English history and culture as a vertical context of english phraseology

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Vladimirskiy State University named after the Stoletov brothers

Владимирский государственный университет имени А.Г. и Н.Г. Столетовых

English history and culture as a vertical context of english phraseology

Английская история и культура как вертикальный контекст английской фразеологии

Dementyeva A.S., Volkova E.Yu., Fedulenkova T.N.

Дементьева А.В., Волкова Е.Ю., Федуленкова Т.Н.

Vladimir, Russia

Владимир, Россия

There is no doubt that it is due to the ability of phraseological units, in general, and idioms, in particular, to accumulate and retain socio-linguistic information that they present an inexhaustible source of knowledge in the field of country-study and a reliable means of cross-cultural understanding [3, p. 11]. And while studying phraseological units, students enrich their stock of vocabulary on the one hand, and get to know many interesting facts from the history, literature, culture etc. of the native speakers of English, on the other hand, as a result [5: 125].

And in the course of linguistic and didactic semantization, idioms and other phraseological units reveal their so-called vertical context, i.e. accumulated and coded, by means of metaphorical transference of components, information. For example, the idiom baker's dozen is used in modern English in the meaning 'thirteen', e.g.:

There were twelve occupants of the Maud Long Medical Ward (aged people, female). The ward sister called them Baker's Dozen, not knowing that this is thirteen, but having only heard the phrase. (M. Spark, "Memento Mori").

It is not difficult to gather from the context given above that the ward sister does not understand the meaning of the set expression she uses since it has been transformed. The more so it is interesting for Russian speaking students of English to find out the origin of the idiom which actually dates back to the old English custom of punishing bakers if they sold loaves of bread below a lawful weight. To each dozen, or twelve, loaves that were sold, therefore, an extra loaf was added free, to keep the weight above the lawful standard. Teaching practice shows that on receiving that information about the origin of the idiom the student never fails to recognize its meaning and is enabled to use it adequately in speech [1].

Besides there was another old English custom according to which in the houses of rich and important people salt was formerly kept in a large container placed in the middle of the long dining table. Guests of honour at dinner sat between this container and the head of the table. That custom evidently caused the appearance of the two idioms: to sit above the salt having the meaning 'in a position of honour' and its antonym to sit below the salt with the meaning 'not in a position of honour', e.g.: Since his rudeness to his sister-in-law, Donald no longer sits above the salt when he visits his brother at Maybrick Hall.

Tarkington, the prince of popular novelists, was never taken seriously - in critical circles he sat below the salt... (V.W. Brooks, "The Confident Years: 1885-1915").

And the origin of the idiom to dance attendance on somebody is connected with the old English tradition that urged the bride to dance with any guest who invited her to dance at the wedding party. At present the idiom is used in the meaning 'to give much attention to a person or thing, esp. in an effort to please', e.g.:

About him flock the courties, great nobles and ecclesiastics, now deprived both of their powers and their duties, and with nothing to do but to dance attendance at court. (U. Sinclair, "Mammonart").

The idiom to cut somebody off with a shilling dates back to the old English custom demanding to leave a person only one shilling as a heritage in order to show that the deprivation was deliberate. In modern English the idiom is used in the meaning 'to leave or to arrange to leave a person especially a member of one's family little or no money when one dies', e.g.:

It was still not unheard of for an angry parent to cut off his son with a shilling or to tell his daughter... never to darken his door again. (W.S. Maugham, "Cakes and Ale").

The students get to know much interesting information about some other habits and ways, customs and traditions of old times in England studying the idioms: to beat the air (meaning: to make efforts that are in vain), to rob Peter to pay Paul (meaning: to take from one to give to another, both being in equal circumstances, thereby not altering or improving the situation), a good wine needs no bush (meaning: anything of good quality will become known and appreciated on its own merits and should not need to be advertised or boasted about), etc. and that contributes greatly to their understanding of the circumstances under which this or that idiom may be used.

Quite a definite role in the etymology of phraseological units play beliefs and legends, the students' appeal to which helps them to find out the features of motivation of some idioms and thus to focus their meaning in modern English. For example, semantic decipherment of the genetic prototype of the idiom to kiss the Blarney Stone is found in the legend narrating about an inscribed stone in the castle wall of Blarney, near Cork in Ireland, kissing which is supposed to give one the ability to persuade, praise or deceive by charming talk. Then it appears natural that nowadays the idiom has the meaning 'to have the ability or intention to flatter, persuade or deceive people with one's talk', e.g.:

"Anna... lemon pie! You knew I was coming!" "Go on with you, been kissing the Blarney stone again, eh?" "When you make lemon pies a man can find this house blindfolded from a mile away". (D. Carter, "Fatherless Sons").

