This document provides a summary of a lecture on linguocultural and pragmatic characteristics of phraseological units. It discusses key topics like the language picture of the world, nationally specific phraseology, proverbs and sayings, difficulties in translation, and the role of phraseology in developing communication competences. Specific examples of idioms, proverbs, and linguocultural phenomena from different languages are analyzed in detail. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of understanding the cultural aspects of language to facilitate intercultural communication.

1. MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY
Lecture 14:
Linguocultural and pragmatic characteristics
of phraseological units
Lecturer : Tukhtakhodjaeva Z.T.
PhD, Associate Professor
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2. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1.The notion of the language picture of the
world
2. Nationally specific peculiarities of
phraseology
3. Proverbs and sayings reflecting the
phraseological world picture
4. Difficulties in translation of phraseological
units
5. Role of phraseology in developing linguistic
and intercultural communication competences
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3. THE LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD
• The language picture of the world is the reflection of the
national worldview in the language;
• A world view (or worldview or world outlook) is the
fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society
encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's
knowledge of the world;
• Some linguists suggest five subcategories of the world view:
world-perceiving, world-conceiving, cultural mindset,
personal world and perspective;
• World view refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs
forming a global description through which an individual,
group or culture watches and interprets the world and
interacts with it.
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4. WHAT IS LIGUOCULTUROLOGY
• One of the interpretations of the language is
that it is a product of culture, its main
component and the condition of existence;
• This approach brought to emerging of a new
interdisciplinary study –Linguoculturology,
which was formed at the turn of two
independent sciences: Linguistics and
Culturology in the last decades of the XX
century.
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5. SOME DEFINITIONS OF LINGUOCULTUROLOGY
• V.N. Teliya defines it as ”a study aiming to investigate and
describe the correlation of the language and culture in the
scope of modern culturally national self-consciousness”
[Телия, 1999: 16];
• V.V. Vorobiev defines it as “an integrated scientific discipline
studying correlation and interaction of the culture and the
language in their functioning and reflecting this process as an
integral structure of the units in both linguistic and extra
linguistic contents” [Воробьев, 2006:37];
• V.V. Krasnikh considers Linguoculturology to be “a discipline
studying demonstration, reflection and fixation of the culture
in the language and discourse” [Красных, 2002:27].
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6. LINGUOCULTUREME
• The term “linguocultureme” was introduced into
Linguistics by V.V. Vorobiev [Воробьев, 2006, 45-50];
• A linguocultureme is a complex, interlevel language
unit which represents a unity of both linguistic (sign,
meaning) and extralinguistic (notion, object)
contents, where ‘extralinguistic’ includes nationally
specific components of meaning;
• It reflects the correlation between the form of a
verbal sign, its semantic content and cultural sense
[Ashurova, 2012:122].
• Example: to set the Thames on fire – зажечь воду в Темзе/ выдумать
порох/хватать звёзды с небес/
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7. NATIONALLY SPECIFIC FEATURES IN PHRASEOLOGY
• English PhUs can be classified into native and
borrowed;
• Native PhUs reflect nationally specific values,
prejudices, images and beliefs, such as to be at sea;
care killed a cat ; a mare’s nest; to carry coal to
Newcastle; to kick the bucket; to have green
fingers, a green-eyed monster, etc. – each one
related to the nationally unique features of the
English culture;
• Borrowed phraseological units can be loans from
different languages, mainly Latin, French and
German.
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8. PROVERBS IN THE LANGUAGE WORLD PICTURE
Proverbs often reflect national values, traditions and
stereotypes some of which can be universal:
• He that marries for wealth sells his liberty;
• A man is as old as he feels, a woman as old as she
looks;
• A hungry man is an angry man;
• A wife and a husband are a whole of two pieces;
• Муж и жена – одна сатана;
• Жена да муж – змея да уж;
• Эр-хотин – қўшҳўкиз.
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9. TRANSLATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
PhUs can be translated by :
• Equivalents: A good wife and health are man’s
best wealth / Не надобен и клад, коли у мужа
с женой лад / Яхши хотин – хазина;
• Analogues: The wife is the key to the house /
Жена -хранительница очага / Хотин уйнинг
чироғи;
• Periphrasis: A good Jack makes a good Jill/У
хорошего мужа и жена хорошая/Хотиннинг
чиройи эридан.
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10. PHRASEOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCES
• Communicative competence includes four
components: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and
strategic competences;
• Role of phraseology in developing linguistic and
intercultural communication competences is very
significant;
• Idioms come to make one-third part of the colloquial
speech. If we develop students’ awareness of using
idiomatic expressions, we are sure to bring them
closer to the authentic English speech.
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11. PHRASEOLOGYAND TRANSLATION
• Idioms are a part of our daily speech. They
give expressiveness and exactness to oral and
written language. It’s not easy to master idioms
fluently.
• Word - for - word translation can change the
meaning of the idiom. So, what is an idiom and
phraseology? How can we translate idioms? Is
it possible to translate idioms word for word
without changing their meaning?
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12. • An idiom is a phrase or expression whose total
holistic meaning differs from the meaning of
the individual words.
• For example, an early bird (a person who gets
up early every morning) or a jail bird (a man
who has been in prison more than once.) are
both English idioms.
• Idioms generally cannot be translated literally
(word for word). They must be learned
through a discourse and communication.
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13. • The origin of the word jailbird can be traced back to the
medieval England, where convicts were often placed in
iron cages suspended several feet above the ground. These
cages were generally visible to passers-by, who were
routinely inspired to refer to the caged occupants as
‘jailbirds’, since they resembled real domesticated birds
kept in real birdcages.
