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15роне почтовой карточки может проявиться индивидуальность оформительской манеры. Это реализуется лишь у одной из гимназисток (Шуры Жуковой) в виде выделения строк адреса и адресата декоративным подчеркиванием.
Представляется, что показатели феминности на разных уровнях эпистолярного текста могут коррелировать между собой, что особенно заметно в послании М. Мар.... Для него характерно и употребление гендерно маркированной лексики, и высокая частотность восклицательных предложений как средства выражения эмоционального состояния, и наличие декоративных элементов в почерке, отражающее склонность женщин к украшению текста графическими средствами.
Выявленные особенности речевого поведения гимназисток, по всей видимости, лишь отчасти обусловлены гендерно ориентированной прагматикой, которая тесно переплетается с другими (историческими, социокультурными, социобиопсихиче-скими, коммуникативно-ролевыми) факторами, определяющими содержание и форму коммуникации.
Таким образом, эпистолярный нарратив провинциальных гимназисток является ценным материалом для изучения их речевого поведения не только в гендерном, но и в других аспектах, позволяющих высвечивать разные стороны исторических языковых личностей.
Примечания
1 Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ, проект № 20-012-00343 «Линг-воперсонологические портреты жительниц Северного Прикамья на основе региональных эпистоля-риев первой половины XX века».
2 Здесь и далее при цитировании источников сохраняется авторская орфография и пунктуация.
Список литературы
1. Александрова Е.С. К вопросу о гендерных стереотипах в языке // Научный альманах. № 2-4 (16). Тамбов, 2016. С. 210-213.
2. Вязигина Н.В. Гендерная лингвистика и диагностика пола как задача автороведческой экспертизы // Юрислингвистика. № 2 (13). Барнаул, 2013. С. 48-53.
3. Гетте Е.Ю. Основные проблемы изучения гендерного коммуникативного поведения // Вестник Воронежского государственного университета. Серия: Филология. Журналистика. Воронежский государственный университет (Воронеж). № 2, 2010. С. 34-37.
4. Горошко Е.И. Особенности мужского и женского вербального поведения (психолингвистический анализ): дис. ... канд. филол. наук. М., 1996.
5. Горошко Е.И. Гендерная проблематика в языкознании. Ч. 1. Харьков: ХУГИ, 2001. С. 508542.
6. Кирилина А.В. Гендер: лингвистические аспекты. М., 1999. 155 с.
7. Колпакова Л.В. Лексические средства репрезентации эмоций (гендерный аспект) // Вестник Томского государственного педагогического университета. № 7 (172), 2016. С. 96-100.
8. Колпакова Л.В. Проявление гендер ной специфики эмоциональной сферы личности в языке // Вестник Томского государственного педагогического университета. № 6 (195), 2018. С. 62-67.
9. Логунова Н.В., Мазитова Л.Л. Языковая личность в зеркале эпохи (по рукописным и печатным источникам первой половины XX века): материалы и исследования / Н.В. Логунова, Л.Л. Мази-това; науч. ред. Л.Л. Мазитова. Соликамск: РТО СГПИ филиал ПГНИУ: ООО «Типограф», 2019. 273 с.
10. Сеченова Е.Г. Гендерный аспект в политическом дискурсе: частеречные преференции // Казанская наука. № 8, 2016. С. 42-44.
11. ЭАМ - Эпистолярные архивные материалы начала XX века из фондов Соликамского краеведческого музея: фф 7, д. 15; фф 21, д. 48; Ф 108.
THEMATIC GROUP COMMUNICATIVE ACTIONS AND PROCESSES AS A COMPONENT OF THE WORD/LANGUAGE/SPEECH CONCEPT IN ENGLISH IDIOMS
Smaglii V.
Candidate of philological sciences, associate professor, head of the philology department at the Odessa National Maritime University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6222-7652
Abstract
The carried analysis shows that the vast majority of idioms, phraseological units and proverbs considered are figuratively transformed units of English vocabulary. The phenomena of human language, speech behavior in certain communicative situations are covered in the idiomatic field in various ways.
Samples of idiomatic units extracted for thorough analysis were divided into several thematic groups according to availability of certain reference units in the analyzed material. Given these reference units, the following thematic group is singled out.
Keywords: phraseological unit, concept, communication, idiom.
Introduction
We aim to analyze the appropriate layer of English language units, which totality forms a fragment of a naive picture of the world that reflects the idea of the English-speaking ethnic group about the phenomenon of language and speech within the concept of WORD / LANGUAGE / SPEECH.
