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Comparative study of phraseological units with the component - a verb of
“rest” in the English and Russian languages
Ilyuza Vasilovna Gilmutdinova, Anastasia Viktorovna Fakhrutdinova
Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, 18 Kremlyovskaya Street, Kazan, Russia 420008
Correspondence: Ilyuza V. Gilmutdinova, 17 Klenovya str., Konstantinovka, Kazan, Russia,
420083.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The undertaken research is devoted to an actual problem in modern linguistics, comparative
study of phraseology on the material of one of the two languages of the Indo-European family,
which belong to different language groups: German (English) and the Slavonic (Russian language).
The purpose of the study is that based on a comparative analysis of phraseological units with
components – “rest” verbs in the two compared languages (English and Russian) to reveal their
typological similarities and differences, both in terms of expression, and in terms of content, paying
at the same time special attention to the operation units in the text. In our research we used the
method of a comparative analysis of phraseological units. The sources of research were the existing
monolingual and bilingual phrasebooks. Main results of the study are the following: carefully
analyzed English and Russian idioms with the “rest” verbs were divided into phraseological
semantic groups; semantics of these components of phraseology was studied; common and specific
features in English and Russian phraseological semantic groups were registered and identified.
Article materials can be useful for teaching linguistics at the university.
Keywords: phraseological units; university education; comparative aspect; semantic
classification; student’s education; common and specific characteristics.
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Introduction:
Any analysis of a phraseological unit, anyway, involves an appeal to the problem of its
meaning. The obvious fact that words undergoing the process of phraseology are included in the
complex semantic processes [Verdieva, 1986].
The study of phraseology with the general seme – condition of rest is quite relevant, as the
condition of rest, along with the movement are one of the most frequently used semes, as evidenced
by the wide variety of verbs and phraseological units with the same value [Vinogradov, 1953;
Dobrovolskiy, 1988].
The purpose of the study is that based on comparative analysis of phraseological units with
components – “rest” verbs in the two compared languages (English and Russian) to reveal their
typological similarities and differences, both in terms of expression, and in terms of content. The
objective predetermined a number of research tasks:
- Identify the phraseological units of the type studied in the two compared languages, using
common criteria and uniform terminology;
- Identify phraseological semantic groups of phraseology with the “rest” verb in English and
Russian languages;
- To determine the total and differential in filling phraseological semantic groups with
English and Russian phraseological units with “rest” verbs.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The most useful in the formation of phraseological units are the following “rest” verbs: to
sleep, to lie, to rest, to sit. “Rest” verbs have a semantic capacity and different variety of direct and
figurative meanings, and are included as main components of the set phrases.
After the analysis of the English and Russian phraseological units with “rest” verbs were
identified 5 phraseological semantic groups: the human condition; the human position; situation;
relationships; activity.
Let’s describe in detail each of the groups:
I.
Human condition.
Everyone can be in different conditions: mental, emotional, physical. Changing, they
accompany human life in its relations with the people, society, etc. This group includes idioms,
indicating the emotional and physical condition of the person.
1. The emotional state.
The emotional state of a person can be both positive and negative. However, most of the
“rest” verbs in phraseological units transmit only negative emotions.
English idioms with the components "to lie" and "to sit" express predominantly a state of
anxiety, anguish and helplessness:
Lie at smb’s heart;
Lie at smb’s door;
Lie heavy on one’s conscience;
Lie on one’s back;
Sit on thorns.
The verb "to sit" in the English language can also express positive emotions such as joy,
delight, happiness:
Sit on a cloud;
Sit on top of the world.
Russian idioms with the verb "спать", "лежать", "сидеть" transmit only negative feelings
such as envy, despair, anger and displeasure:
Лавры спать не дают – anyone feels acute envy of someone else's success;
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Хоть в гроб ложись – expression of despair, impotence, inability to do anything to get out
of a difficult or hopeless situation.
Only one idiom in Russian language with the verb "спать" can transmit a positive emotional
state:
Спит и видит - passionately wants something, wants the implementation of something.
