Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14

8/11/2019 Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14

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8/11/2019 Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14


Lexis and Anomaly

The vocabulary of FEIs has a distribution

that is different from that of the lexicon in

general.

Some words (and so concepts, images,

structures) feature strongly in FEIs , or

occur relatively more often in FEIs than in

freely formed text.

8/11/2019 Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14


Cranberry Collocations

There are a few lexemes that never occur

outside FEIs – cranberry collocations.

Several groups of cranberry collocations

8/11/2019 Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14


Rare fossil words, or words

borrowed from other languagesrun amok

in cahoots with someone

by dint of something

in high dudgeonin fine/good fettle

to and fro

grist to one’s mill

go/be haywireput the kibosh on something

out of kilter /off kilter

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Rare fossil words, or words

borrowed from other languageskith and kin

at loggerheads

sleight of hand

cock a snookspic(k) and span

on tenterhooks

in a trice

take umbragewend one’s way somewhere

of yore

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Lexemes unique to the FEI but homographic

with other independent items

be at someone’s beck and call

to boot

come a cropper

curry a favourhue and cry

leave someone in the lurch

queer someone’s pitch

(by) the scruff of someone’s neck be no slouch (at something)

have no truck with someone/something

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Cranberry items have compositional or

familiar morphemic structure, but occur only

in FEIsin accordance with something

make amends

at gunpoint

irrespective ofat/from the outset

in retrospect

give someone the run-aroundin triplicate

unbeknownst to someone

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FEIs, grammatical in function, containing

unanalysable or unique items

on someone’s behalf , on behalf of

someone

for someone’s/something’s sake, for the

sake of someone/something

in someone’s stead

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Cranberry Collocations

The description above is synchronic. However,diachronically, these FEIs may be well formed.For example, dint in by dint of something meant‘a blow’, or ‘the dealing of blows’, then ‘dent’ or‘impression’, but these meanings have becomeobsolete in many varieties of English (althoughthe latter survives in Australian English)

Cranberry collocations can be compared toforeign phrases, which are borrowed wholesaleinto English but retain their original wording andalien syntagmatic structure

8/11/2019 Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14


Grammatical form

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Ill-formed FEIs

FEIs that cannot be parsed according to

normal syntactic rules are non-

compositional: they are the grammatical

equivalents to cranberry FEIs.Diachronically, they may be fossils of

earlier uses, but they are aberrant

synchronically. There are several groupsof ill-formed FEIs

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Ill-formedness arises from odd phrase

structures, ellipsis, inflections, or from an

archaic moodat all

be that as it may

be seeing you

by and by

by and large

come to think of itcome what may

curiouser and curiouser

dog eat dog

every which way

far be it from me

give someone what forgo for broke

hard done by

how come

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Ill-formedness arises from odd phrase

structures, ellipsis, inflections, or from an

archaic moodhow do you do?

I’ll be blowed

let alone ____

mind you

more fool you

needless to sayplease God

point taken

quote unquote

shame on ___

so long!

to do withto each X’s own

to the manner born

writ large

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FEIs that contain strange uses of

wordclassesA non-nominal word or sense may be used as a noun, or an adjective asan adverb:

all of a sudden

at the ready

beyond compare

do the dirty on someone

for free

have a down on someone

ifs and buts

in brief

in general

in the know

of late

of old

once in a while

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FEIs that contain strange uses of

wordclasseson the alert

on the make

on the up and up

play fair

stand easy

state the obviousswear blind

the back of beyond

the dos and don’ts

the ins and outs

the whys and whereforesthrough thick and thin

trip the light fantastic

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One or more component words in an FEI

deviate from their usual syntactic behaviour

Countable nouns may be used without determiners in thesingular , or verbs may be used in aberrant tranisitivity patterns:

bag and baggage

bring someone to book

(by) word of mouth

come a cropperfight tooth and nail

(not) go a bundle on something

go (the) whole hog

in all weathers

in casekeep body and soul together

put pen to paper

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One or more component words in an FEI

deviate from their usual syntactic behaviour

rain cats and dogs

sweat blood

stand someone in good stead

stay put

to hand

turn and turn about

under lock and key

to date

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Structures are correct syntagmatically but

not paradigmatically

The valencies and collocational well-formedness aredisturbed; some FEIs are literally impossible, and thegrammar reinforces their violation of truth conditions:

clap eyes on someone

do a runnerlive a lie

look daggers at someone

make heavy weather of something

put one’s best foot forward

turn turtlewhen push comes to shove

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Grammatical Types and

Structures

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Predicate FEIs

They consist of clause elements, and thus can be said tohave the syntactic structure of clauses. The mainelements are subject and verb and they are obligatory,while other elements vary (direct and indirect object,

adjunct, complement, catenated predicator, objectcomplement). For example:

X admits defeat

X takes Y to task

The coast is clear

X teaches Y a lesson

Alarm bells ring

Sparks fly

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Nominal groups

a blessing in disguise

a flash in the pan

a foregone conclusionivory tower

a world of difference

the salt of the earthTrojan horse

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Predicative adjectival groups

They occur either postnominally or after acopula; they are actually adjective phrases thatare used predicatively:

alive and kicking

bone idlecut and dried/cut and dry

dressed to kill

free and easy

long in the tooth

wet behind the ears

wide awake

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Modifiers

They function in prenominal position, i.e. theymodify a head noun in a noun phrase:

a thousand and one

all-singing all-dancingany old

common or garden

dim and distant

hard and fast

precious little, precious few

the one and only

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Adjuncts

They are adverbials (priloške oznake):

above board

by heart

by the skin of one’s teeth

from memory

high and dryin cold blood

on horseback

out of the question

under the counter

under the weatherup for grabs

with one’s bare hands

at once

for the time being

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Adjuncts

on the spur of the moment

from time to time

little by little

time and again

once in a blue moon

from afarwithin spitting distance

in vain

to be on the safe side

to smithereens

by farfar and away

through and through

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Sentence Adverbials

by definitionfor the most part

in effect

no doubt

to be sure

by the wayin other words

so much for -----

talking of ------

above all

after allin fact

on the contrary

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Conventions, exclamations, and

subordinate clausesThe commonest of these FEIs in everydaycommunication are those that encodegreetings, apologies, refusals, expressionsof sympathy, etc.:

by all meansdon’t mention it

excuse me

go for it!

good morningnever mind

no comment

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subordinate clauses

Some of these FEIs express reactions

and opinions:

it’s nothing

pigs might fly

those were the days

who cares?you can say that again

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subordinate clauses

Proverbs and sayings are classified as

conventions:

every cloud has a silver lining

first come first served

the end justifies the means

you can’t have your cake and eat it

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subordinate clauses

FEIs functioning as subordinate clauses:

as if X owns the place

if the worst comes to the worstuntil the cows come home

when push comes to shove

when the chips are down

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Idiomi, Lecture 04, 13_14