The Semantic Classification

It was suggested by acad. Vinogradov who dealt with Russian phraseology.

A detailed functional and semantic classification is developed by A.V. Koonin in his doctoral thesis. The main classes are based on the function the unit fulfils in speech. A.V. Koonin subdivides phraseological units into subclasses depending on whether the units are changeable or unchangeable and on the independence between the meaning of the elements taken separately and the meaning of the set expression.

Koonin suggests that phraseology must develop as an independent linguistic silence and not as a part of lexicology.

Proverbs and Sayings as Specific Types of Phraseological Units

A proverb is a short familiar saying expressing popular wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in an imaginative and concise way.

Proverbs have much in common with set expressions because their lexical components are also constant, their meaning is traditional and mostly figurative and they are introduced into speech ready-made. That is why Vinogradov and others consider that proverbs are to be studied together with phraseological unities.

We should remember that a proverb is a sentence by itself, a group of words so related as to convey a completed thought.

e.g. East or West, home is best

Still water runs deep

Birds of a feather flock together

Sayings are grammatically not finished expressions, they don’t teach us anything. They are just apt word-combinations which may be used by us in time of need.

e.g. Don’t look a gift horse into the mouth (proverb)

To look a gift horse into the mouth (saying)

Russ.: поговорка – цветочек, пословица – ягодка

In the English language there are many proverbs which have the same meaning: proverbs-synonyms.

e.g. One rotten apple decays all the bush

One scabbed sheep spoils the whole flock

We may account for it by the fact that those proverbs were created in different communities, then they were generalized and entered the vocabulary. Sometimes it happens that one proverb is created in one language, and another is borrowed into the same language.

e.g. Овчинка выделки не стоит.(Русск.)

Игра не стоит свеч. (из. Франц.) – The game is not worth the candle.

A great number of proverbs have universal application.

Russian Ukrainian English German

Не всё то золото, Не все тe золото, Not all is gold Ende gut -

что блестит. що блищить. that glitters. alles gut

Конец – делу венец. Кінець вінчає діло. All is well that

ends well.

The habit of using idioms correctly comes with practice.

It is the idiomatic aspect of a language that is the most difficult for a foreigner to master.

Ways of Translating Phraseological Units

It’s not an easy task to translate a phraseological unit. The most expedient way is to find a proper equivalent in another language.

But this way of translation, though it gives the best results, is very limited. In most cases we have no such equivalents in the language we deal with.

e.g. to buy a pig in a poke

Enough to swear by.

The murder will out.

When we can’t find a proper equivalent we resort to descriptive or even word-for-word translation. If it doesn’t help, we give a general idea of the expression.

e.g. Why ask the bishop when the Pope is around?