‫‪ J. Edu. Sci., Vol. (20) No. (3) 2013 ‬‬
‫– ”‪“Spill the Beans of Idioms‬‬
‫‪A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation‬‬
‫‪of English Idioms‬‬
‫‪Dr. Huda F. Halawachy‬‬
‫‪Department of English / College of Arts‬‬
‫‪University of Mosul‬‬
‫‪Received‬‬
‫‪24 / 10 / 2011‬‬
‫‪Accepted‬‬
‫‪01 / 02 / 2012‬‬
‫اﻟﻣﺳﺗﺧﻠص‬
‫إن اﻟﻣـﺻطﻠﺢ ﻋﺑـﺎرة ﻻ ﯾـﺗم ﻣﻌﻧﺎﻫـﺎ ﺑوﺳــﺎطﺔ ﺗرﺟﻣـﺔ ﺣرﻓﯾـﺔ ﻟﻬـﺎ‪ ،‬وﺑــدﻻً ﻣـن ذﻟـك ﻓﺈﻧﻬـﺎ ﺗــﺿم‬
‫ﻣﻌﻧﻰ ﻣﺟﺎزﯾـﺎً ﯾﻔﻘﻬـﻪ ﻣﺗﻛﻠﻣـو اﻟﻠﻐـﺔ اﻷم ﻓـﻲ ﺛﻘﺎﻓـﺔ ﻣﻌﯾﻧـﺔ ﺑـذاﺗﻬﺎ‪ .‬وﯾﺣـﺎول اﻟﺑﺣـث اﻟﺣـﺎﻟﻲ‬
‫ﺑﯾن ﺟﻧﺑﺎﺗﻬﺎ‬
‫ً‬
‫ﺳﺑر أﻏوار اﻟﻣﺻطﻠﺣﺎت اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾﺔ ﺑﺎﻻﺳـﺗﻧﺎد إﻟـﻰ ﻋﯾﻧـﺔ واﺳـﻌﺔ‪ .‬وﻗـد ﻛـﺎن ﻟﺗﺣﻠﯾـل اﻟﻌﯾﻧـﺔ اﻟﻣـﺳﺗﻌﻣﻠﺔ‬
‫ـﺿﻼ ﻋـن ذﻟـك ﻓـﺈن ﻫـذا‬
‫ﻓﺿل ﻓـﻲ إﻟﻘـﺎء ﻧظـرة ﻋـن ﻛﺛـب ﻋﻠـﻰ اﻟﺗﻌـﺎﺑﯾر اﻻﺻـطﻼﺣﯾﺔ اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾـﺔ‪ .‬وﻓ ً‬
‫اﻟﺑﺣ ــث ﯾﻬ ــدف إﻟ ــﻰ وﺻ ــف اﻟﻣ ــﺻطﻠﺣﺎت اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾ ــﺔ ﻗ ــدر ﺗﻌﻠ ــق اﻷﻣ ــر ﺑﺎﻷوﺟ ــﻪ اﻟﻧﺣوﯾ ــﺔ واﻟﻣﻌﻧ ــﻰ‬
‫واﻟﻣؤﺛرات اﻟﺛﻘﺎﻓﯾـﺔ اﻟﺗـﻲ ﻗـد ﺗﻔرزﻫـﺎ ﻫـذﻩ اﻟﻣـﺻطﻠﺣﺎت‪ .‬ﺗ ّـم ﺗﺣﻠﯾـل )‪ (111‬ﻣـن اﻟﺗﻌـﺎﺑﯾر اﻹﺻـطﻼﺣﯾﺔ‬
‫ـﺎء ﻋﻠـ ــﻰ اﻻﻓﺗ ارﺿـ ــﺎت اﻵﺗﯾـ ــﺔ‪ (1) :‬إن اﻟﻣـ ــﺻطﻠﺣﺎت ذات طﺑﯾﻌـ ــﺔ زﺋﺑﻘﯾـ ــﺔ أي أﻧﻬـ ــﺎ ﻻ‬
‫اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾ ــﺔ ﺑﻧـ ـ ً‬
‫ﺗﺧ ــﺿﻊ ﻟﻘﺎﻋ ــدة ﻣﺣ ــددة ﺗﺣﻛﻣﻬ ــﺎ ﻣ ــن ﻧﺎﺣﯾ ــﺔ اﻟ ــﺷﻛل واﻟﺗرﻛﯾ ــب‪ (2) .‬إن ﺗﺗﺑ ــﻊ أﺻ ــول اﻟﻣ ــﺻطﻠﺣﺎت‬
‫ﯾﻌﯾن ﻋﻠـﻰ ﻓﻬـم ﻣﻌﻧﺎﻫـﺎ ﻓـﻲ ﺛﻘﺎﻓـﺔ ﻣﻌﯾﻧـﺔ‪ .‬وﻗـد أظﻬـرت اﻟﻧﺗـﺎﺋﺞ أن اﻟﻣـﺻطﻠﺣﺎت اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾـﺔ ﻻ ﺗﺗﺣـدد‬
‫ﺑﺈطـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــﺎر ﺛﺎﺑـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــت واﻟـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــﺳﺑب ﯾﻌـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــود إﻟـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــﻰ أن ﻫـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــذﻩ اﻟﻣـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــﺻطﻠﺣﺎت‬
‫ﻻ ﺗﺗﺣــدد ﻟﻐوﯾــﺎً وﺣــﺳب ﺑــل ﺛﻘﺎﻓﯾــﺎً أﯾــﺿﺎً ﻋﻠــﻰ اﻟــرﻏم ﻣــن أن اﻟﺑﺣــث اﻟﻣﻘــدم ﺟــﺎء ﺑوﺻــﻔﻪ ﻣﺣﺎوﻟــﺔ‬
‫ﻟﻠوﺻول إﻟﻰ ﺗﻘﺳﯾم ﻧﺣوي‪ ،‬دﻻﻟـﻲ‪ ،‬ﺗـداوﻟﻲ ﻟﻬـذﻩ اﻟﻣـﺻطﻠﺣﺎت‪ .‬وﯾﻘـدم اﻟﺑﺣـث ﺟﻣﻠـﺔ ﻣـن اﻟﻣﻘﺗرﺣـﺎت‬
‫اﻟﺗﻲ ﻗد ُﺗﻌﯾن ﻣﺗﻌﻠﻣﻲ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻹﻧﻛﻠﯾزﯾﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﺣدﯾد اﻟﻣﺻطﻠﺣﺎت وﻛﯾﻔﯾـﺔ اﺳـﺗﺧداﻣﻬﺎ‪ .‬وﺗﺑﻘـﻰ اﻟﺗﻌـﺎﺑﯾر‬
‫اﻻﺻطﻼﺣﯾﺔ ﻣﯾداﻧﺎً ﻣﻠؤﻩ اﻟﻣﻔﺎﺟﺂت ﻟﻠﺑﺎﺣﺛﯾن واﻟدارﺳﯾن ﻋﻠﻰ ﺣد ﺳواء‪.‬‬
‫‪ABSTRACT‬‬
‫‪An idiom is a phrase or a clause whose meaning, mostly, cannot be‬‬
‫‪deduced from the literal definition; it refers instead to a figurative‬‬
‫‪meaning which is well-mastered by the native speakers in one particular‬‬
‫‪culture. The present paper is geared towards exploring English idioms on‬‬
‫‪the basis of a large corpus. The analysis of usage data provides an‬‬
‫‪25‬‬
“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
approximate insight concerning English idiomatic expressions. This paper
also aims at providing a description of idioms which accounts for the
syntactic structure, meaning and cultural effects on idioms. (111) English
idiomatic expressions analysed herein rest on the following assumptions:
(1) Idioms have a mercury-like nature; it is not easy to find a rule that
embodies all idioms as far as form and structure are concerned. (2)
Tracing back the origin of idioms helps to grasp the meaning of idioms in
one single culture. Results show that though the present paper is an
