An idiom is a set phrase which is relatively syntactically and semantically fixed, and which produces striking stylistic and rhetorical effects. Advertising is a discourse type which is particularly rich in idioms: around half of all the German advertisements examined from Stern magazine and the RTL television channel contain at least one idiom. The idioms tend to occur in prominent, emphatic textual positions, and approximately half of the idioms which appear are modified in some way. The modifications typically produce deliberately creative effects, suggesting that idioms are not as invariable as has previously been thought. The most common type of idiom incorporated into German advertisements are idioms with not only the definitive figurative interpretation, but also a lexically, syntactically, and semantically feasible literal interpretation. These idioms are consequently referred to in this dissertation as "idioms with a viable literal interpretation" (abbreviated to "VLI idioms" in the text). Their literal sense tends to evoke strong mental imagery, which makes them a useful device for the visually restricted print medium in particular: approximately 42% of all the idioms in the magazine advertisements examined (as opposed to around 16% of all the idioms in the television advertisements) are VLI idioms. It is the uniformity of the mental imagery evoked by VLI idioms which highlights the fact that, contrary to traditional thinking, idioms are conceptual rather than linguistic in nature. Indeed, an idiom may be defined as the linguistic expression of general conceptual metaphors. The viable literal meaning of VLI idioms also makes them ideally suited to modification: around 70% of the VLI idioms in the magazine advertisements, and just over 88% of the VLI idioms in the television advertisements, are modified in some way. Nearly all of these modifications involve punning on the idiom's literal sense by means of the idiom's co-text and/or the advertisement's visual element. In short, linguists have hitherto underestimated the ubiquity and significance of idioms, especially with regard to the frequency with which they are modified. VLI idioms in particular are an important - but thus far overlooked - feature of German magazine and television advertisements.

Mastery of idioms in a second language is an important part of learners' lexical and cultural competence. This study provided insights into the processes that partake in interlanguage idiomatics. It also looked at the role of participants' first language in the comprehension and production of idioms in their second language. Participants were 31 Saudi graduate students' who were learners of English. They were tested in receptive and productive knowledge of 15 English idioms of three types of idiomatic expressions: a) English idioms which have their exact equivalents in Arabic; b) English idioms which are similarly expressed in both languages, and c) English idioms which have no counterparts in Arabic. The data were examined through statistical analysis. Results showed that identical idioms were the easiest to comprehend and produce, followed by similar idioms. Different idioms were the most difficult to comprehend and produce and showed the highest interference from the first language. In addition, a rather unexpected negative correlation was found between participants' length of stay in the US and their knowledge of English idioms. These findings offer insightful implications for the teaching and learning of second language idioms. Most importantly language teachers and researchers should be aware that the acquisition of idioms is influenced by the similarities and differences between idioms in learners' L1s and the target L2. This suggests that building learners' idiomatic knowledge in a second language should be done in a systematic and persistent way. In more general terms, the study's results confirm the trends and patterns reported in previous research about the acquisition of second language idiomatic competence and its important role for the effective comprehension and production of the target language.

This thesis is concerned with the historical analysis of French idioms from both theoretical and methodological points of view. An idiom is considered as a figurative expression whose meaning is not equal to the sum of its components’ meanings. In the first part, after drawing distinctions between such terms as locution, expression or phrasème, I survey the key elements in the analysis of idioms: their syntax, semantics and lexical features. I discuss various theories to see how they can relate and be applied to a historical study. I deal first with the syntactic approach which describes the various grammatical features of idioms basing my analysis mostly on works by Gross. It shows that, while figurative expressions are often syntactically similar to non-figurative expressions, they do not allow much leeway in their morphological and syntactic variations because their meaning is closely linked to their form. However a grammatical description is not sufficient for a diachronic analysis of idioms. Secondly, I take a close look at semantic description as it appears in works by theoricians such as Weinreich, Greciano and Rey. In particular I show that it is necessary to put the idiom back in its context in order to grasp its real meaning. While not rejecting the rhetorical approach, this process allows us to avoid systematic assimilation of idioms as rhetorical figures. A diachronic analysis shows that an idiom can be a literary figure, a cultural figure, or a sociological one. Therefore its description must rely as much on a pragmatic approach as on a semantic one. The second part of my study adopts a methodological approach. The objective is to develop a method of analysis that can be applied to a lexicographical description of idioms. The originality of the study relies partly on the fact that the analysis is based on an electronic literary data-base as well as on formal dictionaries. Animal metaphors, nine of which are closely analysed, are chosen to illustrate the methodology. Each case study is divided into three main parts: the history and etymology of the idiom, its socio-cultural representation and implication and its linguistic description. Much emphasis is put on highlighting the ways in which the idiom becomes part of the text. In the last chapter of the thesis I develop a new descriptive model for a historical dictionary of idioms. The focus is to describe the expression with as much precision as is usual for words. The model is based particularly on works by Wartburg (FEW) and Mel’ëuk (Dictionnaire lexico-combinatoire). The main result of this study is to demonstrate that idioms need to be viewed as discrete linguistic units. For this reason they must be studied strictly in context. Another major contribution is that in many specific cases my research has allowed me to go further than other historical studies. An example is entre chien et loup whose origin can be traced back to a Hebrew text, and whose first use in a French text goes back to the very early 13th century. Lastly, the study of the idiom’s situational context shows us that phrasemes allow a connection to be made between language and culture, because they are often a linguistic reflection of a belief, saying, or folk tale. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

