Disinherited’, part III, ch. III); find justification (assistance), win recognition, undergo (receive) punishment: Stopping to examine his arms and hands, as if to see what punishment he has received in the fight. (Ch. Dickens, ‘Our Mutual Friend’, book III, ch. III); suffer defeat: Terrorists suffer defeat where nations willing to fight them. (http://shawarmamayor.blogspot. com); to gain ill repute, gain ground: The company's new products are gaining ground in suburban areas. (http://dictionary.reference.com); gain admittance: You may not be able to get a job or promotion on the basis of the degree, or transfer credit to another college or university, or gain admittance to graduate school. (http://www.gradschooladmissions.com); noun combinations of the type: object, subject, centre, victim or object oriented adjectives of the type: subject, worthy, liable, free, secure, immune, exempt with verbal nouns denoting action: (be) the subject (object) of study, (be) the centre of attention: It always seems that the people who are the center of attention at parties are not doing anything that different than you are, but they still somehow are the focus of the room. (http://www.ehow.com); (be) a victim of one's desire (for), (be) open for inspection, free from blame: One player is free from blame in Cowboys' 34-3 loss. (http://www.dallasnews.com), subject to confirmation (approval), worthy of respect: In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect. (http://nightowl.multiply.com); I cannot imagine that anyone could be more worthy of my respect. (http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news); liable to punishment: Any person who does not care for his/her old parents and leaves the senior citizen with the intention of wholly abandoning them shall be liable to punishment with imprisonment, which may extend to three months or fine, which may extend to Rs 5,000 or both; secure from interruption (attack), immune (exempt) from punishment, immune to (against) criticism (attack), exempt from taxation ect. It should be observed that sometimes the meaning of such idioms can be guessed from the meaning of one of the words but usually the meaning is completely different.

Idiomatization is characteristic of specific units such as: be going to + Infinitive, be on the point of + Gerund, used to + Infinitive, be in the habit of + Gerund, come + Infinitive, get (fall) + Gerund/Participle, burst into + verbal noun, fall in + verbal noun (noun of action) etc. – constituents of functional semantic fields of temporality and aspect correspondingly: «There's a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella. It's exactly five years today that he's been hitting me on the head with his umbrella. At first I couldn't stand it; now I'm used to it.» (Fernando Sorrentino), «But at that moment, when he seemed almost on the point of breaking down, he suddenly took himself in hand, jumped up and went over to the storage shelves.» (A. J. Cronin, ‘Shannon's Way’, book II, ch. 3), The children burst into tears when they saw their ruined toys. (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com); Sir, you have a number of constitutional rights which I am about to read to you, but the law does not allow you to withhold your identity.

The description of the English language grammar system (as well as of many other languages) «as the dynamic system must include similar, so called, intermediate formations playing significant role in the functional semantic filling of the English verb grammar catigories» [2, 10]. Giving the description of the word form L.V.Shcherba wrote: «Here as everywhere else in the language (in Phonetics, “Grammar” and in the dictionary) it should be borne in mind that only extreme cases are clear. The intermediate formations in the very original – in the speakers’ minds – appear to be unsteady, indefinite. However, these vague and unsteady things should attract the linguist’s attention most of all, because exactly here the facts that will appear in historical grammars are beeing prepared, in other words, we witness the language evolution» [3, 64].

The necessity of mastering idioms becomes vital at a certain stage of language learning – because even the correct speech is sure to be unexpressive and lifeless without them. It equally refers to teaching, learning Grammar for practical mastering of the language. The base of language mastering is the mature and deliberate grammar learning, besides it’s necessary not only to acquire the patterns of grammatical and semigrammatical structures but grammatical idiomatisms as well.

The formations of various degrees of stability, idiomatization and syntactic idiomatic structures is the matter of great interest in language learning not only as a structural and semantic formation but as a communication system as well. The structural and semantic inhomogeneity of the unaffected language including English is conditioned, to a certain extent , by the degree of lexical units free organization in the sentence. The inhomogeneity of the sentence is displayed in its acting as the element of the language grammatical structure. From this point of view it’s necessary to distinguish the sentences which are based on using the non-phraseological patterns or structural schemes formed by lexically free components and phraseolized structures formed with the participation of lexically closed components. For example: She has a large practice. I'll ring you up at seven. Why didn't he come? Can you swim? Why not go there? Can you pass the salt? Would you like another cup of coffee? How do you do? (I wish you) good luck!

In the process of speech production the speaker therefore reveals the ability to make up sentences using patterns and structures typical and peculiar to the given language, to employ available in his mind set units including also the sentences of standardization and idiomatization and to introduce them into speech more or less ready for use. Thus, the grammatical skill of speaking is formed, that is a stable, correct, automatic, communicatively motivated use of the grammatical phenomena in oral speech.