attempt to come closer to a syntactic, semantic and pragmatic typology of
idioms, still idioms cannot be shaped due to the fact that they are not only
linguistically-based but also culturally-based, i.e. they have an ad hoc
usage. The paper also provides some suggestions on how to master
idioms on the part of English foreign learners. Idioms remain but a field
which is full of surprises for researchers and scholars.
1.1 Introduction
There is nothing strange in the fact that each language provides
means to coin out its substance, and English is not an exception. One of
these means is vocabulary. If we just think about the number of words or
expressions which are used in our daily-life encounters, the different
situations in which the words are used, or even the interlocutors’
messages which convey various meanings, we can conclude that
vocabulary is very powerfully used to express and distinguish meaning.
Dictionaries appear to be concerned with stating meanings of
words and it is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the word is one of the
basic units of language. Yet, some difficulties may arise. Let us consider
the following example:
(1a) She has a tongue. (McMordie, 1966: 5)
This sentence does not give us much information though we are aware of
the meaning of each single word. But, according to the common use of
English, this sentence is said to mean:
(1b) She is a scold.
Sometimes we understand every word in a text, not only in a
sentence, but still we fail to grasp what the text is all about. This might be
due to a certain type of expressions called idioms. An example will
illustrate this:
Sam is a real cool cat. He never blows his stack and
hardly ever flies off the handle. What’s more, he
knows how to get away with things… Well, of course,
he is getting on, too. His hair is pepper and salt, but he
knows how to make up for lost time by taking it
easy…
(Makkai, 1975: iv)
26
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
Although we know the literal meaning of the words cool ‘not very warm’,
cat ‘the familiar domestic animal’, blow ‘exhale air with force’, stack ‘a
pile of something’, handle ‘the part of an object designed to hold by hand’
and so forth, we still cannot understand the text as a whole, because this
basic dictionary information alone will not give us the meaning of the
forms involved. A translation of this highly idiomatic English text, into a
more formal one would be like this:
Sam is really a calm person. He never loses control of
himself and hardly ever becomes too angry.
Furthermore, he knows how to manage his business
financially by using a few tricks… Needless to say, he,
too, is getting older. His hair is beginning to turn grey,
but he knows how to compensate for wasted time by
relaxing.
(Makkai, 1975: v)
So, such difficulties are due to certain types of lexical items which
are idioms.
What is an idiom, then? We can simply say that it is a group of
words that work together to make a semantic complex which then means
something different from the individual words of the idiom when they
stand alone. It is clear that the way in which the words are put seems to be
odd, illogical or even grammatically incorrect.
Many idiomatic phrases or even clauses are significant in everyday
life of English native speakers. Thus, certain idioms are used in the
scientific fields, others are used in politics, and some others are used in
military and so on. Even in writing literature, some writers use idioms in
their literary works(1).
