Η εργασία αυτή κινείται στα όρια της μορφολογίας με τη σύνταξη και έχει ως απώτερο στόχο να προσδιορίσει τη θέση της μορφολογίας στο πλαίσιο της γραμματικής. Οι δομές που μελετώνται, τα χαλαρά πολυλεκτικά σύνθετα (βλ. Ράλλη, 2005, προσεχώς), έχουν τη μορφή [Ε Ο] και [Ο Ο σε γενική]. Ανήκουν στην κατηγορία των συνθέτων και ορίζονται ως μορφολογικοί σχηματισμοί. Σε αντίθεση όμως με τα κλασικά σύνθετα, εμφανίζουν συντακτικά χαρακτηριστικά. Στο πλαίσιο επομένως ενός δομικού συνεχούς (Ράλλη 2005) οι σχηματισμοί αυτοί θα μπορούσαν να τοποθετηθούν εντός της μορφολογίας, στα όρια όμως με τη σύνταξη. Στην εργασία αυτή θα αναλυθούν οι ξεχωριστές ιδιότητες των χαλαρών πολυλεκτικών συνθέτων και θα διαφοροποιηθούν τόσο από τις ονοματικές φράσεις, όσο και από τις ενδιάμεσες δομές. Η διαφοροποίηση των τριών ειδών δεν αποκλείει όμως την κοινή αναπαράστασή τους, με τη μορφή σχεδίων παραγωγής λέξεων, σε ένα ιεραρχημένο δομησιολόγιο, έτσι όπως προτείνεται από το θεωρητικό πλαίσιο της Δομησιακής Γραμματικής (Construction Grammar, Booij 2005). Στο ίδιο δομησιολόγιο εντάσσονται και οι σχηματισμοί της μορφής [Ο Ο σε ονομαστική], για τους οποίους υποστηρίζεται ότι βρίσκονται σε διαδικασία γλωσσικής αλλαγής και συγκεκριμένα μορφολογοποίησης. / The main object of my assignment is the analysis of loose multi-word compounds in Greek. There are two possible structures of multi-word compounds in Greek. So they appear combinations of adjective and noun, for example «μαύρη λίστα» (black list) and combinations of a noun in nominative and an other one in genitive, for example «μηχανικός αυτοκινήτων» (engineer of cars). It is argued that multi-word compounds are object of morphological analysis because they share a lot of common characteristics with the classical one-word compounds. I could mention their non compositional meaning. At the same time they share some syntactic features or properties. These compounds consist of two words like a syntactic construction. There is also agreement or inflection. So the object of this work is considered to be the interaction between morphology and syntax, because multi-word compounds in Greek are morphological constructions, in which syntax has some kind of authority. In this analysis are used some tests in order to distinguish similar formations, like noun phrases or compound-like phrases. Even though these kinds of structures do not belong in morphology, are represented in the same way in a hierarchical construction. The same fact occurs also for structures, which consist of two nouns both in nominative, for example «άνθρωπος αράχνη» (man spider). This kind of structure is considered to be under morphologization.

La traduction statistique requiert des corpus parallèles en grande quantité. L’obtention de tels corpus passe par l’alignement automatique au niveau des phrases. L’alignement des corpus parallèles a reçu beaucoup d’attention dans les années quatre vingt et cette étape est considérée comme résolue par la communauté. Nous montrons dans notre mémoire que ce n’est pas le cas et proposons un nouvel aligneur que nous comparons à des algorithmes à l’état de l’art. Notre aligneur est simple, rapide et permet d’aligner une très grande quantité de données. Il produit des résultats souvent meilleurs que ceux produits par les aligneurs les plus élaborés. Nous analysons la robustesse de notre aligneur en fonction du genre des textes à aligner et du bruit qu’ils contiennent. Pour cela, nos expériences se décomposent en deux grandes parties. Dans la première partie, nous travaillons sur le corpus BAF où nous mesurons la qualité d’alignement produit en fonction du bruit qui atteint les 60%. Dans la deuxième partie, nous travaillons sur le corpus EuroParl où nous revisitons la procédure d’alignement avec laquelle le corpus Europarl a été préparé et montrons que de meilleures performances au niveau des systèmes de traduction statistique peuvent être obtenues en utilisant notre aligneur. / Current statistical machine translation systems require parallel corpora in large quantities, and typically obtain such corpora through automatic alignment at the sentence level: a text and its translation . The alignment of parallel corpora has received a lot of attention in the eighties and is largely considered to be a solved problem in the community. We show that this is not the case and propose an alignment technique that we compare to the state-of-the-art aligners. Our technique is simple, fast and can handle large amounts of data. It often produces better results than state-of-the-art. We analyze the robustness of our alignment technique across different text genres and noise level. For this, our experiments are divided into two main parts. In the first part, we measure the alignment quality on BAF corpus with up to 60% of noise. In the second part, we use the Europarl corpus and revisit the alignment procedure with which it has been prepared; we show that better SMT performance can be obtained using our alignment technique.

