[Lexicog] Idiom of Mine
Ronald Moe
ron_moe at SIL.ORG
Tue Oct 21 18:39:30 UTC 2008
Scott Nelson wrote:
"The second meaning is more general -- something like this: the uniqueness
and characteristics of a language."
Thanks, Scott. This was excellent. You mentioned (above quote) a second
meaning of idiom, but didn't expand on it (unless I missed it). Did you mean
things like the difference between "I have it," and "It is with me"? Most
languages expression possession in one of these two ways-with a verb 'have'
or with a phrase 'be with (smb)'. Is this the sort of idiom you were
referring to? -not exactly a 'set phrase' but a unique or at least
unpredictable wording.
We run into this sort of thing in translation. Sometimes a translation in
the target language will be worded exactly the same as the original sentence
except for differences of word order and grammar. You can match the words in
the original and the words in the translation almost on a one-to-one basis.
Other times the translation has to be "reworded" so that there is almost no
word-for-word correspondence. There may be no idioms (using your first
definition) in either the original or the translation, but the way the
meaning is expressed is 'idiomatic' (unique) in the two.
Ron Moe
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Subject: [Lexicog] Idiom of Mine
Ron, Wayne, Scott C., David, et al: My best, and simplified, reading
of the definition(s) of `language idiom' (vs. 'artistic
idiom') boil down to two main ones. The first, and I think the most
common, is simply: a nonliteral phrase. This
could be conisidered a synonym of 'metaphor' (meaning a nonliteral,
figuratively used word) except that an idiom uses
more than one word (i.e a set phrase). The second meaning is more
general -- something like this: the uniqueness
and characteristics of a language.
As to what constitutes `nonliteral' is tricky, since to a native
speaker, the common understanding of a nonliteral
phrase renders it almost literal. For instantance, an example from
the metaphorical category could be `fire.' The first
time the word `fire' was used figuratively, it was indeed nonliteral
(figurative), but what modern, native English speaker ever
thinks of a flame when they hear someone say, "I got fired."
I think of idioms (e.g. Get off my back!; You're barking up the
wrong tree.), allusions (e.g. Bangalore is the
Silicon Valley of India), proverbs (e.g. A penny saved is a penny
earned), hyperbole (e.g. I told you a million times
not to exaggerate.), (some) quotes (e.g. Never ask to know for whom
the bell tolls, it tolls for thee), jargon phrases
(e.g. What's the bottom line? (accounting), as all `idiomatic.' The
use of the word in the adjective form here (idomatic)
is in the nonliteral phrase category -- not the `characteristics of a
language' category. It is rather easy to see the
meaning of the term here.
Additionally, there are deviations from a simple-listed form of
an idiom, such as:
bring off a deal
close a deal
conclude a deal
cut a deal
hammer out a deal
ink a deal
land a deal
seal a deal
strike a deal
swing a deal
So are there ten idioms here, or only one main idom -- with ten
fairly interchangeable introductory verbs?
So in terms of counting the number of idioms in the English
language (or any language), it is on a sliding scale,
and depends on the size of your dictionary, thesaurus, or glossary,
and depends on your inclusion of those other
rhetorical forms. I think I have catalogued about 25,000 -- 30,000 if
you use that parameter. Probably about 15,000 --
20,000 using a more standard parameter.
Hope this made sense, guys and gals.
Scott Nelson
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