1.2 Idioms: Reasons behind Emergence
As we have mentioned earlier in (1.1), idioms are not a separate
part of English; rather, they are an essential part of its general vocabulary.
It is important to trace back the development of idioms in terms of the
development of English.
Generally speaking, language is a living thing. Yet, things grow
and change, and so does language. English language belongs to the IndoEuropean family which consists of a collection of vocabulary of
reconstructed and theoretical linguistic forms. Vocabulary, then, grows
continuously with new development in knowledge. New ideas must be
labeled, so new names are needed. In most cases, most new words in
English come from specialized fields like science and technology,
psychology, politics and economics (See, Seidle and McMordie, 1978: 1).
Also, it should be noted that those new ideas got by the speakers of
English, are not only expressed by new words, or those words which
(1)
Dickens is one of the writers who used idioms much in his works (See Collins,
1958: ix).
27
“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
already exist. Sometimes, the combination of two or three existing words
does so. For instance, the words wage and freeze are well known, yet the
idea of a wage-freeze came into English a few years ago.
Moreover, the attitude of the users of language in general, is also
becoming more flexible. In this sense, words which were considered to be
slang(2) in the past may be more acceptable in present-day English. Such
words are now considered common, be they colloquial or informal. The
following example is a good candidate to be browned off with somebody
was a slang in the past (meaning to be bored with or irritated by
somebody). Since the slang expression of the same meaning, namely to be
cheesed with somebody came into English, browned off has generally risen
in status. Thus, now it is considered by most people to be informal.
Another key-word which must be mentioned here is the situation.
Some words which exist can also be used in particular situations. Usually,
‘to lock someone out’ means (to lock a door in order to prevent someone
from entering). In industrial contexts, the verb is used to mean something
else; that is, the employers refuse to let the workers return to their place
of work until they stop protesting(3).
It is worth noting that English, and especially American English, is
very rich in idiomatic expressions. In this sense, Seidle and McMordie
(Ibid.: 4) state that:
[I]n fact, it is difficult to speak or write English
without using idioms. An English native speaker is
very often not aware that he is using an idiom,
perhaps does not even realize that an idiom which he
uses is grammatically incorrect.
But why this heavy use of idioms? As English native speakers
“…develop new concepts, [they] need new expressions
for them, but instead of creating a brand new word
from the sounds of the language, [they] use some
already existent words and put them together in a new
sense”(4)
(Makkai, 1975: vi).
(2)
For Burke’s (1991: vii), ‘[s]lang encompasses “secret” words and idioms that are
consistently used in books, magazines, televisions, movies, songs, American
homes, etc. and generally are reserved only for native speakers’. “Slang falls into
very separate categories: suitable and proper as well as obscene and vulgar” (Ibid:
ix). A Slang must be distinguished from colloquialism which is “…considered to
be a characteristic of or only appropriate for ordinary, familiar or informal
conversation rather than formal speech or writing… (such as “ye’all” or “gonna” or
“wanna”)…” (Via the net1: 1).
(3)
For details, see Seidle and McMordie (1978: 2-4).
(4)
As far as American English is concerned, idioms with food names are prevalent and
the category of fruits and vegetables are mostly popular (see Tang, 2007: 83 and
Burk, 1991: 43, respectively).
28
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
1.3 Idioms: Definition
In the main literature on the topic, different scholars and
grammarians have given idioms different definitions. Yet, all agree that
what is essential to an idiom is that its meaning cannot be deduced from
its grammatical structure. Healey (1968: 71 cited in Casas and Campoy,
1995: 44), for instance, defines an idiom as “any group of words whose
meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of the individual words”.
For Lehrer (1974: 184), an idiom is “a set of words whose meaning is not
predicted from the parts”. Idioms are also said to be “groups of words
with set meaning that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate
meaning of the parts” (Bolinger, 1975: 100). Makkai (1975: iv) too
stresses this point further considering an idiom as “… the assigning of a
new meaning to a group of words which already have their own meaning”
(one can refer to Hockett, 1958; Katz and Postal, 1983; Fraser, 1970,
etc.cited in Casas and Campoy,1995:44 on the same point)(5).
1.4 Research Problem
The present study investigates three research questions:
1. Do all English idioms undergo similar syntactic rules in terms of
their structure and classification?
2. Is it possible to assign the meaning of various idioms equally?
3. Building on (Q.2 above), does the origin help to add some cues to
assign the meaning of certain idiomatic expressions?
1.5 Goals, Corpus, and Methods
The present study aims to achieve the following: to explore how
English idiomatic expressions are problematic from three perspectives;
syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. To achieve the aim of the study,
(111)(6) idioms have been chosen from the available sources and the web
sites pertinent to the subject under investigation. As we intended to
present a detailed investigation on idioms, a synthetic model is needed.
So, we shall greatly benefit from the available literature. Following Seidle
and McMordie’s (1978) model as far as the syntactic analysis is
concerned, we find it possible to investigate the corpus semantically
relying on the available search. For the pragmatic part, we depend heavily
on Zhagh’s study (2007).
(5)
(6)
For cognitive linguists, such definitions seem to be unsatisfactory since they treat
idioms as symbolic units – like other linguistic units – which associate a
phonological representation with a semantic representation (cf. Taylor, 2002: n.p.
cited in Stathi, 2006: 27).
We find it unnecessary to document the corpus of idioms investigated in the paper
since they are available in the source, namely the internet and published books and
journals.
