Phraseological unity: definition, features and examples

Learning any language begins with the study of writing, then learn the pronunciation of sounds and, finally, it all comes together in words. And if at first it’s easy to memorize the rules for the formation of phrases, and, in principle, you can remember a certain pattern by which parts of speech are formed in the language, then they will always remain a stumbling block - phraseological unity, or, more simply put, idioms that you can learn only by long cramming and nothing else.

Why phraseological unity is needed

However, it is not for us, Russian-speaking people, to complain about the impossibility of understanding stable expressions in another language, since Russian people always have a kind of “red word” that fully describes the current situation.

The Russian language is considered one of the most difficult to learn due to the presence of a multitude of tenses, conjugations of verbs, ways of forming new parts of speech, but the most deadly one is just the same idioms, the same phraseological units, unity. Only the Chinese language can compete with the richness of winged expressions.

Idioms are used in speech in order to decorate it, make it more interesting, less often - to give a certain emotional coloring. Not even native speakers themselves always know where an expression came from, but always with pleasure use stable expressions in their speech.

To understand what some expressions mean in any language, you need to get to know the mentality of this people, study their habits and habits, and the rules of life. And then, perhaps, all this mess of words will become more understandable.

What are phraseological units and idioms?

The most difficult thing is to explain the illogical combination of words to children, because in their conception the world is logical and consistent, which means phraseological unity is something that falls outside the usual course of events, and we need to find an explanation for this.

To begin with, we must deal with all this confusion: phraseological mergers, phraseological unity and phraseological expressions - all this is the same or are there any differences between them? Yes, in fact, the differences between them for linguists and philologists are almost enormous, but for ordinary people all this is idioms. But to explain briefly, then:

• Phraseological fusion is an indivisible combination of words, because if these words are divided, the general meaning of the whole phrase is lost. In other words, connecting with each other, the words form a completely new, figurative meaning.
• Phraseological unity - in contrast to the first option, in this case the words are still used in their direct meaning, and the phrase, in principle, can be understood even by translating it into another language: the allegorical image is still visible.
• Phraseological combinations or expressions are characterized by the fact that they have one constant word that can be combined with other variables. Simply put, this is a metaphorical expression of their feelings, which is just the same more clear from all of the above.

Examples of phraseological units

With the selection of idioms, any person does not have any problems. Everyone knows the stable expressions “fool around,” “beat the bastard,” “out of the blue,” “off the ramshack”, “bend into three dooms”, “pour on the first number,” and so on. These mergers are indivisible in themselves, to disconnect these words from each other means to destroy the very canonicity of the utterance. Examples of such phrases are found in everyday life so often that the use of such combinations does not hurt the Russian person at all, but a foreigner will have to explain for a very long time who the fool is and why he should be fooled.

Everyone knows the expressions “go with the flow”, “gnaw at the granite of science”, “catch on live bait”, “a storm in a glass of water”, “tirelessly” and so on. This is phraseological unity. Examples of such expressions are even more common idioms. And since they don’t cut the ear to native speakers, sometimes we don’t even notice it.

Combinations and Unities

Everything is a little more complicated with phraseological combinations, since it really requires imagination in order to understand a person. Russian people, for example, are very fond of “burning out” of their feelings, whether it be shame, resentment, or love. Or one more thing: well, a foreigner cannot understand where all the same Russians carry nonsense or nonsense. That is, in these expressions there is a constant word that is used in a figurative meaning, and the second variable word.

As can be seen from the description, phraseological unity and phraseological combinations are sometimes much easier for a foreigner to understand, but with adhesions there is only one way to fight: to memorize them by heart. And it is advisable once again not to be interested in the Russian, what is “mite”, “bacilli” or “arshin” - he himself, frankly, does not know.

Folklore

The view of the world for many generations is formed by transmitting information from parents to children, and so for many generations to come. Poems, songs, tales, epics, tongue twisters, proverbs and sayings - all this is oral folk art, and each nation has its own. When studying the culture of ancestors, it is often much easier to understand how people behaved and thought at something at that time, and it is also easier to understand where the wisdom of those times found their place in modern science.

Phraseological unity is nothing but the same sayings that people spoke before. V. I. Dahl, for example, loved to travel around villages and perpetuate such expressions, write them down and explain them. And partly it is his merit that many expressions have survived to this day.

