112Academic Research in Educational Sciences VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 11 | 2021
ISSN: 2181-1385
Scientific Journal Impact Factor (SJIF) 2021: 5.723 Directory Indexing of International Research Journals-CiteFactor 2020-21: 0.89
DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2021-11-586-592
THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING ANIMAL IDIOMS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND THEIR PROBLEMATIC FEATURES IN
SPEECH
Svetlana Sergeyevna Gerasimova
Termez State University, Foreign philology faculty svetlana888.sg@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This article deals with the importance of animal idioms in different languages and problematic features in understanding while using them in speech.
Keywords: idioms as an informal forms of speech, meanings, comprehension, culture.
INTRODUCTION
Almost all languages have phrases that cannot be understood literally. Even if we know the meanings of all words in a phrase and we understand the grammar completely, still the total meaning of the phrase may be confusing. Like other languages, Indonesian, English and Uzbek are very rich in use of idioms. Idioms are used in formal style and in slang. At the same time they can appear in every sphere of our life in poetry, literature, music, media, and in Bible. Therefore, it is necessary to define and compare English, Russian, Indonesian and Uzbek idioms. Sinclair (1996) defines that an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone. The way in which the words are put together is often odd, illogical or even grammatically incorrect. These are the special features of some idioms. Other idioms are completely regular and logical in their grammar and vocabulary.
Hornby (1995) explains that idiom is a frozen expression and we have to learn it
as a whole and we cannot change any part of it. Here the idiom to buy a pig in a poke
means „to buy something which one has not inspected previously and which is worth
less than one paid for it.' The word poke is an old word meaning sack. Poke only
appears in present-day English with this meaning in this idiom. Therefore, it is clear that
the idiom has continued to be used long after the individual word.
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Academic Research in Educational Sciences VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 11 | 2021
ISSN: 2181-1385
Scientific Journal Impact Factor (SJIF) 2021: 5.723 Directory Indexing of International Research Journals-CiteFactor 2020-21: 0.89
DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2021-11-586-592
LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY
When speakers are involved in a daily conversation, they always use idiomatic expression to convey what they are talking about in an implicit and indirect way. Idiomatic expressions are phrases or terms consisting of collocation of words that function as a single unit and their meaning cannot be inferred from the meaning of the parts. In other words, an idiom is an expression where the meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words (Wyatt, 2006: 5). Idioms can be found in many languages, including in English, Indonesia, and Uzbek languages. These three languages have a large numbers of idioms frequently used both in oral or written language. One of idioms frequently used in these languages is idiom using animals.
Since idioms are phrases or terms which are built from collocation and which have their own unique meanings; so, consequently, idioms are colloquial figurative language, or in this case, metaphors that require some foundational consideration, information or experience, employed within a culture where the persons involved in a conversation must have a common reference point. In addition, idioms constitute more than just a semantic part of language, but rather an object of a particular culture. Furthermore, idioms with a metaphorical meaning can also be understood as more universal since animals are employed in all cultures as something that represents a quality or an idea exactly for particular features. Idioms play important role in spoken and written language. If we take the Indonesian idiom Buaya darah can mean totally different meaning in English ( womanizer) and Russian (бабник babnik, кабель kabel). So it is really difficult to predict the real meaning.
We can also state that idioms are phrases or terms refering to a sequence of words which are restricted semantically and syntactically. From the semantic point of view, it can be stated that we are not allowed to infer the meaning of idiomatic expression based on the meanings of the individual words. In other words, the meaning of an idiomatic expression is built from the sum of words as a whole. Meanwhile, from the syntactic point of view, an idiomatic expression usually does not permit the use of other variabilities displayed in other contexts (Crystal, 2003, in Sharifi and Karimipour, 2012: 1). We can always say it is raining cats and dogs, but we are not allowed to say it is raining dogs and cats/a cat and a dog.
Idioms can be constructed from different forms and structures. They can have a
correct grammatical structure or an incorrect grammatical structure. Idioms are Google Scholar Scientific Library of Uzbekistan
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incorrect, various structures can be used. Moreover, an idiom can have a grammatically correct structure with the not definite meaning, e.g. to have a bee in one's bonnet. It means that one is prepossessed by a thought, but it is obscure if we do not know the idiom itself. An idiom where the form together with the meaning are incorrect also exist, e.g. to be at large. Basically, many idioms are found to be assigned to the second type, where the structure is correct, but the meaning is vague. However, idioms of this group can be easily guessed from associations, e.g. to give someone the green light (Seidl&McMordie, 1983).
The most common characteristic features of idioms are stated by three quite clear notions:
1. Compositeness: idioms are commonly accepted as a type of multiword expressions (red herring, make up, smell a rat, the coast is clear, etc.) though a few scholars accept even single words as idioms.
2. Institutionalization: idioms are conventionalized expressions, conventionalization being the end result of initially ad hoc, and in this sense novel, expressions.
3. Semantic opacity: the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of its constituents. In other words, an idiom is often non-literal (Gibbs, 1986).
