English and Bashkir Colour Idioms and Their Classification

XVIII Научно – практическая конференция

Секция «Иностранный язык»

English and Bashkir Colour Idioms and Their Classification

Выполнила: Зиатдинова Юлия,

11класс МОБУ СОШ №15

 Руководитель: Шайбакова М.Р.,

учитель английского языка

Нефтекамск, 2014

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………….…….…..3
2. Main Part

a)  Notion of phraseological units and idioms……………………..…….5

b)  History of studying phraseological units and idioms of the

English, Russian and Bashkir languages………………………………5-7

c)  Classification of phraseological units…………………….……….7-11

     III. Practical research in classification of colour idioms in the    English

and Bashkir languages…………………………………………………….......12-20

    IV. Conclusion…………………………………………………………..….21-23

    V. Bibliography………………………………………………………………...24

    VI. Appendix……………………...……………………………….….……25- 34

                                             Introduction

Idiom is a phrase or expression whose total meaning differs from the meaning of the individual words. For example, an idiom “a black sheep” does not mean “a domestic animal of black colour”, but it means “a worthless person”. Foreign language students must learn them as they learn vocabulary words, because idioms make one third part of the colloquial speech. Idioms are real treasure of each language.                                  

As a word comes to be a very powerful means of communication but also can be a cause of a great misunderstanding if it is not clearly understood by one of the speakers.  

The understanding of the native speaker’s language is the international problem for the students. So it is very important to know the peculiarities of different languages. And the term “idiom” comes from Greek “peculiarity”.

Аs both of the English and Bashkir languages are official languages they are widely used and flexible. The languages enrich their vocabulary constantly. Due to the changes in modern society there appeared a number of new idioms like “yellow journalism”, ”black market”, “black” and “white” salary. So it is very important to be up-to-date for each language learner nowadays.

There has been done much in studying and classification of idioms. Also the approaches to this problem differ a lot. Still there is much to be studied in the field of idioms.

In this paper I am going to define the differences and similarities in idiomatic and stable expressions which signify such notion as “colour” (commonly known as “colour idioms”) and examine the different shades of their meanings in the English and Bashkir languages. How is one and the same colour associated with different feelings and emotions?

The aim of this paper is to research the semantic differences and similarities of idioms of thematic group “colour” taking into account different criteria, compare and contrast the results of investigation in order to discover differences and similarities in translating, meanings and usage.

The objectives of the work are:

1. To compare English and Bashkir idioms of the thematic group “colour”;
2.  To find out the differences in usage of colours in idioms connected with various associations in different languages.

The research materials are the idiomatic expressions of the thematic group of “colour” in the English and Bashkir languages.

The methods of research are: the overall selection (used in gathering the research material), semantic analysis ( used in considering the semantic nature of researched materials)

1. Main Part

1.  Notion of Phraseology and phraseological units or idioms

In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units (often collectively referred to as phrasemes), in which the component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when used independently. For example, ‘Dutch auction’ is composed of the words Dutch ‘of or pertaining to the Netherlands’ and auction ‘public sales in which goods are sold to the highest bidder’, but its meaning is not ‘a sale in the Netherlands where goods are sold to the highest bidder’. Instead, the phrase has a conventionalized meaning referring to any auction where, instead of rising, the prices fall.

Phraseological units differ from free word-groups semantically and structurally: 1) they convey a single concept and their meaning is idiomatic, i.e. it is not a mere total of the meanings of their components 2) they are characterized by structural invariability (no word can be substituted for any component of a phraseological unit without destroying its sense (to have a bee in one’s bonnet (not cap or hat). 3) they are not created in speech but used as ready-made units. Unlike a word, a phraseological unit can be divided into separately structured elements and transformed syntactically. 

2.  History of the development of phraseology

Phraseology is a scholarly approach to language which developed in the twentieth century. It took its start when Charles Bally's notion of locutions phraseologiques entered Russian lexicology and lexicography in the 1930s and 1940s and was subsequently developed in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries. From the late 1960s on it established itself in (East) German linguistics but was also sporadically approached in English linguistics. The earliest English adaptations of phraseology are by Weinreich (1969) within the approach of transformational grammar, Arnold (1973), and Lipka (1992 [1974]). In Great Britain as well as other Western European countries, phraseology has steadily been developed over the last twenty years. The activities of the European Society of Phraseology (EUROPHRAS) and the European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX) with their regular conventions and publications attest to the prolific European interest in phraseology. Bibliographies of recent studies on English and general phraseology are included in Welte (1990) and specially collected in Cowie & Howarth (1996) whose bibliography is reproduced and continued on the internet and provides a rich source of the most recent publications in the field.

It should be recalled that the first attempt to place the study of various word-groups on a scientific basis was made by the outstanding Russian linguist A.A. Shakhmatov. Shakhmatov’s work was continued by Academician V.V. Vinogradov. Investigation of English phraseology was initiated in Russia by professor A. V. Koonin. However, the existing terms, e.g. set-phrases, idioms, word-equivalents, reflect to a certain extent the main debatable issues of phraseology which centre on the divergent views concerning the nature and essential features of phraseological units as distinguished from the so-called free word-groups.

In recent 50-60 years much work has been done in studying of Turkic as well as the Bashkir language phraseology.