29
“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
1.6 A Brief Account of the Background
The overwhelming view is that the history of investigating idioms
and idiomaticity issues is relatively short. It is the late 1980s and 1990s
which brought about results of great interest. But does this mean there are
no other studies conducted in the remote past? The answer is a
resounding NO given by Kavka and Zybert (U.D.) in their fascinating
paper “Glimpses on the History of Idiomaticity Issues”. In (section 4.1),
true pioneers in the field are mentioned deservedly in the idiomatology
history like Logan P. Smith who published a book in 1925 entitled Words
and Idioms, Murat H. Roberts, the author of “The Science of Idioms”
(1944). When discussing the present attempts, George W. Grace (1981)
was the first to use the term “idiomatology”. One could find a taxonomy
of a number of unusual structures that are grouped under the label
“idiomatology in chapter 4 as ‘fifty-cent cigar’, ‘by and large’, ‘kick the
bucket’, etc.”(7).
Since the present paper aims at unfolding three different aspects of
idioms, viz. syntactic, semantic and pragmatic, it is more legitimate then
to review in brief some attempts that match the analysis of the corpus.
1.6.1 Working on Idioms in Syntax
Idioms have been studied in the long run of English syntax by
grammarians, and it seems that the problem of idioms is significant in the
issue of word formation. There are the derivatives – words formed by the
use of suffixes – which differ from the grammatical formation in that they
are not regular either in form or meaning. To make the picture more
revealing, consider ‘boyish’, ‘girlish’, ‘childish’, *‘dogish’, and *’catish’.
The first three items are regular in form and meaning whereas the last two
are not. In what follows, we wish to shed light on some basic syntactic
aspects of idioms shown by scholars in the field.
1.6.1.1 A Closer Look at Idioms Taxonomy
Different types of idioms exist in English, and there must be a way
to classify these items to facilitate identifying and learning them. As such,
grammarians, linguists and educators have made repeated attempts over
years to categorize idiomatic expressions. There are, definitely, some
distinct categories. Among the most popular classifications are these:
Makkai’s classification (1975) which includes (a) “Lexemic Idioms” are
idioms which correlate with the familiar parts of speech. So, ‘get away
with’, ‘pepper and salt’, ‘white house’, and ‘like the breeze’ (meaning:
easily or without effort) are lexemic idioms since they are verbal,
nominal, adjectival, and adverbial, respectively, (b) “Phraseological
(7)
For full details, readers may refer to Kavka and Zybert (U.D.: 54-66).
30
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
Idioms” are an important type of idioms; they are often an entire clause in
length as in ‘to fly off the handle’ (meaning: lose control of oneself).
They do not readily correlate with a given grammatical part of speech and
require a paraphrase longer than a word, (c) “Sayings and Proverbs”(8)
which is a large class of idioms and many of them are originated from
some well-known literary source or came to us from the earliest English
speaker. For instance, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and ‘Boys
will be boys’, represent sayings and proverbs, respectively.
As for Lattey (1986), idioms are classified into three types: (a)
according to “grammatical type”, e.g., ‘take back’ (verb-adverb idiom),
(b) according to “the concept of emotion portrayed”, e.g., “tell someone a
tall tale”, and (c) according to “the image or the picture drawn by the
idioms” as in: ‘She lost her head’.
Lehrer’s classification (1974) includes the following two types: (a)
“phrasal idioms” as in ‘kick the bucket’ and ‘red herring’ and (b)
“compound idioms” as in ‘black berry’ and ‘overcoat’.
1.6.1.2 On Grammatical Restrictions of Idioms
Idiomatic expressions are not simply frozen idioms. It should be
noted that frozen idioms are those idioms which do not permit any change
within the constituents (Ibid.: 184). They differ with respect to the
syntactic transformation they can undergo. In other words, there is a
number of grammatical restrictions that marshal the idiomatic expressions
in terms of the form which varies from one idiom to another. These can
be summarized as follows:
(1) Allowing a particle shift, but not passivization or nominalization;
e.g. ‘put on some weight’.
(2) Allowing both – the particle shift and the passivization but not
nominalization; e.g. ‘make up your mind’.
(3) Allowing all the three transformations; e.g. ‘long down the law’.
(see Ibid.: 186).
(4) Not allowing the change of number of the noun in idioms which
consist of a verb and a noun but allowing the verb to be placed in
the past; e.g. ‘spilled the beans’ but not ‘spill the bean’.
(5) Not allowing the comparative in the adjective and allowing
pluralization in the noun in idioms containing adjective plus noun;
e.g. ‘red-herring’ but not ‘redder-herring’(see Palmer, 1981: 7980).
(8)
A distinction should be made between both idiomatic expressions viz. sayings and
proverbs. For Casas and Campoy (1995: 46), the two categories are different in
three respects: “in the degree of frozenness (more in the case of proverbs than in
sayings), in their force (proverbs, unlike sayings, are memorable expressions) and
in their scope (proverbs convey a sense of enduring truth validity and are less
situationally bound than sayings)…”.
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“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
1.6.1.3 On Idioms Structure
Idioms may take different forms or structures; they can be very
short; i.e. a single word or rather long; i.e. a full sentence. An idiom can
also have irregular structures as in ‘I am good friends with him’, with the
meaning still clear. In some other cases, the idiom has a regular form but
the meaning is not obvious; e.g. ‘to have a bee in one’s bonnet’ (meaning:
one is obsessed by an idea). There is a third group where both form and
meaning are irregular; e.g. ‘to be at large’. If we talk about: a prisoner
who is still at large we mean that he is still free. Still the meaning of such
an idiom without a noun is vague and it varies according to the context(9).