This thesis deals with proverbs reflecting historical events and facts, which were reflected in folk literature. It tries to debunk a historical background idioms that have helped to shape the nation's memory. It focus on proverbs in Czech and Hungarian languages, which are closely connected with the history as being Central European nations. Historical background is mounted directly on the national territory (including historical area) or in the other state. The first part brings the reader a general overview of phraseology. Trying to explain the theme of phraseology. The second part focuses specifically on individual idioms. Each phrase is accompanied by a brief explanation to the reader to verify that it understands correctly and completely understands it. In the case of Hungarian idioms are translated into Czech. Follows the approach of historical events with regard to their relevance and impact on other events in the country. The conclusion summarizes the findings of historical events in an effort to highlight their importance and their motivation for stabilization in the form of phrases. Key words Phraseology, czech idioms, hungarian idioms, history, historical events

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

Although it is generally accepted that L2 learners of English need to gain a good grasp of idioms, the teaching and learning of idioms in L2 is no easy task. One of the reasons is that idioms are enormous in number. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary (2002) lists over 6,000 idioms which are of contemporary, everyday, use. Another reason is that a considerable number of idioms are figurative in nature---that is, their overall meaning cannot be obtained by simply adding up the literal meanings of the components involved. Added and related to these factors is the fact that the traditional vocabulary listing method adopted in most ESL/EFL textbooks presents each idiom entry and its meaning in such a way that the choice of each single word in the idiom seems random, and the overall figurative meaning deriving from the combination of the constituent words appears inexplicable. Taken together, these factors make idioms one of the most difficult aspects of L2 teaching and learning. / Idioms, which are a type of phraseological unit and are largely figurative in nature, are pervasive and ubiquitous in human language. A significant part of L1 everyday linguistic repertoire is formed by idioms and idiom-like constructions. In fact, the level of command of idioms serves as an important indicator of L2 proficiency. In other words, fluent and native-like language, a concern particularly for many advanced L2 learners, entails a good mastery of idioms. / In the light of the above problems, the present study, founded on Cognitive Linguistics (CL), aims to shed light on a more effective and manageable teaching and learning of L2 idioms by examining the CL theoretical assumptions compatible with L2 pedagogy. The CL feature which possesses the greatest potential for complementing language pedagogy is the notion of 'motivation.' In other words, the author explores, on the one hand, the potential of CL notions such as metaphor and metonymy for providing motivation for L2 idiom pedagogy, and, on the other, the potential of the above notions for comparing L1 and L2 idioms both linguistically and conceptually. Such a linguistic and conceptual comparative analysis of L1 and L2 idioms enables us to anticipate the possible difficulties encountered by L2 learners in learning idioms. / There are three methodologically independent but theoretically coherent research components in the present study. Study One is the elicitation of the body-part idioms in English (L2) and Cantonese (L1). Nine body parts are involved: head, eye/eyes, face, mouth, hand/hands, heart, foot/feet, body and bones. There is an examination of the underlying cognitive motivation (i.e. pure metaphor, pure metonymy, metaphor and metonymy) of each of the elicited idioms in both languages. Study Two is the think-aloud experiment which aims at eliciting from a group of Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English the mental images they produce in response to the English body-part idioms. These mental images should provide insight into the conceptual and linguistic similarities and differences between idioms in the two languages. Study Three is the experimental study. This aims at testing empirically the pedagogical soundness of teaching English idioms using conceptual metaphor and metonymy as well as an English-Cantonese idiom comparison. A total number of 106 Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English majoring in English were invited to participate in the experiment. They were divided into three groups, each of which was treated with a particular L2 idiom learning method. Experimental results show that students receiving the method involving conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and a cross-linguistic comparison (i.e. the '3Cs' method) outperformed students in the other two groups, thus implying the pedagogical soundness of the 3Cs method in enhancing L2 idiom teaching and learning. / Leung, Chung Hong. / Adviser: Peter Crisp. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-09, Section: A, page: . / Thesis submitted in: November 2008. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 351-363). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / Refer to document

Magistro baigiamojo darbo objektas yra angliškų idiomų struktūra bei semantika anglų grožinėje literatūroje ir jų vertimas į lietuvių kalbą. Todėl šio darbo tikslas yra ištyrinėti, kaip angliškos idiomos O.Vaildo „Doriano Grėjaus portretas“ ir A.Merdok „Jūra, jūra...“ romanuose yra verčiamos į lietuvių kalbą ir kaip pasikeičia jų stilistika bei semantika. Pagrindiniai tyrimo metodai yra šie: gretinamasis, statistinis ir mokslinės literatūros analizės metodas. Teorinėje darbo dalyje pristatomos įvairių užsienio ir Lietuvos autorių suformuluotos junginių darybos, idiomatiškumo ir idiomos sąvokos, išskiriami trys pagrindiniai idiomos aspektai: reikšmė, struktūra, funkcija, pateikiama 14 idiomų tipų anglų kalboje, nurodomi pagrindiniai idiomų vertimo metodai, idiomų vertimo sunkumai, apibrėžiamas vertėjo tikslas ir vertimo kokybės svarba. Praktinėje darbo dalyje pristatomas angliškų idiomų vertimas dviejuose romanuose, pateikiamos rekomendacijos, kaip geriau būtų galima jas i��versti į lietuvių kalbą. Tyrimo rezultatai patvirtina moksliniame darbe iškeltą hipotezę, kad vertimo proceso metu idiomų semantikos, stilistikos ir struktūros lygmenyse įvyksta ryškūs pokyčiai.