The obtained observations offer interesting material for comparison with the scientific vision of human language phenomenon, which is covered in other papers.
Scope of the article
Samples of idiomatic units extracted for thorough analysis were divided into several thematic groups according to availability of certain reference units in the analyzed material. Given these reference units, the following thematic group is singled out. In the present paper we will consider the thematic group communicative action and processes.
Main part
The next thematic group of analyzed phraseologies unites (PU) includes PU with the nomination of various communicative actions and processes as a reference unit. In our sample we have 49 relevant reference units used in 165 phrases (including paroemias). Among the reference elements verbs (32 registered words) make up two thirds (65%) and nouns (17 words) amount to one third (35%). The activity of the relevant reference words (i.e. the PU number with them) provides further division of these part-of-speech groups: phraseological units with a reference verb cover 80% (133 PUs) and those with a reference noun make up 20% (32 PUs). Therefore, the average frequency of the reference unit in each subgroup is different: the average frequency of verbs and nouns is Fa = 4.2 and Fa = 2.3 respectively.
The verb subgroup of phraseological units, denoting various communicative actions and processes, contains phraseological units with high-frequency (Fa = 18-10), medium-frequency (Fa = 8-2) and low-frequency (Fa = 1) reference verbs.
The verb talk (Fa = 18) turned out the most frequent, i.e. this reference word is included into 18 different PUs. Phraseological units with it most often cover long and wordy conversations, small talks, for example: to talk a blue streak [speak continuously and at a great length], where long continuous speech (of one person) is denoted by the metaphorical phrase a blue streak (literally blue stripe). This word combination can complement other communicative semantic verbs: to lie / swear a blue streak. The dictionary does not explain why the color blue is mentioned here, but offers a range of synonyms to the noun streak: period, spell, stretch, run.
Long continuous speech is often mentioned by phraseology without any logical basis in its semantics, for example, talk nineteen to dozen [talk incessantly], or sometimes the idiom reflects an ironic, even mocking attitude to verbose empty chatter, such as in a range of synonymic PUs to talk the hind leg off a donkey / to talk a horse's hind leg off / to talk the hind legs off a dog. These idioms in the early XIX century were con-
sidered vulgar and nowadays they are labeled as conversational [talk incessantly (informal); in 1808 talking a horse's hind leg off was described as an old vulgar hyperbole, the version with donkey was current by the mid 19th century]. In all these idioms, the absurdity of the content remains unchanged, despite variations with an animal, whose hind leg (or hind legs) was/were distinguished by chatter: donkey's, horse's or dog's one. The famous love of the English-speaking ethnic group for absurdity (remember traditional British limericks) is clearly traced in such language units.
Another example of such humor is PU [talking through one's hat], which through an imagined situation (to talk through one's hat) denotes the communicative action of talking nonsense, while the speaker claims to be aware of a certain area, but in fact does not understand anything: [talk nonsense; especially on a subject that one professes to be knowledgeable about but in fact is ignorant of]. This expression appeared in the United States in the late XIX century, but at that time it had a slightly different meaning: to threaten, to boast [this began life in the USA, in the late 19th century, with a slightly different meaning from the present one. It then meant to bluster]. Over the course of time, the idiom took on a synonymic form, in which the simple absurd image changed to vulgar and rude: talking through your backside / ass.
Boasting also becomes the subject of phraseology: talk big [talk confidently or boastfully]. At the same time, attention is drawn to situations in which boasting, empty chatter is opposed to actions: talk a good game [talk convincingly yet fail to act effectively]. Its semantic potential implies that human actions are important, and not their words. It is also based on the direct meaning of the noun game [an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun], i.e. activity, which a person is engaged in, is not serious, that's why his or her actions count for little.
The same potential has a paroemia in a form of a statement in the imperative mood Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk [don't boast of smth if you are unwilling or unable to back it up by your actions] that is don't boast about anything if you don't want to or can't do it yourself. Once again we see that the English-speaking usus has a strong "prejudice" against words, speech, if they are opposed to actions.
A humorous version of this opposition is seen in another paroemia: Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it [people are always ready to complain about a problem but never will try to solve it]. The image created by the paroemia is people's attitude to the weather, which (especially in Britain) is quite "far from perfect", in other words, people are always dissatisfied with the weather and complain about it, but never do anything about it. The fundamental impossibility of ordinary citizens to influence the weather is the reason to interpret this paroemia as a continuous joke, which, however, has a generalizing philosophical basis: people tend to complain about the problem and avoid solving it.