Adopting a minimalist framework, the dissertation provides an analysis for the syntactic structure of comparatives, with special attention paid to the derivation of the subclause. The proposed account explains how the comparative subclause is connected to the matrix clause, how the subclause is formed in the syntax and what additional processes contribute to its final structure. In addition, it casts light upon these problems in cross-linguistic terms and provides a model that allows for synchronic and diachronic differences. This also enables one to give a more adequate explanation for the phenomena found in English comparatives since the properties of English structures can then be linked to general settings of the language and hence need no longer be considered as idiosyncratic features of the grammar of English. First, the dissertation provides a unified analysis of degree expressions, relating the structure of comparatives to that of other degrees. It is shown that gradable adjectives are located within a degree phrase (DegP), which in turn projects a quantifier phrase (QP) and that these two functional layers are always present, irrespectively of whether there is a phonologically visible element in these layers. Second, the dissertation presents a novel analysis of Comparative Deletion by reducing it to an overtness constraint holding on operators: in this way, it is reduced to morphological differences and cross-linguistic variation is not conditioned by way of postulating an arbitrary parameter. Cross-linguistic differences are ultimately dependent on whether a language has overt operators equipped with the relevant – [+compr] and [+rel] – features. Third, the dissertation provides an adequate explanation for the phenomenon of Attributive Comparative Deletion, as attested in English, by way of relating it to the regular mechanism of Comparative Deletion. I assume that Attributive Comparative Deletion is not a universal phenomenon, and its presence in English can be conditioned by independent, more general rules, while the absence of such restrictions leads to its absence in other languages. Fourth, the dissertation accounts for certain phenomena related to diachronic changes, examining how the changes in the status of comparative operators led to changes in whether Comparative Deletion is attested in a given language: I argue that only operators without a lexical XP can be grammaticalised. The underlying mechanisms underlying are essentially general economy principles and hence the processes are not language-specific or exceptional. Fifth, the dissertation accounts for optional ellipsis processes that play a crucial role in the derivation of typical comparative subclauses. These processes are not directly related to the structure of degree expressions and hence the elimination of the quantified expression from the subclause; nevertheless, they are shown to be in interaction with the mechanisms underlying Comparative Deletion or the absence thereof. / Unter Verwendung eines minimalistischen Frameworks wird in der Dissertation eine Analyse der syntaktischen Struktur von Vergleichskonstruktionen vorgestellt, mit besonderem Augenmerk auf der Ableitung des eingebetteten Satzes. Die vorgeschlagene Analyse erklärt, wie der komparative Nebensatz mit dem Matrixsatz verbunden ist, wie der Nebensatz in der Syntax gebildet wird und welche zusätzlichen Prozesse zu seiner endgültigen Struktur beitragen. Außerdem beleuchtet sie diese Probleme aus cross-linguistischer Sicht und bietet ein Modell, das synchrone und diachrone Unterschiede berücksichtigt. Dies ermöglicht auch eine adäquatere Erklärung der Phänomene in englischen Vergleichskonstruktionen, da die Eigenschaften der englischen Strukturen mit allgemeinen Eigenschaften der Sprache verknüpft werden und es daher nicht mehr nötig ist, sie als idiosynkratrische Merkmale der Grammatik der englischen Sprache zu behandeln. Die Dissertation bietet zum einen eine einheitliche Analyse von Gradphrasen, wobei die Struktur von Vergleichskonstruktionen mit der von anderen Graden verbunden wird. Es wird gezeigt, dass graduierbare Adjektive sich in einer Gradphrase (degree phrase, DegP) befinden, die wiederum eine Quantorenphrase (QP) projiziert, und dass diese beiden Funktionsschichten immer vorhanden sind, unabhängig davon, ob es ein phonologisch sichtbares Element in diesen Schichten gibt. Zweitens präsentiert die Dissertation eine neue Analyse von Komparativ-Tilgung (Comparative Deletion), die auf eine Overtheits-Bedingung für Operatoren reduziert wird: dadurch wird das Phänomen auf morphologische Unterschiede zurückgeführt, und cross-linguistische Variation wird nicht durch die Postulierung eines arbiträren Parameters begründet. Cross-linguistische Unterschiede sind letztlich davon abhängig, ob eine Sprache overte Operatoren mit den relevanten Merkmalen – [+ compr] und [+ rel] – hat. Drittens bietet die Dissertation eine adäquate Erklärung für das Phänomen der attributiven Komparativ-Tilgung (Attributive Comparative Deletion), wie man sie im Englischen findet, indem sie mit dem regulären Mechanismus der Komparativ-Tilgung in Zusammenhang gebracht wird. Ich gehe davon aus, dass attributive Komparativ-Tilgung kein universelles Phänomen ist, und dass ihr Vorhandensein im Englischen durch unabhängige, allgemeinere Regeln erfasst werden