Gninenko Anna

Supervisor - Narmukhametova N.M.

Eurasian National University named after L.N. Gumilev

Idioms in english and russian.

What is an idiom? How many different types of idioms there are in English? Where do they come from? Are people from different cultures and backgrounds able to understand idioms from only the context? This has shown to be a subject of debate. It may be best to start with the definition of an idiom. An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be made understood literally, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. Many linguists would say that idioms are figures of speech that deny the principle of compositionality. It might mean that idioms are words collocated together, which become fixed over time. These word expressions are first commonly used in groups, slowly changing the definitions of each of the constituents forming one word group that develops a specialized meaning, thus creating an idiom. The assignment consists of studying idioms in the sense of phrageological and cultural aspects. To begin, the general classification will be introduced, after which a short classification of one famous linguists in Russia, A.V. Koonin, will be given. A review will then be conducted of the various similarities and differences between idioms that make use of color, clothes and proper nouns in English and Russian. The conclusion is composed of the sources of idioms.

Idioms are like "cuts" of languages diachronic development. Connotative meaning of idioms reflect the public consciousness of nations, as well as peculiarities of their mentalities. Looking at the similarities and differences between idioms in English and Russian, four main factors appear: traditional-historic, semantic-homonymic, semantic-evaluating and perception-stipulated factors.

As an example, the connotative meaning of colors within the British/American and Russian cultures and languages was chosen as the topic of research.

Analyzing "colored" idioms in the given languages, it is readily apparent that the connotative meaning of some colors are not always universal within the same culture - they diverge. Symbols of color usually are deeply connected with national, political, historical and religious aspects. The color green in the English language possesses both positive and negative connotations, e.g.:

green with envy'; to look through green glasses' - to envy, to be jealous;

Do you see any green in my eye?' - meaning Do I seem inexperienced to you?".

to get the green light', to give the green light';

to have green fingers' (in British English) or to have a green thumb' (in American English).

Positive connotations of the idioms coincide with those used in the Russian language, as they were borrowed by Russian from English and/or French. In the Russian language and mentality, the connotative field of the green color' is more positive than that in English.

The red color' in the Russian and English languages and cultures are polar, which is stipulated by traditional-historic and semantic-homonymic factors. Historically, the Russian word red' had a homonym meaning beautiful,' fine.' Russians still understand and use idioms connected with this understanding of red.' The Russian language uses red' to describe a bonny lass, a glorious summer, gorgeous sunshine, a witticism, a maximum price (top dollar Amer.), a new paragraph, etc. This is contrasted by English, in which red' is shown in idioms to have a mostly negative meaning: to be in the red, to see red, red tape, to catch (someone) red-handed.

Black and white' have the same meaning in both languages, being used to show that there is written proof of it or everything is clear: e.g.:

(36) It's written in black and white in your contract.'

Sometimes it may happen that the use of color can be completely lost or changed.

As was mentioned before, idioms are like a mirror of the culture. There are some word expressions that contain proper nouns. Proper nouns are the names of individual people, places, titles, calendar times, etc. and are not always clear for everybody. For English speakers, it would be difficult to grasp the meaning of the idiom "где? где? в Караганде!" (Where? Where? In Karaganda!), as they are unlikely to know what Карагандa' is: a small city in Kazakhstan, or they would think that it was a usual answer to the question where.' But this idiomatic expression employs rhyme and is used as a response to a stupid question. Just the same, Russian speakers would not catch the meaning of the idiom Jack of all trades,' because they may think that one is talking about a real man called Jack. That is quite interesting, but it may also result in a misunderstanding between people from different cultures.

Another interesting area from which English and Russian idioms borrow their words is the sphere of clothes. Some idioms are identical in the two languages, such as keep something zipped' in English, or держать рот на замке' (keep one s mouth zipped) in Russian. They are also totally different in expressions with the meaning of being in someone else s place: put oneself in someone else's shoes' - English; быть в чьей то шкуре' (to wear someone s coat or skin). Another way of showing how different meaning can be is taking one word and looking how it can be interpreted in another context. The word hat' appears in the idiom дело в шляпе' (one's business is in the hat) in Russian, meaning that something is well done and at the drop of a hat' in English idiom with a meaning of doing something without needing any advance notice.

The main goal of this paper was to look at what an idiom is and to know how to use them in context of culture. It is very important for those who are studying and will teach a foreign language, as idioms have the ability to empower one`s speech and give a chance to understand the culture of speaking language more deeply. Having a good knowledge of words is not enough to see the ulterior meaning of such great and strong expressions as idioms; they must be studied from a linguistic and cultural point of view.To accomplish this, this paper compared idioms of two languages: English and Russian, demonstrating the vast variety of idioms, as well as how difficult they can be to understand. The study of idioms may become an important and helpful theme for those who wish to get clear idea of a language: of its structure and roots. Idioms are a large and interesting layer of peoples' lives, because they are not only linguistic phenomenon, but they also show some interesting points in history and mentality of the the nation. And as phraseology is one of the brightest and effective instruments in any language, use of idioms can help to avoid being dry or faceless in the moment of speech. It really makes our language poetic and solemn in some ways, but simple and precise in other ways.

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