The basic verb talk in phraseology expands its right-side context due to adjectives, nouns that change
the final (phraseological) meaning of the phrase, clarifying what is said and how exactly it is said. For example, the noun shop in the right-side context forms PU to talk shop [discuss matters concerning one's work, esp. at a social occasion when this is inappropriate!, to talk about work in an inappropriate situation. Here we observe the use of the noun sememe shop (with zero article), which operates exclusively in phraseological units (set up shop // shut up shop = open // close business). Speech etiquette prevents us to talk about professional matters in a small talk. Violation of this norm is shown in the PU talk shop, the negative evaluative component of its denotation is explained by the definitive feature inappropriate [not suitable or proper in the circumstances].
The meaning of the noun turkey, used in the right-side context of the verb talk in the phraseological unit to talk turkey, is interpreted rather differently. According to the OED dictionary, this PU does not use the noun Turkish (language), which is expected here, but the reinterpreted sememe turkey, which means turkey (poultry). Phraseologisation the word expression to talk turkey resulted in an unexpected (as it often happens in phraseology of any language) meaning: to speak frankly and straightforwardly [discuss smth frankly and straightforwardly]. The ways of formation of such meaning that is "far" from the original are obscured, but the realization of the traditional for phraseology alliteration [t] [k]: ]: talk turkey is traced.
However, there is a phraseological unit with the reference verb to talk and the right-sided adjectival context, which is completely transparent in its contents. The adjective dirty has different meaning among which is the following: [concerned with sex in a lewd or obscene way]. Therefore, the phraseme to talk dirty means to talk about sexual topics in a rough manner [talk about sex in a coarse or salacious way], in the framework of the in-depth definition analysis we turn to the pattern of salacious [conveying undue or inappropriate interest in sexual matters]. A number of defining features extracted in our analysis indicate an extremely negative evaluation charge of this PU: lewd, obscene, coarse, salacious, undue, inappropriate.
Another interesting paroemia for consideration is money talks, it demonstrates the case of the so-called metaphtonymy, i.e. a figure of speech, in which metaphorical and metonymic semantic shifts are intertwined. This paroemia is defined as follows: [wealthy people have great influence]. The metonymic shift occurs in the word money <-wealthy people: the reference of the metonymy rich (people with money) is replaced by the image of money, the next reference to be influential is replaced by the image of speaking, and the whole paroemia simultaneously demonstrates the metaphor of personification: money talks.
Another extremely interesting unit to consider is the paroemia (in the imperative mood) Talk to the hand (cause the face ain't listening). This paroemia is attributed to oral communication, accompanied by a gesture of a vertically outstretched palm, facing the interlocutor in a sign of silence. Phrase Finder dictionary explains this unit and comments on gestures: [(With outstretched vertical palm) Shut up - I've no interest in
hearing what you've got to say]. The speaker expresses his unwillingness to listen to the interlocutor by linguistic (phrase) and kinetic (gesture-kineme) means. The whole remark sounds in a lower casual register (cause=because; ain't = isn't) with pattern of mockery and sarcasm: instead of a direct order to the interlocutor to be silent, because no one is going to listen to him, there is a ridiculous command Talk to my palm (because my the face does not listen to you). The noun _ face in the explanatory part of the remark cause the face ain't listening is a synecdoche replacing the preposition I (I am not listening to you-> my face is not
listening to you). Thus the kinetic gesture is deprived of double sense it directly expresses a prohibition (in this case on speaking).
The high-frequency subgroup includes phrasemes with the reference verb to say (Fa = 17). PUs that implement the recommendation to speak as little as possible and even better to remain silent are the most numerous in this subgroup. For example, paroemia least said, soonest mended [the less you say, the less likely you are to cause trouble], the less you say, the less likely the damage is. The Proverbs and their Meanings dictionary explains that such paroemia is used for response to the interlocutor when he complains, apologizes, argues or evades something [often used to discourage somebody from complaining, apologizing, arguing, or making excuses].
The recommendation to speak as little as possible is also implemented in paroemia, which advises a person to hear everything, see everything and say nothing - Hear all, see all, say nowt [it is sometimes prudent to listen and watch carefully, but say nothing]. The lexical and syntactic structure of this paroemia (three-step parallel construction with contextual synonyms hear, see, say) is an example of antigradation, because parallel structures contain final elements all, all, nowt, which are phonetically close (with common long vowel o:), but the last of the three elements is "unexpected" and is the opposite in value all< -> nowt (everything <->nothing).