kann, während das Fehlen solcher Regeln zur Abwesenheit des Phänomens in anderen Sprachen führt. Viertens erklärt die Dissertation bestimmte Phänomene in Bezug auf diachronische Veränderungen und untersucht, wie Veränderungen im Status der Komparativoperatoren beeinflussen, ob Komparativ-Tilgung in einer Sprache vorkommt: Ich argumentiere dafür, dass nur Operatoren ohne eine lexikalische XP grammatikalisiert werden können. Die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen sind im Wesentlichen allgemeine Prinzipien der Ökonomie, und damit sind die Prozesse nicht sprachspezifisch oder Ausnahmen. Fünftens bietet die Dissertation eine Erklärung für optionale Ellipsenprozesse, die bei der Ableitung von typischen komparativen Nebensätzen eine entscheidende Rolle spielen. Diese Prozesse haben nicht direkt mit der Struktur von Gradphrasen und somit mit der Entfernung der quantifizierten Phrase aus dem Nebensatz zu tun; aber es wird gezeigt, dass sie mit den Mechanismen, die Komparativ-Tilgung oder deren Abwesenheit zugrunde liegen, interagieren.

In this thesis the structure of the nominal group in Black South African English (BSAfE) is investigated by means of a comparison of data from the Tswana Learner English Corpus (TLEC) and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS). Both corpora consist of student essays and are sub-corpora of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). The TLEC represents a non-native variety of English, namely BSAfE, while LOCNESS represents native English from the United States and the United Kingdom. In the existing literature there are observations about and examples of (non-standard) characterizing features of BSAfE pertaining to nouns, determiners and quantifiers (e.g. Gough 1996), but until now, no in-depth study of the grammar of the nominal group in BSAfE has been undertaken. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. I present a description of the grammatical features of BSAfE observed in the corpus data in terms of linguistic functions and without assuming that they are errors or evidence of deficiencies. Though the approach is comparative (in the sense that a control corpus is used), it is primarily descriptive and non-normative, and as such, function-based. This study is conducted within the theoretical framework of functional linguistics, drawing on systemic functional linguistics as well as other functional and cognitive approaches to language. The specifying functions that the nominal group and its elements may fulfill form the basis of the descriptive framework. These functions are (1) the type-specifying function of the noun, (2) the (referent-)specifying function of the determiner, (3) quantification and (4) quality specification by modifiers and complements. The type-specifying function of the noun is particularly relevant in Chapter 4, which deals with the grammatical patterns of the noun people, although it also informs analyses in Chapters 5 and 6 which deal with determiners and quantification respectively. Quality specification is especially relevant in the description of the grammatical patterns of the noun people. The noun people is the most frequent noun in each of the corpora, but is at the same time a positive keyword in the TLEC, which means that it occurs much more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Analysis of the full corpus concordances of this noun provides much evidence of anti-deletion in BSAfE (as first postulated by Mesthrie, 2006) and also sheds some light on left dislocation patterns involving the noun people (cf. Mesthrie, 1997). This analysis also reveals unique uses of the definite article and certain quantifying constructions in the TLEC data, which are investigated in the next two analysis chapters. A comparison of concordance samples of the articles indicates that the definite/indefinite distinction is made in both corpora and that there is not enough corpus evidence to postulate that there is a different system underlying the choice of article in BSAfE, such as a system based principally on the specific/non-specific distinction, as postulated by Platt, Weber and Ho (1984) for New Englishes in general. Analysis of the concordances of demonstrative and possessive determiners indicate that these determiners are used proportionally more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Concordances of the words that are normally classified as quantifiers indicate that there are many more partitive-of quantifying constructions in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. The words some and most are positive keywords in the TLEC. After analyses of their concordances, it is concluded that their relative frequency can be attributed to the fact that some is often used merely as an indefinite marker and that most is often used as a synonym for many. The study shows that BSAfE largely shares its general grammar of the nominal group with other (including native) varieties of English, but at a finer level of analysis, some characteristic constructions and uses are detected. The corpus data indicate that the unique constructions in the TLEC data are mostly functionally motivated. These constructions represent conventionalized innovations in the sense used by Van Rooy (2010), rather than mere language learning errors. / Thesis (PhD (Linguistics and Literary Theory))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