In their attempt, Seidle and McMordie (1978) have dealt with
idioms thoroughly. For them, idioms structurally fall into two major
classes: those consisting of one word and the others consisting of more
than word. Fig. (1) below summarizes Seidle and McMordie’s attempt
leaving the details in the analytical part.
Idioms
One word
More than one word
Pairs of Adjectives
Pairs of Nouns
Adjectives + Nouns
Collective Nouns
Phrases
Adjective
Noun
Miscellaneous
Compound Phrases
Verb to be
Adjective + Noun
Phrases
To be + Nouns +
To be +
Adjectives
Prepositional Phrase
Noun Phrases
Proper Names
Comparisons
Miscellaneous
Verb + Like +
(a/the) + Nouns
As + Adjective +
(a/the) + Nouns
Fig. (1): A Sketch on the Syntactic Structure of English Idioms (Adapted from
Seidle and McMordie, 1978)
(9)
The term context, or more accurately, the context of situation has been introduced
by two scholars. First by the anthropologist, Malinowski, and later by the linguist,
Firth, both concentrating on one point; stating the meaning in terms of the context
in which language is used.
32
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
1.6.2 Working on Idioms in Semantics
Semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of
meaning in language and since meaning is part of language, semantics is
part of linguistics. What concerns us about idioms, from the semantic
point of view, is the possibility of lexical substitution, as far as meaning
is concerned. In an idiom, it is impossible to substitute one term with a
near synonym and retain the meaning. So, ‘kick the bucket’ (meaning:
die), but ‘kick the pail’ cannot possibly mean die.
A term that has a strong relationship with idioms considering the
meaning perspective is collocation. Palmer (1981: 75) defines it as “a term
in grammar describing a regular occurrence of certain descriptive words
in relation to other words in various languages. For example, Bar for pub,
harbor, steel, soap, etc.”.
Idioms involve collocation of a special kind; for instance, ‘spill the
beans’ or ‘red herring’. Here, we do not have the collocation of spill and
the beans only, but also the fact that the meaning of the resultant
combination is vague; i.e. it is not related to the meaning of the individual
words (Ibid.: 79). Yet, in collocations we can detect the meaning, while
detecting the meaning of idioms is mostly difficult; if not possible.
1.6.3 Working on Idioms in Pragmatics
Some idioms can be guessed if we hear them in context. That is,
when we know how they are used in a particular situation. For example,
we cannot put certain interpretation for an idiom like ‘to be at the top of
the tree’ unless it is used in a context.
(2) Ten years ago John joined the company, and now he is the manager! He
is really at the top of the tree. (meaning: to be successful) (see Lattey,
1986: 218).
There is a close relationship between the use of idioms and the
various contexts in which they are used. Recognizing that idioms have to
do with interactions and interrelationships that occur in particular
situational contexts, a sub-classification of idioms might be reasonable to
present:
1. Focus on the individual; e.g. ‘show (one’s) true colours’.
2. Focus on the world; e.g. (something) is ‘touch and go’.
3. Interaction of individuals; e.g. ‘lend (someone) a helping hand’.
4. Individual and the world; e.g. ‘not know the first thing about
(something)’.
(Ibid.: 223)
1.7 Analysis
1.7.1 A Syntactic View on Idioms
1. One word Idioms:
Idioms which consist of single words are known to present
difficulty to the learner because of their particular idiomatic meanings.
There are three groups of words:
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“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
a. Adjectives:
“Dead” can mean different things when it is used idiomatically.
The basic meaning is no longer living as in ‘dead flower’. “Dead” also
means that something has never had life as in: ‘dead matter’.
b. Nouns:
A noun like “end” is used differently as in: ‘no end of meaning’
(meaning: many or much) and ‘to achieve one’s end’ (meaning: to reveal
one’s aim).
c. Miscellaneous Words with Idiomatic Meanings:
Such examples can be shown in:
‘all in all’ (meaning: when everything is considered)and ‘for all’
(meaning: in spite of).
2. Idioms of Comparison:
Modern English uses many short comparisons in order to make
language vivid and clear. Such comparisons have different patterns as
follows:
a. Most of the comparisons are used with adjectives following the
pattern:
As + adjective + (a/the) + noun: ‘as black as soot’ (meaning: something
dirty) and
‘as cool as a cucumber’ (meaning: used of a person who remains calm
at a time of difficulty or danger).
b. A second set of comparisons includes verbs following the pattern:
Verb + like a/the) + noun
‘to swim like a fish’ (meaning: to swim very well).
c. A third type of comparisons is that group which does not follow a
certain pattern; i.e. miscellaneous comparisons as in:
‘like a fish out of water’ (meaning: to feel uncomfortable).
3. Idioms with Adjectives and Nouns in Combination:
Although it cannot be explained why a particular idiom has
developed an unusual arrangement or choice of words, yet the idiom has
been fixed by long usage, as sometimes seems from the vocabulary. In
this part, we will explain idioms consisting of some combination of
adjectives and/or nouns. Seven different types of combination are given
in this respect.
a. Pairs of Adjectives:
English language has many phrases which contain two adjectives joined
together by: and, but, and or. However, the order is fixed. Some examples
are shown in Table (1) below:
34
Structure:
Pairs of
Adjectives
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
Table (1): Idioms Consisting of Pairs of Adjectives
No.