The recommendation to refrain from speaking when everything is completely clear is contained in the well-known phraseme it goes without saying [it is too well known or obvious to need to be mentioned]. When everything is said and it makes no sense to continue speaking, PU enough said [there is no need to say more, all is understood] is used.
Life instruction never to give up and fight to the end is expressed in the paroemia Never say die [used to encourage someone not to give up hope in a difficult situation]. The idiomatic nature of the expression derives from the changed form of the free word combination: the direct adverb to the verb say should be made in the form of direct speech, i.e. in quotation marks, moreover, the verb die is in the dictionary first form: it is devoid of the infinitive particle to or any personal formant, while the imperative mood here is wrong, because it is situationally clear that the advice assumes the actor never uttering such a remark to himself/herself. And the most important thing is that the paroemia in indirect way speaks of the need not to give up hope in any situation and not of death (die [stop living]).
Certain PUs with the reference verb to say function as discursive regulators: they induce the speaker's participation in communication, encourage for a certain communicative action, explain his/her own communicative actions. For example, the phraseme say your price [give your opinion or prepared statement] invites the communicator to express his/her position or make a statement. The literal meaning of the phrase name your price is completely reinterpreted.
The ability or inability to take part in a conversation or discussion is reflected in the PU to have smth / nothing to say for yourself [to contribute / fail to contribute to a conversation / discussion]. Another discursive regulator is a PU to mean to say [really admit or intend to say, it serves for clarifying the speaker's illo-cutionary intentions that is what exactly the speaker wants / wanted to say.
The phrase Say cheese, uttered before taking a picture of someone, especially when photographing a group of people, has gained international status. Even translated version of this discursive command preserved the word cheese: Say cheese! It is clear that this is not about the meaning of the word (cheese), but about the orthoepic form of the word cheese, which pronunciation implies a certain position of lips of the speaker, resembling a smile. The dictionary explains this expression as follows: [a photographer's instruction just before taking a picture, in order to make people smile], and then adds that current photographers prefer a different command: Say, one, two, three, where three words in a row (one, two, three) more accurately synchronize the pronunciation by several speakers of the last word three, which contains the same vowel phoneme as the word cheese, and therefore produces the same imitation of a smile: [photographers these days often prefer to use 'Say, one, two, three', as it produces the same grins and makes sure that all the sitters smile at the same time].
As in all other PUs, we observe the opposition of word and deed, word and real state of affairs. Quite cynical in content is the paroemia Do as I say, not as I do, according to which the listener is advised to imitate the words and not the deeds of the speaker, implying the inconsistency between the advice that the speaker offers to someone and the actions he performs: [do what somebody tells or advises you to do rather than what that person actually does himself / herself].
Paroemia What the soldier said isn't evidence distinguishes the difference between what is said and what it really is: [gossip, hearsay, and rumor are not reliable sources of the truth], gossip, hearsay and gossip are unlikely to be inherent in soldier's conversation, but the paroemia offers a visual image of a soldier who communicates just such unreliable information: What the soldier said isn 't evidence. The noun evidence has the meaning [the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid]. So, words (not always) correspond to the state of things, facts. We face an example of an indirect speech act: formally it is an assertive, but for an illocutionary purpose -it is a directive: Do not believe everything that is said to you, it is not always true.
This group also includes an idiom, which from the very beginning has functioned as a discursive regulator, but, when turned into an idiom, lost this functional aspect, becoming a descriptor of a certain type of person. We mean PU wouldn't say boo to a goose [a shy or reticent person]. English-speaking communicants use this phraseme to describe a shy, reserved person. The internal form of this PU is the following: (someone) who is unable to say boo to a goose. The action of driving away someone is based on communicative action to express condemnation, contempt: [an utterance of "boo" is used to show disapproval or contempt]. If a person is not capable of such an action, even in relation to poultry, it somehow characterizes this person.
The verb to speak is a reference for many PUs (Fa = 17), which significant part has already been in the focus of our attention in the previous analytical review, now let's consider the rest of the PUs. Several phrasemes bring to the fore the statement of the frankness of speech, of the expression of their own assessment, opinion or position. For example, let us take a PU to speak one's mind [express one's feelings or opinions frankly], to express one's point of view sincerely. It's worth noting that the phraseme does not have a single component with the meaning [frankly], i.e. expressing one's point of view (speaking one's mind) already implies that it is done frankly. We consider this semantic feature as a manifestation of a certain feature of the identity of speakers belonging to the Anglo-Saxon culture.