In this thesis the structure of the nominal group in Black South African English (BSAfE) is investigated by means of a comparison of data from the Tswana Learner English Corpus (TLEC) and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS). Both corpora consist of student essays and are sub-corpora of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). The TLEC represents a non-native variety of English, namely BSAfE, while LOCNESS represents native English from the United States and the United Kingdom. In the existing literature there are observations about and examples of (non-standard) characterizing features of BSAfE pertaining to nouns, determiners and quantifiers (e.g. Gough 1996), but until now, no in-depth study of the grammar of the nominal group in BSAfE has been undertaken. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. I present a description of the grammatical features of BSAfE observed in the corpus data in terms of linguistic functions and without assuming that they are errors or evidence of deficiencies. Though the approach is comparative (in the sense that a control corpus is used), it is primarily descriptive and non-normative, and as such, function-based. This study is conducted within the theoretical framework of functional linguistics, drawing on systemic functional linguistics as well as other functional and cognitive approaches to language. The specifying functions that the nominal group and its elements may fulfill form the basis of the descriptive framework. These functions are (1) the type-specifying function of the noun, (2) the (referent-)specifying function of the determiner, (3) quantification and (4) quality specification by modifiers and complements. The type-specifying function of the noun is particularly relevant in Chapter 4, which deals with the grammatical patterns of the noun people, although it also informs analyses in Chapters 5 and 6 which deal with determiners and quantification respectively. Quality specification is especially relevant in the description of the grammatical patterns of the noun people. The noun people is the most frequent noun in each of the corpora, but is at the same time a positive keyword in the TLEC, which means that it occurs much more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Analysis of the full corpus concordances of this noun provides much evidence of anti-deletion in BSAfE (as first postulated by Mesthrie, 2006) and also sheds some light on left dislocation patterns involving the noun people (cf. Mesthrie, 1997). This analysis also reveals unique uses of the definite article and certain quantifying constructions in the TLEC data, which are investigated in the next two analysis chapters. A comparison of concordance samples of the articles indicates that the definite/indefinite distinction is made in both corpora and that there is not enough corpus evidence to postulate that there is a different system underlying the choice of article in BSAfE, such as a system based principally on the specific/non-specific distinction, as postulated by Platt, Weber and Ho (1984) for New Englishes in general. Analysis of the concordances of demonstrative and possessive determiners indicate that these determiners are used proportionally more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Concordances of the words that are normally classified as quantifiers indicate that there are many more partitive-of quantifying constructions in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. The words some and most are positive keywords in the TLEC. After analyses of their concordances, it is concluded that their relative frequency can be attributed to the fact that some is often used merely as an indefinite marker and that most is often used as a synonym for many. The study shows that BSAfE largely shares its general grammar of the nominal group with other (including native) varieties of English, but at a finer level of analysis, some characteristic constructions and uses are detected. The corpus data indicate that the unique constructions in the TLEC data are mostly functionally motivated. These constructions represent conventionalized innovations in the sense used by Van Rooy (2010), rather than mere language learning errors. / Thesis (PhD (Linguistics and Literary Theory))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

En el trabajo la semántica y pragmática de formas contraídas y no-contraídas en Alemán serán discutidas. Formas contraídas son preposiciones con sufijos flexionales, obligatorias en contextos en las que el contenido descriptivo del sintagma nominal es cierto de un individual o evento (expresiones que excluyen alternativas, referentes deducibles, Situative Unika, infinitivos nominalizados, referentes no específicos). Muchos autores consideran que las formas tienen artículos definidos que fusionan con una preposición. En contrario, propongo un análisis en términos de incorporación semántica en que una preposición tiene rasgos de caso, número y género. Interpretaciones únicas provienen del número singular y del contexto. Interpretaciones no específicas provienen de la semántica y el hecho de que el argumento nominal tiene menos rango que el argumento eventivo. / The semantics and pragmatics of contracted and non-contracted