• The "bird" in jailbird may also be connected with British
slang for a prison sentence, as the expression of "doing
bird" meant “being in prison for a crime”, used in the 18th
and 19th centuries;
• Early American slang also included a reference to African
slaves as "blackbirds," which could just as easily be a
reference to their captive status as much as their skin color.
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14. In English someone who is very
clumsy, especially in delicate
situations, could be described as
being like “a bull in a china
shop”.
In French such people are like “an
elephant in a porcelain factory ” (un
elephant dans un magasin de
porcelaine).
In Danish the equivalent is ‘som en
elefant I en glasbutik’ (like an
elephant in a glass store),
In Russian they say ‘Слон в
посудной лавке’.
In Uzbek: ayiqdek qo’pol,
beso’naqay ayiq.
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Idioms with animal names

15. Phraseological fusions are
completely non - motivated
word-groups, such as to flog
a dead horse (to waste one’s
time or efforts.) It’s analogue
might be: стричь голую
овцу; a dog in the manger
(a person who prevents
others from enjoying
something while he/she does
not do it); Rus.: собака на
сене.
Here the meaning of the
components have no
connection whatsoever, at
least synchronically, with the
meaning of the whole group.
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16. To shed crocodile tears -проливать
крокодиловы слезы
The expression comes
from an ancient belief
that crocodiles shed
tears or weep in order
to lure their prey, or
that they cry for the
victims they are
eating.
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17. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - лучше
синица в руках, чем журавль в небе.
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18. cock-and-bull story = untrue story,
nonsense
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19. To play cat and mouse - to play with a person or
animal in a cruel or teasing way, esp. before a final
act of cruelty or unkindness
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20. It’s not an easy life!
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21. • A copy-cat - a
person who
copies or mimics
what someone
else does or says.
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22. A busy bee- a person who is industrious or
has many things to do.
Example:
I phoned Ann yesterday,
but she didn’t pick up the
phone. This week I’ve
phoned her three times,
but I couldn’t get in touch
with her. She has been
busy bee recently.
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23. FISH IDIOMS
‘There are plenty more fish in the
sea’ - There are lots of other
men/women to go out with.
Something people say to someone
who has just split up with a girlfriend
or boyfriend.
“Don’t worry about Jim. There are
plenty more fish in the sea.”
‘Smell fishy’ - If a situation
or an explanation “smells
fishy”, you think that
someone is being dishonest.
“Jim’s version of events
smells a bit fishy to me – I
think he was the one who did
it.”
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24. ‘To fish for information’ - To try to
obtain some/secret information.
A: How much does Bob earn each
year?
B: Why? Are you fishing for
information?
‘To be another kettle of fish” - If you say that
something (or someone) is “another
kettle of fish”, you are saying that it (or he/she) is
completely different.
“I’ve driven a scooter before, but riding on that 600 cc
motorbike is a completely different kettle of fish.”
‘ A queer fish’ - This means a “strange person”.
“He washes his hands about thirty times a day.
He’s a bit of a queer fish.”
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25. ‘As slippery as an eel’ - Someone who is
“as slippery as an eel” is dishonest and
cannot be trusted.
“I wouldn’t go into business with him. He’s
as slippery as an eel.”
‘A red herring’ - Something or someone who takes
your attention away from the main subject. For
example, a character in a film who appears to be
the murderer, when really it is someone else.
“For the first 200 pages of the book I was convinced
that Lord Melbury was the murderer, but that was
just a red herring.”
‘Be packed like sardines’ - If people are “packed like sardines”,
there are many people in a very small space.
“There were fifty of us in the train carriage. We were
packed like sardines.”
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26. INTERNATIONALISMS IN PHRASEOLOGY
Many PhUs enter into the international idiomatic vocabulary.
Examples:
• “Blue blood” – Fr. le sang bleu / Span. la sangre azul / Chech.
modrá krev / Pol. błękitna krew; / Ukr. голуба кров; Gem
blaues Blut; Russian «голубая кровь» is a calque from
English, which is a calque from Spanish - la sangre azul.
Originally it was the name of the Castillia nobles who never
married dark-skinned;
• “To cast pearls before swine” (Bible) – Rus. метать бисер
перед свиньями/ Ger. Perlen von die Saue werfen/ Sp. echar
perlas delante de los puercos; It. gettare le perle dinanzi a
porci, etc.
• “Achilles heel” – Rus. Ахиллесова пята (a weak point) fr.
Greek mythology
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27. CONCLUSION
• It is clearly seen that learning foreign languages
encompasses the cultural aspect of the language;
• Moreover, the need for learning the cultural aspect
of the language and its national peculiarities
facilitates intercultural communication;
• This allows to bring the native and learning
languages closer and become aware of national,
cultural, geographical and historical peculiarities of
the English people;
• The knowledge of the linguocultural aspects of the
language is believed to be crucial for developing
communication skills in the target language.
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28. THE LIST OF RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
• Amosova N.N. “Essentials of English phraseology” , Leningrad -1962
• Smith L.P. “Words and Idioms “, London -1980.
• Fraser B . “Idioms and Idiomaticity”, Cambridge - 1996
• Кунин А В “Фразеология современного английского языка”, M - 1996
• Manser N. Martin “A dictionary of idioms” 1997
• Seid J.and McMordie W. ”Idioms and How to Use Them”, M.- 1983
• www.mes-english.com
• www.tolearnenglish.com
• www.ziyonet.uz
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29. That’s all!
Thank you for your attention!!!
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