A similar message is present in the next PU speak as you find [base your opinion of someone or something purely on personal experience], i.e. judging people and events should be based on one's own experience (acquaintance with them) without relying on other people's judgments. We see how phraseologisation affects the change of grammatical characteristics of words: the verb to find is a transitive verb, and therefore requires a complement in the right-side context. However, the idiom witnesses its separate use, without a complement. Out of all the available meanings of the polysemantic verb to find, the closest to the phraseological one is to perceive something through one's own experience [perceive or experience (something) to be the case].
Regarding the sincerity and frankness of the statements, the English paroemia states that this is typical of children and fools who tell the truth, because they do not know that it would be more profitable or diplomatic to avoid it: Children and fools speak the truth: [children and foolish people have a tendency to say what is true, because they have not learned that it may be advantageous or diplomatic to do otherwise].
There are quite numerous PUs, which are the maxims of proper communication; these are instructions on how to communicate and how not to communicate in order to be successful in various fields. The general advice is paroemia, which calls for restraint in expressing one's thoughts, especially in writing: Think much, speak little, and write less. We observe the technique of descending gradation: three-level parallelism with contextual synonyms think, speak, write and opposition much <—> little, less. The definition is as follows: [it is best to think long and hard about something before
expressing any thoughts about it]. The definition does not reflect the differentiation of oral and written speech, though such opposition is embedded in the paroemia: speak little, write even less.
The following maxim, based on the principle of chiasm, testifies to even the greater value of speech restraint: those who know don't speak; those who speak don't know. While explaining this coined phrase, the dictionary notes: the most talkative speakers are usually the least knowledgeable: [those who talk the most volubly are usually those who know the least about the subject in question]. In addition, the dictionary offers a synonymous proverb Who knows most, speaks least. It is formed on the principle of antithesis.
The following maxim is extremely interesting: Speak softly and carry a big stick, literally it means speak quietly (gently), but have a big stick. The dictionary explains that the maxim refers to the tactics of nonaggressive behavior, which is enhanced by the ability to use force if necessary: [the saying advises the tactics of caution and non-aggression, backed up by the ability to carry out violent action if required]. Further, the dictionary, commenting on this PU, refers to the practice of school teachers, stating that modern teachers, on the contrary, start with the strict discipline and only over a course of time loosen the requirements and soften relations with scholars [the notion being expressed here is the opposite of the tactics employed by every temporary schoolteacher - who begins tough and, when discipline allows it, become more easy-going]]. The opposite extremity of pedagogical activity is called the doctrine of speaking softly [the 'speak softly ...' doctrine, was to begin gently, but hold a decisive weapon in reserve].
A well-known maxim of polite communication is the instruction in conversation with the interlocutor not to touch topics that may be painful for him/her Never speak of rope in the house of a man who has been hanged [be tactful and steer clear of sensitive subjects in the company of people who might be upset or offended by them]. The abstract maxim of politeness is embodied in a vivid image: Do not talk about the rope in the house of a man who was executed by hanging.
The next well known idiom has a Ukrainian equivalent, though with a different image: Speak of the Devil = the wolf was mentioned (and here it is in the house). The Phrase Finder suggests a definition and historical commentary on this idiom [a reference to someone who appears unexpectedly while being talked about], so it is referred to a person who appears unexpectedly when he or she get mentioned in the conversation. Until the XX century its full form speak of the Devil and he will appear had been used more often [prior to the 20th century, the term wasn't meant lightheartedly at all. The full form goes like this - "speak of the Devil and he will appear"]. The phraseme originated in England in the XVI century and is still more commonly used there in the form of 'talk of the Devil' [the phrase originated in England, where it was, and still is, more often given as 'talk of the Devil'. The phrase is old and appears in various Latin and Old English texts from the 16th century].
The next in the frequency descending order is a group of idioms with the reference word to tell (Fa =
12), a third of which has already been described earlier. The rest of the phrasemes fall into several thematic subgroups. The first one is represented by PUs related to the thesis of the need to be true anything: tell it like it is [describe the true facts of a situation no matter how unpleasant they may be], no matter how unpleasant the facts are, tell the truth about them.