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
1
‘Ancient and Modern’
Throughout history
2
‘Cut and dried’
Settled, decided
3
‘Free and easy’
Casual, unworried
4
‘More or less’
Almost
5
‘For good or ill’
Whatever may happen now
Structure:
Pairs of Noun
b. Pairs of Nouns:
A number of pairs of nouns exists in English, which always occur
together and have a fixed order. Long usage has established the order,
which must not be changed. Some examples are given in Table (2).
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (2): Idioms Consisting of Pairs of Nouns
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘Alpha and omega’
The beginning and the end
‘Flesh and blood’
One’s family and relations
‘Hammer and tongs’
With all one’s strength
‘Man and boy’
From boyhood
‘Heart and soul’
With all one’s feeling and spirit
Structure: Pairs of
Collective Nouns
c. Collective Noun Phrases:
There are several nouns that are idiomatically used when
describing collections of certain things; these are called collective nouns.
Some of the most common ones are shown in Table (3).
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (3): Idioms Consisting of Collective Nouns
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘A blood of chickens’
‘A colony of ants’
The general meaning of all these
‘A flock of sheep’
idioms is
‘A shoal of fish’
‘many of something’
‘A pride of lions’
Structure: Pairs of
Compound Adjectives
d. Compound Adjectives:
Sometimes in English we find adjectives that are made up of a few
words. The meaning in most cases is clear, and these adjectives are
always made up of hyphenated words. Here are some typical examples in
Table (4).
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (4): Idioms Consisting of Compound Adjectives
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘A happy-go-lucky’
A carefree, easy manner
‘Hole-and-corner’
Secret, underhand methods
‘Much-talked-of’
Affair
‘Out-of-the-way’
Far from busy streets
‘Hit-and-run’
A driver who drives away after
causing an accident
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Structure: Pairs of
Adjectives + Noun Phrase
e. Adjective + Noun Phrase:
English is full of phrases of the kind consisting of an adjective and
a noun, which might cause some difficulty since their meaning is
independent of context. Some of these special idioms are illustrated in
Table (5).
Table (5): Idioms Consisting of Adjectives plus Noun Phrase
No.
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
1
‘A bad shot’
A wrong guess
2
‘An arch look’
A sly, significant look
3
‘Broken English’
Imperfect English
4
‘A cool head’
To remain clam
5
‘Blind date’
A meeting between two persons
who do not know each other
Structure
Noun Phrase
f. Noun Phrases:
The usual form of the noun phrases in English is a head noun
preceded or followed by a modifier such as: an article, an adjective, etc.
This also might be used as idiomatic expressions. Table (6) shows
examples:
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (6): Idioms Consisting of Noun Phrases
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘A bag of bones’
A very thin person
‘a bed of Roses’
An easy pleasant situation
‘A bed of thorns’
A difficult situation
‘Feet of clay’
To be weak or cowardly
‘A man of spirit’
A courageous one
Structure: Proper
Names of Adjective +
Nouns
g. Proper Names Consisting of Adjective + Noun:
This type does not include purely geographical names, but special
names for concepts, objects, places, etc. which have a special meaning or
association in English and which thus cannot be guessed. This is well
illustrated in Table (7) below:
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (7): Idioms Consisting of Proper Names
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘The Eternal City’
Rome
‘The Big Four’
The four major banks in Britain:
Barclays, Lloyds, Midland, and
National Westminster
‘The Dark Ages’
Europe between the fifth and the
tenth centuries
‘Good Friday’
The Friday before Easter Sunday
‘The New World’
North and South America
36
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
4. Noun-Verb Combination:
English has many expressions which we can only learn how to use
them if we are brought into direct contact with them. We may know a
large number of verbs and nouns, but may not know exactly how they can
be put together to form typical English expressions. There are two types
of combination between nouns and verbs.
The first type consists of verbs which are followed automatically
by certain nouns (the grammatical objects of the verbs), and the verb may
have different meanings in different collocations. The second one consists
of nouns which are followed usually by the same verbs, and these may
become fixed expressions; i.e., idiomatic expressions, see Table (8).
No.
1
2
Table (8): Idioms Consisting of Noun-Verb Combination
Structure
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
Verb + Noun
‘To build castles in the To talk or think about
Collocation
air’
things which mostly will
not happen
‘To bury the hatchet’
To become friends again
after a quarrel or fight
Noun + Verb
‘An accident’: happens,
Collocation
occurs, takes place
‘Health’: improves, pick
up, deteriorates
5. Idioms with Prepositions and Other Parts of Speech:
Prepositions are just grammatical or functional words; i.e. they do
not carry meaning, but they signal a syntactic function. Some prepositions
are used with the nouns or with the noun phrases or other parts of speech
and, by long usage, they have become to be idioms signaling certain
meanings as illustrated in Table (9).
Table (9): Idioms Consisting of Prepositions and Other Parts of Speech
No.
Structure
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
1
Prepositions
with ‘About’:
Discussion Concerning or on the
Nouns
or
Noun about (something)
theme of
phrases
2
Phrase Prepositions: ‘In accordance with’
Concerning
Prep + (a/the) + N +
Preposition
3
Adverbial Phrases
‘Again and again’
Repeatedly
4
Adjective +
‘Adapted for/to’
Prepared
Preposition
6. Verb with Prepositions or Particles:
Sometimes, the combination of a verb plus a preposition or particle
results in a separate unit of meaning which may be highly idiomatic; i.e.