forms found in German will be discussed. Contracted form are prepositions with inflectional endings, and obligatory in contexts in which the descriptive content of the noun fits only one individual or event ("alternative-excluding" expressions, inferable referents, Situative Unika, nominalized infinitives, non-specific referents). Most accounts assume that contracted forms have underlying definite articles which have amalgamated with a preposition. In contrast, I propose to analyse these forms as semantically incorporating prepositions, which are inflected for (singular) number, gender, and case, and combine with noun phrases. Uniqueness effects are derived from singular number and from contextual entailments. Non-specific readings can directly be accounted for since the semantics predicts narrow scope of the nominal argument with respect to the event argument.

Written communication is an integral part of any organisation regardless of size or the nature of its business. The writer chooses words that should be understood by the readers. However, these words have been chosen based on a variety of factors, one of which is personality type, and the writer's personality type may differ from that of the readers. The research question underpinning this study is - In what ways, if at all, do personality types (as determined by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and most frequently found in management positions), select and use different words and phrases when writing business communication? To investigate this question, the psychological type theory of Jung, the personality type theory of Briggs and Myers, and organisational communication theory are applied. The methodology used is descriptive research with the documents analysed using content analysis, employing NUD.IST Vivo in conjunction with manual assessment. The research findings confirm that each personality type does use different words, validating personality type theory and therefore, making a contribution to the expanding body of research in this field. The knowledge gained from this study has significance in areas related to organisations as well as education and communication theory.

[pt] Esta tese visa propor uma delimitação ontológica entre eventos, fatos e estados de coisas, a partir de uma ontologia realista/platonista, e relacionar a ontologia lógica à linguagem em uso, a partir da análise da referência a essas entidades. Eventos, fatos e estados de coisas têm estado presentes na discussão analítica desde os tempos de Frege; no entanto, a discussão ainda continua. Eventos têm sido reduzidos a objetos, a fatos e a estados de coisas; fatos têm sido reduzidos a estados de coisas e a proposições; estados de coisas e fatos têm sido considerados como a mesma entidade, e assim por diante. Essas três entidades estão associadas à linguagem desde os tempos de Russell (1918). Os fatos eram relacionados às afirmações verdadeiras, sendo compreendidos como as entidades às quais apontavam essas afirmações. Os eventos eram relacionados com as sentenças de ação. De acordo com Davidson (1981a), temos sentenças de ação porque há eventos no mundo. Embora esta tese vise relacionar a ontologia à linguagem em uso, ela as desvincula num primeiro momento; por isso define a ontologia independentemente da linguagem. Propõe que a diferença entre eventos, fatos e estados de coisas é que os primeiros são concretos e os últimos, abstratos, entre outras características. Uma vez definida a ontologia, a relacionamos, a partir da referência, com a linguagem em uso. Analisamos se é possível referir a essas entidades a partir da análise de certas construções linguísticas, e vemos se é possível estabelecer tal relação a partir dessa análise. / [en] This thesis proposes an ontological delimitation between events, facts and states of affairs. It does so from a Platonist/realist perspective. It also relates the logic ontology to language use through the analysis of reference to these entities. Events, facts, and states of affairs have been present in the discussion of analytical philosophy from the times of Frege. However, the discussion still continues, and nothing has been defined. Events have been reduced to objects, facts and states of affairs. Facts have been reduced to states of affairs and propositions. States of affairs and facts have been considered as the same entity by some authors, and so forth. These three entities have been associated to language since the times of Russell (1918). Facts were related to true statements, and were understood as entities to which those statements pointed. Events were related to action sentences. According to Davidson (1981a), we have action sentences because there are events in the world. Though this thesis relates ontology to language, it defines ontology independent of language use. That is, ontology is defined without taking language use into account. It proposes that the difference between events, facts, and states of affairs is that the first are concrete, and the last abstract. Among other characteristics. Once we define the ontology, we relate it to language use through reference. We analyze whether it s possible to refer to events, facts, and states of affairs, because we understand that it is through reference that we may establish the relationship between ontology and linguistics.