An openly religious moralistic message is felt in the paroemia While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil! [tell the truth, even when tempted to lie]. Despite all temptations to lie, tell the truth - this is how the dictionary defines this unit, but it is quite transparent in itself: While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil. Already in the middle of the XVI century paroemia was widely used in English [the preacher Hugh Latimer recorded this as a 'common saying' as early as 1555, in his Twenty Seven Sermons].
There is a group of PUs nominating the manifestation of a common for them aggressively negative attitude to the interlocutor, his remarks, and suggestions: to tell someone where to put smth [angrily or over emphatically reject smth], to tell someone where to get off [angrily rebuke someone]. The definitive analysis of the second degree shows negativism of the given PUs: reject [dismiss as inadequate, inappropriate], rebuke [express sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behavior or actions].
The following PU has ironic coloring: Tell me about it, because this remark of the speaker implies the exact opposite: "I'm well aware of that; you don't have to tell me". This is how the dictionary comments on this PU: [it is a lighthearted, rueful response], and the definitive analysis of the second degree shows that the emotional stress of such a remark is much less than in the previous two analyzed phrases: lighthearted [cheerful and carefree], rueful [expressing sorrow or regret, especially when in a slightly humorous way].
There is a pair of selected antonymic idioms expressing willingness <—> unwillingness to provide certain information. When a person does not want to disclose the source of the information he/she receives, what someone asks/demands, what he/she responds: A little bird told me. The dictionary explains what this means: [a teasing way of saying that you do not intend to divulge how you came to know something]. An animalistic metaphor is used to brighten up a humorous but strict refusal: "How do you know?" - "The little bird told me about it." In Ukrainian a similar answer is also based on the animalistic token: Magpie brought it on its tail.
The opposite intentions of the communicant are manifested in the PU to kiss and tell [publicly retell of one's sexual exploits, often with the aim of revenge or monetary gain], i.e. to reveal information about their sexual adventures with the intention of revenge or monetary reward. It is the practice of resourceful (and shameless) women to offer sexual relations to famous men with the intention of later selling this information to the press.
The dictionary ironically comments on the euphemism of the verb to kiss, because it does not mean only kisses, as well as the "inaccuracy" of the verb to tell, as
the verb to sell would be more accurate, given the purpose of such behavior is commercial - not to tell somebody about something, but to sell information about something [Kiss and tell is of course a euphemism -firstly, when stories of this sort arise we can take it for granted they will include details of more than just kissing. Also, if they are printed in tabloid newspapers, sell would be a more appropriate word than tell]. The dictionary provides a historical reference that such a practice is not a modern know how, but it already took place in the late XVII century, and in modern Britain it has become a separate opportunity for a young woman to build her own career: [it might be thought to be a recent phenomenon, but it dates back to at least the late 17th century. Now in the 21st in the UK at least there is also a new career path for young women, - offering sex to men in the news in order to sell their story later].
The last of the analyzed units of this part of the sample demonstrates the traditional for the AngloSaxon ethnos model of behavior, including communicative aspect, given the model primarily promotes restraint in everything a person does or says: Tell not all you know, nor do all you can. The definition explains [it is good policy not to reveal the full extent of your knowledge or capabilities!. The paroemia's structure is balanced by parallel constructions and inverted word order gives it an archaic coloring, and hence a shade of truth that has been "defended for centuries".
The PU with the references as synonymous verbs (verb nouns) cry, shout, yell, scream (Fa = 11) make up the next subgroup in the descending order. All these words are united by a common seme to say, demand, ask, protest, etc. out loud.
We gathered several PUs in a subgroup on the basis of their common meaning to protest loudly against something: the first of them is cry foul [protest strongly about wrong or injustice], that is to protest vigorously against dishonesty or injustice. According to the dictionary the component foul is used as a fragment of the phrase foul play = dishonest play [foul in this context means foul play, a violation of the rules of a game to which attention is drawn by shouting 'foul!''], i.e. in case of violation of the rules during the game, spectators warn about it by shouting Foul!
Emotional protest is idiomatically referred to as the cry of the soul, literally the cry from the bottom of one's heart cry from the heart [a passionate and honest appeal or protest]. The French equivalent of this idiom is also used in modern English [the French en cri de Coeur has also been in use in English since the early 20th century].
Loud and overly emotional protest is idiomatically denoted by several units: to scream /yell blue murder, to scream bloody murder [make an extravagant and noisy protest]. The hyperbolic nature of the image used is obvious, as it is not a bloody murder, but something less dramatic that the speaker does not like.