The integral sign of any freely constructed and phraseologized sentence as the unit of communication is its pragmatic and speech act meaning in which the speaker’s communicative intention is reflected. In this connection, the essential point here is the interaction between the character of the sentence structural pattern, semantic phraseology/non-phraseology, degree of its idiomatization and the character of the pragmatic meaning, degree of its stability or variativity. For example: Haven’t seen you for ages!, Many happy returns of the day!, See oyu again (soon)!, Good luck! Also the etiquette formula in the language often represents the phraseologized sentences which are thought to be ready language means used in stereotype situations: How do you do?, You are welcome!, Many thanks!, Please to meet you! etc.

The speech act context of such sentences functioning which have been practised and trained are conditioned not by the literal meaning of the sentences but first of all by the convention of their usage. For example, the conversational formula “Good bye!” used when you actually leave means literaly “God be with you” (compare russian “spasibo” – liter. “spasi tyebya bog (God save you), expressing gratitude) or How do you do! (comp. russian – “zdravstvuyte” – from the word “zdorovye” (health).

The permanent use of some sentences – expressions in the concrete intercourse situations: See you, later, Mary! (Poka, Mary), Be seeing you, John! (Nu, bud zdorov, John). Rissian equivalents act here as ready blocks which are appropriate in the given communicative situation.

«The interrogative sentences of certain structural semantic patterns realised in the speech act of motivation and combining elocution power can act as examples of sentences expressions with usually practised forms» [2,12]:

1) asking for and requesting: Can you pass the salt? Could you be more attentive? Can you tell me where this road goes?; Could you pass the news along?

2) asking for and prompting: Why aren't you eating?, Why don’t you be quiet?

The standardized way of expressing the elucation power takes place in the given sentences. The interrogative sentences can also act as indirect and simultaneously standard method of realizing constant (or representative) speech acts. Rhetorical questions contain emphatic confirmation (or negation) taking the from of a question not requiring an answer: Who, being loved, is poor? (О.Wilde), Who wouldn't believe him?; Ancient German has had many enemies to fight against!, Isn't the answer obvious?, What has he ever done for me?, «If you poison us, do we not die?» (Shylock in William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice), «Art thou mad? Is not the truth the truth?» (Shakespeare, "Henry IV", Part 1.),

O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,

Shrunk to this little measure?

(Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar", III.i.148).

The rhetorical questions coinciding in their formal grammatical shape with the ordinary interrogative sentences are distinguished with bright inrerogative intonation, expressing amazament, extreme tensity of feelings. It’s not accidentally, that sometimes the authors put the mark of interrogation at the end of the rhetorical questions.

The following sentences can also be related to the above-mentioned ones:

– sentences of idiomatic character of the type: Will you + Infinitive?, Do you mind + Gerund?: Will you help me? Will you have a drink?, Do you mind my helping you?, Do you mind my asking you a difficult question?,

– sentences with elocution power of motivation: Would you like to + Infinitive?, What about/How аbout + Gerund? Would you like to come to a party?, Would you like to (sit) down?, Would you like to have dinner with me on Sunday?, What/how about playing football tomorrow?, Hey, how about visiting this Left Coast?, What about reading “Interests” in the open Classroom?, What about singing a song?

Thus, the functioning of units specializing in expressing the pregmatic meanings which appear to be “intresting” from the pregmatic point of view is closely connected with the realization of the language grammatical system and it should be taken into account in the process of learning such units and during thorough examining the regularities of grammar system organization in the language. Grammatical idiomatisms are the result of prolonged semantic transformation of free combinations if we take the fixed type of the grammatical structure in this process where tha main part is played by the grammatical component. The presence of grammatical froms and semantic ties in idiomatism leads to the possibility of its alteration and re-comprehension.

Аннотация

В грамматической системе современного английского языка, в его морфологии и синтаксисе важное место занимают сочетания разной степени устойчивости с грамматической направленностью – грамматические идиоматизмы, характеризующиеся определенным семантическим сдвигом, асимметрией формы и содержания.

Ключевые слова: идиоматизация, грамматические идиоматизмы, структурно-семантическая негомогенность, речевые стереотипы.

The combinations of various degrees of stability with grammatical idiomatisms characterized by the certain semantics shift, asymmetric shape and contents are of great importance in the grammatical system of the modern English, its morphology and syntax.

Keywords: idiomatization, grammatical idiomatisms, structural and semantic speech stereotypes.

Literature

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