2. The physical state.
Phrases with the component "to sleep", "to lie" in English and "спать", "почивать",
"лежать" indicate a variety of human conditions, including the states of sleep and death.
a. State of sleep.
In English idioms with the verb "to sleep", in the first instance, disclose a method and a way
of sleep, as well as the state of insomnia:
Sleep like a baby;
Sleep like a log(top);
Sleep with one eye open;
Not to sleep a wink.
In the Russian language idioms with the verb "спать" corresponding to the verb "to sleep"
with the method and image of sleep are also numerous:
Спит как убитый;
Спать без задних ног;
Спать как младенец.
b. State of death.
In Russian idioms with component "спать" and "лежать" in most cases indicate the
condition of death:
Спать вечным сном;
Спать мертвым сном;
Спать могильным сном;
Спать последним сном;
Ложиться в гроб;
Ложиться в могилу.
The verb "почивать" or "почить" in the Russian language, which can be interpreted as "to
sleep, to indulge in sleep, to rest, to die" within a phraseological unit also expresses the state of
death:
Почить вечным сном;
Почить непробудным сном;
Почить в бозе.
As we can see, in the Russian language such idioms are numerous. However, on the other
hand, in the English language, there are only three phraseological units with components "to sleep"
and "to lie", corresponding to the verb "спать" and "лежать" within the meaning of the state of
death:
Lay smb. to sleep;
Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking (waking);
Lie in state.
Idioms, revealing the state of rest, relaxation process, a complete physical and peace of mind
can be divided into two sub-groups at the same time: the physical and the emotional. Since peace in
most cases means relaxation and recreation of a person both physically and mentally. However,
idioms, revealing the state of a person resting are scarce both in English and in Russian.
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In English, these idioms are expressed by the verb "to sleep" and "to rest", the verb
"почивать" in the Russian language, which corresponds to the verb "to sleep" and "отдыхать",
corresponding to the verb "to rest" in the English language:
Have one’s sleep out – выспаться;
Rest in peace;
Rest on one’s laurels;
Отдыхать душой (сердцем).
II.
HUMAN POSITION.
Idioms of this group reveal a person's position in the following forms: social position and
moral position.
1.
First of all, let us detail on social position. This subgroup includes idioms, reflecting
the kind of human activity. Russian phraseological units with the verb "сидеть" far less than the
English phraseological units with the verb "to sit", which indicate the diverse position and
occupation of the person in society:
Sit in judgement on;
Sit in the chair;
Sit on one’s throne;
Сидеть на земле;
Садиться не в свои сани.
An interesting fact is that the majority of English phraseological units that are included in
this subgroup, point to a very important and serious kind of human activity, which requires
independence and determination, as people of such professions in most cases decide the fate of
other people (judges, chairmen, and so on).
2. Moral position.
In the Russian language, unlike English, there are some phraseological units, characterizing
the moral status of a person. Phrases with the component - the “rest” verb "сидеть" are used mainly
to refer to adverse moral status of a person:
Садиться в галошу/лужу;
Сидеть на мели.
III. SITUATION.
Idiomы, included in this group, point to the coming of a set of events, a confluence of
circumstances and the situation of human life. Situations are the field of human activity and
substantial foundation of his life in general. Many situations form the entire content of human
existence. Every situation in which there is a person, regardless of whether it is favorable or
unfavorable - it's part of his being. The set of situations is the content of all its activities.
Phrases with the component "sit", "lie" in English and "сидеть" in the Russian language,
indicating an unfavorable situation are much more than favorable ones:
Make one’s bed and have to lie on it;
Sit on a barrel/keg of gun-powder;
Сидеть на хлебе и воде;
Сидеть у разбитого корыта.
The favorable situation for the person is reflected only in one phraseological unit with the
component “rest” verb "sit" in the English language:
Sit pretty.
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IV. RELATIONSHIPS.
Man, one way or another, relates to things, events, social life, people. Feelings, interests,
attention - these are mental processes that express the attitude of the person, his position. Idioms,
included in this group, open personal relationships between people, which can be both positive and
negative.