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the total meaning of the combination may bear little or no relationship to
the meaning of the individual words of the combination.
Verbs, in English, fall into one of two main classes: Transitive
verbs; i.e. those verbs which take an object, and intransitive verbs; i.e.
those which do not require direct object. Some examples of such verbs
are shown in Table (10).
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Table (10): Idioms Consisting of Prepositions or Particles
Structure
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
Intransitive verb + Particle
‘Add up’
Make sense, be
logical
Intransitive Verb + Preposition ‘Bank on’
Rely on, expect
Intransitive Verb + Particle + ‘Catch up on
Overtake
Preposition
someone’
Transitive + Particle
‘Call someone off’
Order to stop
Transitive + Preposition
‘Call by’
Make short visit
Transitive + Particle +
‘Mix someone up in Involve
Preposition
something’
7. Idioms with Verb ‘To be’:
Many phrases in English depend on the verb to be and will not be
found without it. The verb to be might be followed by a noun or an
adjective phrase, and sometimes by a prepositional phrase, see Table (11).
No.
1
2
3
Table (11): Idioms with Verb ‘To be’
Structure
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
To be + Noun
‘To be a nobody’
To be a person without
wealth, influence,
importance, etc.
To be + Adjective ‘To be full of oneself’
To be vain
Phrase
To be + Preposition ‘To be at large’
To be free
Phrase
1.7.2 A Semantic View of Idioms
Though there are various types of idioms of different forms, they
can be embedded in the same groups. We find that it is preferable to
classify them in terms of different semantic fields and as follows:
1. Idioms of Banking:
Different types of idioms are used in everyday life conversations,
and there is a group of idioms which is concerned with the subject of
banking. Consider the following sentence:
(3a.) You ‘open a bank account’.
(b.) You ‘close a bank account’.
38
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
It is obvious that the meaning of the idioms used in (3.a) and (3.b)
are related to bank. Even the term bank used here makes it easy for the
hearer to understand the meaning of that idiom. So, the meaning is not
vague. Table (12) below shows other examples of idioms which can be
used in the same sense.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (12): Idioms of Banking
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘A current account’
Money that you want to use at any time
‘Cross a cheque’
To draw two parallel lines across it
‘Rate of interest’
The amount of money charged by the bank
‘Dishonours a cheque’
The bank refuses to pay money on it
‘Cheque bounces’
The case when the money does not cover
the payment of the cheque
2. Idioms of Business:
There is another group of idioms which can be used in the
situations that deal with business. For instance, the idiom ‘the city man’
which is used in sentence (13) clarifies this:
After three years of business, George became a city man. (meaning: George
is engaged in commerce or banking and finance)
Table (13) below shows some additional examples about idioms that
might be used similarly.
Table (13): Idioms of Business
No.
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
1 ‘A falling market’
Prices for certain commodity are
dropping or getting lower
2 ‘Runs at profit or runs at a loss’
It makes or loses money
3 ‘Bad debts’
Debts which are not expected to be paid
4 ‘Business slump’
A business depression
5 ‘On business’
For the purpose of doing business
3. Idioms about Health:
Idioms can also be used to ask about health or to describe one’s
state of health. For example, if we want to describe a person who is in a
good health we can say:
(4) He looks the picture of health.
Other examples can be presented in Table (14) below.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Table (14): Idioms of Health
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
‘To get over an illness’
To recover from it
‘To catch disease’
To become ill of it
‘To come round’
To regain consciousness after blow or
operation
‘To play havoc with one’s To ruin it
health’
‘To pass away’
To die
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4. Idioms in Politics and Government:
Politician and government men also have their special ways in
expressing the meaning of certain situations. For instance, Great Britain is
constitutional monarchy, where Monarch (the King or Queen) is the head
of state. Table (15) contains more examples.
Table (15): Idioms of Politics and Government
No.
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
1 ‘Out of office’
Not to be in power
2 ‘Gains office’
The candidate who gets the most votes
3 ‘The cabinet’
The group of minister
4 ‘Opposition’
Party which is not in power
5 ‘To hold office’
Party which govern the country
5. Idioms with Time Expressions:
Time is very important in human life, especially in the modern life
of English people. We have many expressions that refer to time and some
particular periods in the day or week, etc.
Table (16) below manifests some of these expressions in which
each one signals a distinct meaning.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Table (16): Idioms of Time
Category
Idiomatic Expression
Meaning
Expressions with the ‘To be behind time’
To be late
word time
Expressions with the ‘Day in, day out’
Every
day
without
word day
Exception
Expressions with the ‘A night-bird’
A person who likes to stay
word night
out/up late at night
Expressions with the ‘The small hours’
The hours of morning
word hour
between midnight and dawn
Expressions with the ‘In a minute’
Soon
word minute
Other expressions of ‘At any moment’
Very soon
time
‘A blind date’
Meeting with someone you
do not know
1.7.3 A Pragmatic View of Idioms
In our treatment so far, we have made it clear that our judgements
on idioms are determined in most cases by their meanings in different
contexts rather than by their structures alone. We normally try to
understand not only what the words mean, but what the writer or speaker
of these words in any language intends to mean. We should not lose sight
of the pragmatic effect that influences the meaning of idioms as such
different idioms will be related to a variety of daily practices. Consider:
40
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
1. Borrowing/Cultural Contact:
A very common fact about idioms is that many idiomatic phrases
have come from other cultures in terms of cultural contacts that lead
English speakers to borrow certain expressions to be used as idioms.