What is the difference between sayings and proverbs?

The fact that, as a rule, they carry within themselves a certain instructive morality, enclosed in one sentence. That is, the sentence can be rephrased, replaced or missed by some words, while retaining the meaning - it is not a single whole, unlike sayings, the words in which are unchanged. It was sayings that often described situations, expressed emotions, and simply communicated in Russia.

Where do the wings come from

Most idioms and stable expressions have been known since the time when Russia was Russia, and Kiev was the mother of Russian cities, but it cannot be denied that classical writers also have a strong influence on vocabulary, whose catchphrases are so popular with people.

The most famous Russian work from which many expressions were borrowed is Griboedov's “Woe from Wit”. Everyone is familiar with the phrases: “fresh tradition”, or the exclamation “To my carriage, my carriage!”, Or “I’m no longer traveling here.” But few people know that all this is taken from the great Russian work. Often the very name of the play is used as phraseology.

The expressions from the works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Bulgakov and many other classics are so tightly included in the speech that they have already lost their roots. That's why it is a classic that is familiar to everyone.

Speaking of winged phrases, it is impossible not to mention Soviet cinema, when many books were also filmed. Suffice it to recall the "Golden Calf"! “Money in the morning - chairs in the evening,” the Russian person can say and smile maliciously, and will not even think about how foreigners perceive phraseological unity of this kind. This may seem impudent to someone, but we will understand the reference to Ostap Bender and even laugh together.

Phraseology in everyday life

Many of us do not even think about why we use these or those expressions and where the legs of these statements grow. Phraseological unity, examples of which any Russian person will immediately remember, in fact reflect the mentality, customs and thinking of the people.

For example, we can consider the difference between two stable phrases in Russian and in English: “Do or die!” - say the British. At the same time, the Russian person will say the opposite: “Die, but do it,” which means fearlessness before death.

Or another expression: "give the last shirt," which speaks of the habit of sacrificing everything for the well-being of other people.

Russian heart

The phraseological units in which the heart is affected are also noteworthy. “Break the heart”, “with all my heart / with all my heart”, “my heart stops beating”, “my heart is bleeding” and so on. The fact is that in the Russian mentality much attention is paid to the inner world of man. It has long been believed that the soul lives in the chest, all feelings and the most secret are accumulated in the heart itself.

Phraseological unity “hand on heart” arose from the custom of putting your hand on your chest when someone speaks sincerely. This gesture indicates that a person literally opens his heart to another and thus confirms the truth of his words. Remember the custom to take an oath on the Bible, while you put a hand on it. But what if the book is not at hand? Put your hand on what is sacred for a person to the same extent as the mentioned book. Therefore, he puts his hand on his heart.

Phraseologisms in English

Not only the Russian language sometimes introduces into the cognitive dissonance a combination of the incongruous - phraseological unity in the English language is also present. Some of them are connected with history, others with the mentality and habits of the British.

The most common English expression, perhaps, is: "Every cloud has a silver lining." As in the case of Russian, translate it literally is not even worth trying. You just need to remember that this expression sounds like a cheering, saying, "everything can not be so bad."

The English love to eat words. They just say so: "To eat one's words", which is very similar in meaning to the Russian "take the words back." Many expressions in the English language often have analogues in Russian, and vice versa, therefore it is easy to understand some phraseological unity of both Russian and English.

Chinese phraseological unity

Only the Chinese language can compete with the Russian language in terms of the number of different expressions. In it, as you know, there are about a thousand hieroglyphs and many times more words. In one, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are exactly like the Russians: to this day, expressions invented by distant ancestors back in past centuries have been preserved in their native language. The Chinese relate to the history of their people with great care, and therefore the union phraseological units in the Chinese language, despite the fact that the grammar has changed significantly since then, has been preserved to this day.

A distinctive feature of capacious statements in Chinese is that such phrases there, as a rule, consist of two parts: the first is the figurative expression itself , the second part is an explanation of what is meant. For example: 守株待兔 - “wait for the weather by the sea”, “hope for fate”. It is especially interesting for Chinese translators to translate these kinds of phraseological units, since they were formed even when even the writing was different.