English and Russian idioms with components "to lie", "to sit", "лежать" and "сидеть"
indicate both the positive and the negative attitude of one person to another:
One’s heart lies in the right place;
Sit at smb’s feet;
Душа/сердце не лежит;
Сидеть на горбу/шее;
Сажать на хлеб и воду.
Phrases with the component "садиться" in Russian express certain subordination in the
relationship. For example:
Садиться верхом на кого-то;
Садиться на шею.
V. ACTIVITIES.
Activity can be defined as a specific kind of human activity, aimed at the knowledge and the
creative transformation of the world, including myself, and the conditions of its existence. Through
activities man creates objects of material and spiritual culture, converts his abilities, maintains and
improves the nature, builds society, creates things, that without his activity did not exist in nature.
Idioms, included in this group, represent any human activity, as creative and everyday, as well as
quality, image and method for performing a particular action. These idioms are presented by the
verbs "to sit", "to lie" in the English language and the verb "сидеть" in the Russian language.
Sit by Nelly;
Lie down on the job;
Сидеть на плечах.
There are a lot of idioms, pointing to the different phases of action, both in Russian and in
English.
“Rest” verb "сидеть" in the Russian language often indicates the beginning of an action. For
example:
Садиться на своего (любимого) конька;
Садиться за один стол.
The verb "to rest" in English can be used to mark the end of an action:
Let smth. rest – положить конец чему-либо, прекратить что-либо.
Глаголы покоя “lie”, “sit” в английском, а также “лежать” в русском языке могут
указывать на полное отсутствие деятельности:
Lie dormant;
Lie on one’s oars;
Sit on one’s hands;
Лежать на боку/на печи.
DISCUSSIONS:
The problems of comparative phraseology, both Russian and English, attracted the attention
of Russian scientists, especially in the framework of anthropocentric paradigm of linguistic
research. None of the scientists has paid attention to phraseological units, which have the
component – “rest” verbs so far. However, there are a number of activities aimed at the study of
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phraseological units with a component - a verb of motion. On the one hand verbs of motion and
verbs of rest are inherently completely opposite concepts. But, despite this, the process of research
methods and sources of rest and motion verbs can be similar. Therefore, as a model for our study of
phraseological units with verbs of rest we chose Z.Z.Gatiatullina’s work ( "A comparative study of
phraseological units with the component - the verb of motion in English, German and Swedish
languages") and G.V. Minnullina’s work ( "Phraseological units with verbs of motion in the
German and Russian languages"), who carefully examined and gave a classification verbs of
motion.
CONCLUSION:
Thus, the comparative analysis of English and Russian phraseological units with the
component - a “rest” verb showed that only a small group of phraseological units has kept the value
of rest, both in English and in Russian. The reason for this was desemantization of the verbs as part
of phraseology, in connection with which it is possible to explain the paucity of phraseological
semantic group "Rest" in compared languages. The fact is that during the formation of meaning of
considered phraseological units the semantics of the component name played a big role, which is a
semantic core of phraseological units. In our study, the role of the semantic core took such parts of
speech as nouns, adjectives, adverbs and phrasal verbs.
As for the semantic distribution of English and Russian phraseological units with the “rest”
verb to phraseological groups, then undertaken research allowed us to conclude that, in general,
they are grouped equally. Only one phraseological semantic group as the emotional state of a person
has some differences among Russian and English phraseological units. In the other groups there are
similar trends, therefore, it can be stated that, in general, phraseological semantic groups in English
and Russian are the same.
Having considered all 65 phraseological units with different verbs of rest in English, as well
as 58 phraseological units in Russian language, we concluded that the most common “rest” verbs
are "to lie", "to sit" in the English language and their corresponding verbs "лежать" and "сидеть" in
the Russian language. These “rest” verbs are active components in each of the phraseological
semantic groups. Since these “rest” verbs, both in English and Russian languages in addition to
their initial meanings (rest) within a phraseological unit can reveal a variety of conditions. However
this can’t be said about the verb "to sleep" and "to rest", because our study made it apparent that the
main meaning of these verbs is just rest.
Acknowledgements
The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive
Growth of Kazan Federal University.
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