To say something out loud is to shout odds [talk loudly and in an opinionated way]. The function of the noun odds in this idiom is not commented on by the dictionary. In our opinion, the sememe odds that is used here means [superiority in strength, power].
To proclaim something solemnly (and loudly) (what has previously been unknown or classified) is reflected in the PU of biblical origin to shout something from the rooftops [talk about something openly and jubilantly, especially something previously kept secret]. The biblical allusion as the source of the idiom is indicated by the dictionary [this phrase is adapted from Luke 12: 3 'that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed up on the house tops'], what was whispered to each other's ears in the closet will now be loudly proclaimed from the roofs of houses. We see the antonymy of the images: closed space of the closet :: open space (roofs of the houses), to whisper in the ear (spoken in the ear) :: to say loudly (proclaimed). As we can see, biblical theses, due to their refined form and deep meaning, are engraved in the cultural memory of the ethnos and get embodied into the phraseological fund of language.
The verbal noun cry in one of its sememes means [a loud excited utterance of a word or words], i.e. shriek. This sememe is a part of a proverb, which again denotes the opposition of words VS deeds, in this case loud words, cries VS benefit from what is said. The PU much cry and little wool is explained as follows: [those who make the most noise, the loudest boasts, or the greatest promises often have the least to offer, are the least productive] = the one who shouts the most, brags the most, promises the most, offers the least and is the least productive. This generalized thesis is embodied in a compact antithetical phrase with a clear image: a lot of noise, but little wool.
A battle cry for the army of cry havoc, according to which the devastation and plunder of the city conquered during the fighting began, was borrowed into Middle English from Old French (Old French crier havot). The OED dictionary writes: [the word havoc was originally used in the phrase cry havoc (Old French crier havot) 'to give an army the order havoc', which was the signal for plundering]. The second degree of the definitive analysis offers the following definitions of havoc [widespread destruction], to plunder [steal goods from (a place or person), typically using force and in a time of war or civil disorder].
In modern English, those distant times echo the phraseological unit to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. It merits its attentive considering the second component lets lip the dogs of war. The Phrase Finder dictionary explains: [the military order Havoc! was a signal given to the English military forces in the Middle Ages to direct the soldiery (in Shakespeare's parlance 'the dogs of war') to pillage and chaos]. That is, 'the dogs of war' = the soldiery. Understanding that soldiers, following Shakespeare, are identified with dogs of war, it is easier to understand let slip [the 'let slip' is an allusion to the slip collars that were used to restrain dogs and were easily 'let slip' to allow the dogs to run and hunt]. These are special collars that easily slip off the dogs, hence one of the meanings to slip [to set the dogs free]. Therefore, permission for looting, burgling, violence (mainly in times of war) is indicated by the relevant PU.
The next PU, unlike the previous one, is well known outside the English-speaking ethnic group: to
cry wolf [call for help when it is not needed; raise false alarm]. Understanding of this idiom is based on the background knowledge of the speaker: in different ethnic cultures there is a fable about a reckless shepherd who jokingly called several times for help with the cries of the Wolf!, and was punished by the fact that when the wolf actually appeared, no one ran at the shepherd's cries for help and the wolf killed all the cattle. The didactic content of the fable is almost "vanished" in the PU to cry wolf, which only nominates a situation of false alarm and unreasonable request for help (call for help when it is not needed).
A separate sememe of the polysemantic verb to cry has the meaning of crying [shed tears, typically as an expression of distress, or sorrow]. This sememe is a key one in two phraseological units: to cry over spilt/ spilled milk and to cry for the moon. The first one means to mourn about what has happened and what cannot be reversed [lament or make a fuss about a misfortune that has happened and cannot be changed or reversed]. This PU is a fragment of the paroemia It's no use crying over spilt milk. Fragmentation of form does not interfere with the integrity of content and phraseological unit has the same meaning as a complete proverb.
The second PU with the reference verb to cry (to shed tears, to ask for something with tears) reflects the paradoxical thinking of the English ethnos, which is mirrored in the phraseological fund of the language. The request for something fundamentally impossible is embodied in the phraseological unit to cry for the moon [ask for what is unattainable or impossible], because it is clear that to get what you want - i.e. the moon from the sky - is impossible, no matter how anyone asks.