Other scholar Baker (1998: 4) claims that idiom denotes a general term for many kinds of multi-word expressions "whether semantically opaque or not." Therefore, idioms can be divided into transparent opaque idioms which include:
1. Transparent Idioms: These idioms have a very close meaning to that of the literal one. Hence, transparent idioms are usually not difficult to understand and translate, because their meanings can beeasily inferred from the meanings of their constituents, both components have a directmeaning but the combination acquires figurative sense. (Fernando 1996) Phraseologicalcombinations are commonly included in this category.E.g. to see the light - to understand
2. Semi - Transparent Idioms:The idiom usually carries a metaphorical sense that could not be known only through common use. i.e., the meaning of its parts has a little role to play in understanding the entire meaning. E.g. break the ice - relieve the tension
3. Semi-Opaque Idioms: This type refers to those idioms in which the figurative
meaning is not joined to that of the constituent words of the idiom. Thus, the expression
is separated into two parts; a part with a literal meaning, and another part with a Google Scholar Scientific Library of Uzbekistan
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DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2021-11-586-592
figurative sense. Phraseological unities belong to this category.E.g. to know the ropes- to know how a particular job should be doneto pass the buck = to pass responsibility
4. Opaque idioms: They are the most difficult type of idioms, because the meaning of the idiom is never that of the sum of the literal meanings of its parts. So, it would be impossible to infer the actual meaning of the idiom from the meanings of its components, because of the presenceof items having cultural references. These culture-specific items have a great influence on thecomprehensibility of idiomatic expressions.E.g. To burn one's boat - to make retreat impossible, kick the bucket - to die.
Fernando (1994) classifies all functions that are performed by idioms into three groups: 1) ideational, 2) interpersonal, and 3) relational.
1. Idioms that have ideational function denote content which includes action (e.g. pull an invisible string, ), situation (e.g. to be under the thumb of one's family), people and things (e.g. made rather a fool of myself).
2. Interpersonal function fulfills interactional function through apologies (e.g. I beg your pardon), greetings (e.g. good evening), directives (e.g. to put it straight), etc.
3. Idioms with relational function are used to ensure cohesion and coherence of discourse. These are idioms that integrate (e.g. on the one hand...on the other hand, in addition) and sequence information (e.g. in the first/second place).
DISCUSSIONS AND RESULT
As we all know together that idiom is an important part of language. Almost every language in this world has its own idiomatic expressions, such as animal idioms. However, as mentioned previously, due to a great numbers of differences in history, culture, environment, and style of thinking between English, Russian, Indonesia, and Uzbek; so, people coming from these four countries possess their own unique perspective about the same animals. When we look at these idioms it will be easy to identify the exact meaning based on the following contexts:
English
Russian
Indonesian
Uzbek
Meaning
To fight like cat and dog
Жить как кошка собакой
Hidup seperti anjing dan kucing
It mushukdek yashamoq (to live like dog and cat)
To argue violently all the time
Academic Research in Educational Sciences VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 11 | 2021
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Scientific Journal Impact Factor (SJIF) 2021: 5.723 Directory Indexing of International Research Journals-CiteFactor 2020-21: 0.89
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This idiom denotes the „quarrel' but we can analyze the connotation meaning of the idiom based on the following contexts:
English
1. My sister and I got better now, but when we were children, we always fought like cat and dog.
Indonesian
2. Kehidupan pasangan suami istri itu tiada hari tanpa pertengkaran. Mereka seperti anjing dan kucing (The life of the couple husband and wife is like no days without fighting, they are like cat and dog).
This idiom denotes the „quarrel'. In English, Russian, Uzbek and Indonesian culture, when dogs meet up with cats they will never get along, always fighting. This fight can be caused by many things, among others, competing for food, such as bone or meat. Other problems are caused by dogs and cats can not understand each other's body language or attitude of each. Cat is sometimes regarded as a pet for the women while the dog is a friend of the man in the hunt. Furthermore, dogs like to chase cats so both are considered to never get along with each other. Therefore, like dogs and cats interpreted as a quarrel between two different species.
In these languages, there are many idioms that are related to animals. Throughout history, man and animals have made close relationship. Consequently, animals have been employed in all cultures to reflect the nature of humanity. It is very simple for us to observe and recognize the characteristics of animals. Meanwhile, the characteristics of human are more difficult to explain. Animals are familiar creatures that can project people's emotion and attitudes towards them. Furthermore, animals can be used to explain about deep dimension of human feelings and ideas. In addition, animals can also reflect intellectual image of the society; the social dimension can be reflected by animal sphere. This can be showed when we read fable story for example. However, in addition to fables, many other literary genres use animals to describe the meaning.
As mentioned previously, idioms constitute more than just a semantic part of language, but rather an object of a particular culture. In means, every people speaking their own language have different thought structures and moods about many animals. For example, Indonesia people consider dog as negative while English speaker identify it as positive. Meanwhile, for Uzbek people, dog is kind of animal that you would not
Academic Research in Educational Sciences VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 11 | 2021
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Scientific Journal Impact Factor (SJIF) 2021: 5.723 Directory Indexing of International Research Journals-CiteFactor 2020-21: 0.89
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like to deal with. It is interesting to study how western and eastern people express animal idioms and their thought structures.
CONCLUSION
In conclude we can tell that human being have their own way to express different emotions and represent some social phenomena in particular times with the assistance of animals. Consequently, animal idioms are short but transparent or terse but clear. We can find many animal idioms in English, Indonesia, and Uzbek languages. However, due to a great numbers of differences in history, culture, environment, and style of thinking between English, Russian, Indonesia, and Uzbek; so, people coming from these four countries possess their own unique perspective about the same animals.
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ISSN: 2181-1385
Scientific Journal Impact Factor (SJIF) 2021: 5.723 Directory Indexing of International Research Journals-CiteFactor 2020-21: 0.89
DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2021-11-586-592
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