On the assumption that the translation strategies used to translate American fast-food advertisements into Arabic cause the Arabic translations to be culturally bound to their originals, the aim of the present study is to identify such translation strategies. The study was conducted with the aid of questionnaires as a primary research method to obtain data which are then complemented by means of textual analyses of the corpus. The findings reveal that the main translation strategies used to translate phrases in fast-food advertisements from English into Arabic are borrowing and transliteration. The overall finding is that inadequate translations of culture-specific concepts, phrases, logos and terms produce target texts which are bound to the source texts. This causes the translations to be rejected by the target culture. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka mellanstadieelevers förståelse av idiomatiska uttryck samt huruvida de känner igen idiomatiska uttryck till sin form och jämföra detta inom ämnena svenska och engelska. Vidare ämnar detta examensarbete att undersöka om det finns någon åldersprogression sett till elevernas förståelse av idiomatiska uttryck samt undersöka hur lärare arbetar med idiom. För att undersöka dessa frågor har en enkätundersökning samt intervjuer med lärare genomförts. Enkätundersökningen genomfördes på två olika skolor i Mellansverige, där totalt 196 elever från årskurs 4–6 deltog. Intervjuerna genomfördes på respektive skola med totalt fem legitimerade lärare. Undersökningen visar att förståelsen för idiomatiska uttryck, generellt sett, är relativt låg där elevernas förståelse för svenska idiom är högre än förståelsen för engelska idiom. Progressionen gällande engelska idiom följer en mer linjär utvecklingskurva medan progressionen gällande svenska idiom avtar efter årskurs fem. I ämnet svenska uppvisar eleverna en större förståelse för idiomens form, hur ett uttryck är uppbyggt, än betydelsen av dessa medan i ämnet engelska uppvisar eleverna motsatt resultat, det vill säga, större förståelse för idiomens betydelse än form. Resultatet visar att lärare i både ämnet svenska och ämnet engelska arbetar med idiomatiska uttryck i liten utsträckning. I ämnet svenska arbetar lärarna sporadiskt med idiom, i stort sett endast när det uppkommer i skönlitterära texter som eleverna läser och de få gånger det förekommer i läromedel. I ämnet engelska är arbetet med idiomatiska uttryck något mer planerat och strukturerat. / The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare middle school student’s understanding of Swedish and English idiomatic expressions. Furthermore, this study aims at investigating whether there is any age progression in the understanding of idioms and examine how teachers work with idiomatic expressions. The study was conducted at two different schools and a total of 196 students from year group 4 - 6 participated in a questionnaire survey and a total of five legitimized teachers was interviewed. The study shows that the overall understanding of idiomatic expressions is relatively low. However, the understanding of Swedish idioms is higher than the understanding of English idioms. The progression of English idiom comprehension follows a more linear development curve, while the progression of Swedish idiom comprehension decreases after year five. In Swedish, students show a greater understanding of the idiomatic form, how an expression is structured, rather than the actual meaning of the expression. In English idiomatic comprehension, the study shows that the students have a greater understanding when it comes to the meaning of the expression rather than the form. The result of the interviews shows that teachers, in both subjects, works with idiomatic expressions to a small extent. Swedish teachers work sporadically when idioms occur in fictional texts or when they appear in other educational materials. English teachers, on the other hand, work with idiomatic expressions in a more planned and structured way.