Getting acquainted with some other beliefs and legends of old England leads the students to better understanding the meaning of the idioms they gave rise to: someone's star is in the ascendant (meaning: a person's power, good fortune, etc., is increasing), halcyon days (meaning: times that are remembered as being happy, contented, or perfect), borrowed plumes (meaning: rather old-fashioned fine clothes, social advantages, a reputation, etc., that a person has no right to possess), etc.

The students are enabled to penetrate deeper into the meaning of English idioms by means of studying some facts of English life or the so-called English realities. Thus, reading the defining dictionary the students get to know that the idiom born within the sound of Bow bells is defined in the following way: 'born in the district of London round Bow Church, Cheapside, and hence a true Cockney'. The context may also be very vivid:

Miranda. I was born in the gutter within the sound of Bow Bells. I'm a London Cockney and I'm proud of it. (N. Coward, "Relative Values").

But the context is not so vivid for strange bed-fellows with such a vague attributive component as bed': semantization phraseological english

Lawrence was published with the Georgians, but there could have been no stranger bed-fellow. (W.R. McAlpine, "Contemporary English Literature").

And here are of great help the encyclopaedia data informing that in the middle ages single beds were a great rarity in England and therefore people of one sex often slept together even in the middle of XVII century. Knowing that, it is much easier for the student to comprehend the meaning of the idiom: 'people, or things, one would not expect to find close together, or to be closely associated with each other, because of their very different nature, uses, habits etc.'.

The origin of many English idioms is connected with the historical events that took place in England. For example the idiom Queen Anne is dead (meaning: your news is stale; everybody knows this already) alludes to the historical fact of Queen Anne's reign in 1665-1714. The idiom the three tailors of Tooley Street (meaning: a small group of people thinking they are representatives of the whole nation) is referred to a certain historical event described by the English politician G. Canning (1770-1827) and read as follows: three tailors of Tooley Street appealed to Parliament with the petition beginning with "We, the people of England..." The meaning of the idiom a Florence Nightingale - a devoted nurse - becomes clear to the students when they get to know that it originates from the British nurse, also known as the Lady with the Lamp, who served in the military hospital at Scutari, during the Crimean War, 18541856, e.g.:

"I only hope you're feeling better," he said. "But I'm sure you are, with so charming a Florence Nightingale to attend to you". (A. Wilson, "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes").

English cultural life and education gave rise to many phraseological units the study of which contributes to mutual understanding of the Russians and the English [4: 247]. Thus the idiom the three Rs came from the first and most important things a person is taught at school - 'reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic' - and is used now in the meaning 'first essentials in education'. And spreading psychological knowledge among population brought about the idiom a Freudian slip with the meaning 'a speaker's unintentional mistake revealing his true thoughts'. The names of British text-book writers and scientists gave life to the idioms: accoring to Cocker having the meaning 'exactly, observing all the rules', the Admirable Crichton having the meaning 'an educated person, a learned man', etc.

Summing it up we would like to press the point that phraseology is the salt of the language, it is the quintessence of the folk wisdom and experience which is coded by means of different types of meaning-transference (metaphore, metonomy, hyperbole, synecdoche, etc.) and which is retained by the genetic prototypes of the idioms in the form of the so-called vertical context [2, p. 134].

References

1. Федуленкова Т.Н. Английская фразеология: лингводидактический аспект / Московский пед. гос. ун-т. - М., 2004. - 82 с. - Библиогр. 150 назв. - Рукопись деп. в ИНИОН РАН № 58972 от 25.11.2004 г.

2. Федуленкова Т.Н. Вертикальный контекст как форма существования социокультурной информации // Культурно-языковые контакты: Материалы зон. межвуз. конф. - Владивосток: Дальневосточ. гос. ун-т, 1999. - С. 134-145.

3. Fedulenkova T. A new approach to the clipping of communicative phraseological units // Ranam: European Society for the Study of English: ESSE 6 - Strasbourg 2002 / Ed. P.Frath & M.Rissanen. - Strasbourg: Universitй Marc Bloch, 2003. - Vol. 36. - P. 11-22.

4. Fedulenkova T. Idioms in Business English: Ways to Cross-cultural Awareness // Domain-specific English: textual practices across communities and classrooms / Giuseppina Cortese & Philip Riley (ed.). - Bern; Berlin; Bruxelles; Frankfurt am Mein; New York; Oxford; Wien: Lang, 2002. - P. 247-269.

5. Fedulenkova T. Isomorphism and Allomorphism of English, German and Swedish Phraseological Units Based on Metaphor // Phraseology 2005: The many faces of Phraseology: Proceedings of an interdisciplinary conference. - Louvain-la-Neuve, 2005. - P. 125-128.

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