Consider: ‘alpha and omega’ (meaning: the first and the last). It should be
noticed that alpha and omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek
alphabet.
2. Homelife:
Many idiomatic phrases spring from the every day-life encounters
of the Englishman, and from the home life. Then, these idioms, which
have been used in special situations, are attached to similar contexts and
situations. For instance: ‘to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth’
(meaning: a spoiled child or living a luxury life). This idiom is used to
describe a person who does not face any difficulty since s/he finds one
who can do things for them.
According to Zhang (2007: 71), “English idioms come from social
life and reflect it correspondently”. It is important to shed light on the
idioms origin which helps a great deal in comprehending the meaning of
idioms and approaching a means to combine between the constituents of
each idiom and its connotative meaning. The following are representative
examples:
3. Idioms of Animals
People usually associate certain qualities with certain creatures
which arouse certain reactions or emotions. ‘As wise as an owl’ is usually
used to describe a wise person since the quality of wisdom is associated
with owls.
4. Idioms of Labouring:
The importance of agriculture and industry is reflected in many
idioms since they are at the heart of the experience of man. Idioms, in
English, also show a detailed division of social labour, for instance:
A tailor says, ‘Cut the coat according to the cloth’
A farmer says, ‘As a man sow, so shall he reap’
A hunter says, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’
5. Idioms of Colours:
No one can imagine the world without colours. Everything in the
world has its colour. Human beings react differently to different colours.
Red, for instance, is a warm colour, yet if a person is exposed to it, his
blood pressure goes up. It is the colour of war, loss of blood, and
destructive power of fire. In English, idioms connected with “red” usually
have derogative senses. For instance, ‘in the red’, ‘red camp’, ‘red eye’,
‘red flag’, etc. (for further discussion, see Zhang, 2007: 71-75).
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1.8 Conclusion
Idioms are a thorny area to deal with in English. So, a short
research like this, would not be enough to cover all the angles of this
topic. However, this research might help in introducing the topic in a
simple illustrative way to the readers, especially foreign learners of
English.
It is worth considering that idioms in English can have different
syntactic structures. Also, these idioms can be classified in terms of the
fields that match the meaning of such idioms.
Using any idiom does not make any sense if it is excluded from its
context. That is, the context plays a significant role in determining the
meaning of idioms. Some idioms can have a positive meaning whereas
others are negatively oriented.
Working on such a topic, it becomes obvious that “[Idioms are …
not considered a part of the language, but rather a part of culture” (Via the
net2: 2). They cannot be abandoned in away or another. English speakers
use idioms automatically in certain situations of everyday life without
even noticing what construction they are using to express their ideas. For
foreign learners, it is not easy to deal with this type of expressions.
1.9 Directions for Future Research
1. Foreign learners have certain difficulties when they try to use idioms.
This is due to two major reasons. The first one is that the learner does
not know in which situations it is correct to use an idiom. Secondly,
the learner does not even know if an idiom is natural or appropriate in
certain situations. So, it is suggested to include items in the syllabus of
college studies or programmes of schools. These items should be
devoted to the syntactic structure and the semantic aspects of idioms;
even the different situations in which they are used.
2. For teachers, it is essential to find the hows and whys of teaching
idioms for foreign learners.
3. It is perfectly reasonable to make a statistical analysis of idioms’ use
by English native speakers in their daily life encounters. This would
help to shed light on the reasons behind using them according to
different ages or sexes.
1)
2)
3)
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Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
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APPENDIX
Idiomatic Expressions Used in the Practical Part
of the Study
dead flower
dead matter
no end of meaning
to achieve one's end
all in all
for all
as black as soot
as cool as a cucumber
to swim like a fish
like a fish out of water
ancient and modern
cut and dried
free and easy
more or less
for good or ill
alpha and omega
flesh and blood
hammer and tongs
man and boy
heart and soul
a blood of chickens
a colony of ants
a flock of sheep
a shoal of fish
a pride of lions
a happy –go-lucky

The idioms are not arranged alphabetically; rather, they are arranged according to
their occurrence in the analysis.
44
Dr. Huda F. Halawachy
hole-and –corner
much- talked –of
out –of –the-way
hit-and –run
a bad shot
an arch look
broken English
a cool head
blind date
a bag of bones
a bed of roses
a bed of thorns
feet of clay
a man of spirit
The Eternal City
The Big Four
The Dark Ages
Good Friday
The New World
To build castles
to bury the hatchet
an accident happens
an accident takes place
an accident occurs
health improves
health picks up
health deteriorates
about discussion
about something
in accordance with
again and again
adapted for/to
add up
bank on
catch up on someone
call someone off
call by
mix someone up in something
to be nobody
to full of oneself
to be at large
open a bank account
close a bank account
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“Spill the Beans of Idioms” – A Corpus-based Linguistic Investigation of ...
a current account
cross a cheque
rate of interest
dishonours a cheque
cheque bounces
a city man
a falling market
runs at profit or runs at a loss
bad debts
business slump
on business
the picture of health
to get over an illness
to catch disease
to come round
to play havoc with one 's health
to pass away
out of office
gains office
the cabinet
opposition
to hold office
to be behind time
day in, day out
a night-bird
the small hours
in a minute
at any moment
to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
as wise as an owl
cut the coat according to the cloth
as a man sow, so shall he reap
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
in the red
red camp
red eye
red flag
46