The verb to write /rewrite as a reference in different phraseological units has a frequency of FA = 10. In most cases, it is a process (and result) of writing, i.e. fixation of letters, words, etc. on a surface (for example, on paper) to store relevant information. If the information is devoid of value or insignificant for the speaker, he can express it with the paroemia Nothing to write home about [of little interest or value]. It is clear that the content of this unit goes far beyond the direct meaning = correspondence of the speaker with someone who stays at home and it is related to a wide range of topics, which the speaker evaluates as important / unimportant ones.
When the issue of communication is over, it can be said with the colloquial phraseme That's all she wrote. The process of phraseologisation a free phrase changes the lexical and grammatical characteristics of its components: in this case any reference to the female communicant (she) is lost, this semantic element in the PU is completely eliminated, and the verb component wrote, firstly, loses the lexical semantics of writing, which is replaced by the semantics of notification, and secondly, loses the grammatical reference to the past. As a result, the whole PU is defined as follows: [there is / was nothing more to be said about a matter].
The field of retail gave us an expression to write one's own ticket. The noun ticket means the price tag on the product [a label attached to a retail product giving its price]. A person who is authorized to write price
tags on his own (in the sense of determining the price of goods), - is, obviously, to some extent an influential person. On the basis of this visual image there is a phraseological transformation of the phrasal semantics: to
write one's own price tags-> to dictate one's own
conditions: to write one's own ticket [dictate one's own
terms] <-terms [conditions under which an action
may be undertaken or agreement reached].
The phraseme with a worldview philosophy in its background The moving finger writes is of huge interest. A vivid visual image of a finger that keeps writing (all deeds that are done by a person and all his/her responsibilities) [expresses the notion that whatever one does in one's life is one's own responsibility and cannot be changed]. Based on the content of this PU, interpreted by the dictionary, it contains three important semantic components: (1) for all, without exception, his/her activities, (2) a person is fully responsible for everything, (3) nothing can be changed. The original source of this thesis is considered to be Omar Khayyam, in particular quatrain 6 in the collection of his poems (XI century): The moving finger writes: and having writ Moves on: Nor all thy Piety, nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. English translation was done by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayym.
The following PU with the reference word write has a similar generalizing philosophical meaning: The writing is on the wall [there are clear signs that something unpleasant or unwelcome is going to happen!. Literally, the phraseological unit says: the inscription (is, appeared) on the wall, the implication is as follows: there are obvious signs that there are unpleasant and inevitable events ahead. The origins of this phraseological unit are found in the Bible: [this phrase comes from the biblical story of Belshazzar's feast, at which a disembodied hand appeared and wrote a message on the wall foretelling the fall of the Babylonian kingdom to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:5, 25-8)]. The Book of Idioms from A to Z explains that it is a biblical story about a feast held by King Bel-shazzar of Babylon, during which handwritten inscriptions appeared on the wall. The inscription announced that the kingdom of Babylon would fall and be conquered by the Medes and Persians.
Previously considered phraseological units were based on the fact that the writing recorded something inevitable, unchanging. And PUs with a reference verb to rewrite, on the contrary, promote the action aimed at changing what has already been written. This is the idiom t to rewrite history [select or interpret events from the past in a way that suits your own particular purposes], the implication is to interpret historical events in the desired perspective, not as they are written in history.
Another PU with the same reference unit is to rewrite record books (sport and plays) [break a record or several records]. The idiom refers to the events of sports life: beating a record involves recording a new (established) record, and therefore making changes to the book of records, "rewriting" its page.
One of the sememes of the verb to write refers to creative writing, book writing [compose a text for written or printed reproduction or publication]. It is used in a paroemia with a rather sarcastic coloring; the sarcasm is aimed at book reviewers, who are thought by people as those who have failed to become writers. The paroemia sounds like this: He who would write and can't write can surely review [people who become critics are those who lack the talent to be novelists, dramatists, or other kinds of artists in their own right]. The dictionary Proverbs and their Meanings, which registers this paroemia, commenting on its use, notes that this judgment is expressed in response to a critical review that the writer did not like: [used in response to a bad review].
Summary
A fragment of the naive picture of the world reflected in the phraseological fund of the English language witnesses the skeptical attitude of speakers to empty words that are not backed up by actions: paroe-mias attribute to a person not to say unnecessary words if he or she cannot prove them with appropriate actions (Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk). Recommendations for correct communicative behavior, according to the English-speaking paroemia, say to be vigilant and to keep tongue Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open, while a too talkative and frivolous speaker gets a derogatory definition (all mouth and no trousers). In general, there is an axiologically colored opposition of the deeds (+) VS words (-) (Actions speak louder than words).
References
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