In 1960 S.N.Moratov published his book “Set Expressions in Turkic Languages”, where he used and classified set expressions of the Bashkir language. Later Kh.G. Yosopov carried out profound research work on the basis of the novel by Kh.Davletshina “Yrgyz”. One of the famous researchers of the Bashkir phraseology is Zh. Kiyekbayev. He made a lexico-grammatical classification of set expressions, cleared out their morphological structure. Another scientific researcher of the Bashkir language in this field is Z.G.Uraksin. He has been working on defining the inner nature of the units, identifying them among similar phenomena in the Bashkir language, comparing with the cognate or incognate languages. After his research he published his “Phraseological Dictionary of the Bashkir language”.

But language is an endless ocean. So the language research is. There are still a number of problems to be researched. The least studied fields are: the usage of the units within a text, their place as a description device in literature as well as the phraseological units in colloquial and literary speech.

Language is constantly developing and changing. Even a short period of time with its events makes great impact on it. So there is no end of research in languages’ phenomena especially phraseological units or idioms.

c) Classification of phraseological units 

Phraseological units are classified in accordance with several criteria. 
    In the classification proposed by academician Vinogradov phraseological units are classified according to the semantic principle, and namely to the degree of motivation of meaning, i.e. the relationship between the meaning of the whole unit and the meaning of its components. Three groups are distinguished: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства), phraseological combinations (сочетания). 

1. Phraseological fusions are non-motivated. The meaning of the whole is not deduced from the meanings of the components: to kiss the hare’s

foot (опаздывать), to kick the bucket (сыграть в ящик), the king’s picture(фальшивая монета)

2. Phraseological unities are motivated through the image expressed in the whole construction, the metaphors on which they are based are transparent: to turn over a new leaf, to dance on a tight rope.

3. Phraseological combinations are motivated; one of their components is used in its direct meaning while the other can be used figuratively: bosom friend, to get in touch with.

 Professor Smirnitsky classifies phraseological units according to the functional principle. Two groups are distinguished: phraseological units and idioms. 

Phraseological units are neutral, non-metaphorical when compared to idioms: get up, fall asleep, to take to drinking. Idioms are metaphoric, stylistically coloured: to take the bull by the horns, to beat about the bush, to bark up the wrong tree.

Structurally professor Smirnitsky distinguishes one-summit (one-member) and many-summit (two-member, three-member, etc.) phraseological units, depending on the number of notional words: against the grain (не по душе), to carry the day (выйти победителем), to have all one’s eggs in one basket.

Professor Amosova classifies phraseological units according to the type of context. Phraseological units are marked by fixed (permanent) context, which can’t be changed: French leave (but not Spanish or Russian). Two groups are singled out: phrasemes and idioms.

1. Phrasemes consist of two components one of which is praseologically bound, the second serves as the determining context: green eye (ревнивый взгляд), green hand (неопытный работник), green years (юные годы), green wound (незажившая рана), etc. 

2. Idioms are characterized by idiomaticity: their meaning is created by the whole group and is not a mere combination of the meanings of its components: red tape (бюрократическая волокита), mare’s nest (нонсенс), to pin one’s heart on one’s sleeve (не скрывать своих чувств).

Professor Koonin’s classification is based on the function of the phraseological unit in communication. Phraseological units are classified into: nominative, nominative-communicative, interjectional, and communicative.

1. Nominative phraseological units are units denoting objects, phenomena, actions, states, qualities. They can be:

a) substantive – a snake in the grass (змея подколодная), a bitter pill to swallow;

b) adjectival – long in the tooth (старый);

c) adverbial – out of a blue sky, as quick as a flash;

d) prepositional – with an eye to (с намерением), at the head of.

2. Nominative-communicative units contain a verb: to dance on a volcano, to set the Thames on fire (сделать что-то необычное), to know which side one's bread is buttered, to make (someone) turn (over) in his grave, to put the hat on smb’s misery (в довершение всех его бед).

3. Interjectional phraseological units express the speaker’s emotions and attitude to things: A pretty kettle of fish! (Хорошенькое дельце), Good God! God damn it! Like hell!

4. Communicative phraseological units are represented by proverbs (An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening; Never say “never”) and sayings. Sayings, unlike proverbs, are not evaluative and didactic: That’s another pair of shoes! It’s a small world.

Some linguists (N.N. Amosova, J. Casares) don’t include proverbs and sayings into their classifications. Others (I.V. Arnold, A.V. Koonin, and V.V. Vinogradov) do, on the grounds that 1) like in phraseological units their components are never changed 2) phraseological units are often formed on the basis of proverbs and sayings (A drowning man will clutch at a straw → to clutch at a straw).

In dictionaries of idioms the traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units – the thematic principle – is used.

The etymological classification of phraseological units

Sources of idioms:

1. From our everyday life

Ex.: to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

• to sail under false colour (прятать истинное лицо)
• to loose track of somebody (потерять кого-либо из виду, давно не видеть)
• a leopard can(’t) change its spots

2. From the Bible

Ex.: black sheep, lost sheep (заблудшая овца)

• To cast pearls before swine (метать бисер перед свиньями)

3. World literature 

Ex.: to fight against Windmills

• an ugly duckling (Danish) – гадкий утенок

A lot of them were borrowed from works by Shakespeare: a fool’s paradise (“Romeo and Juliet”), the green-eyed monster (“Othello”), murder will out – шила в мешке не утаишь (“Macbeth”), etc. 

4. Different languages

Ex.: to lose face (Chinese)

• “The course of true love has never run smooth” Shakespeare “The 12th night”
• “The course of true reforms has never run smooth in Russia” – “the Times”

A great amount of units were taken from ancient mythology and literature: the apple of discord, the golden age, the thread of Ariadne, at the Greek calends (до греческих календ, никогда), etc, They are international in their character.

5. From history

Ex.: to cross the Rubicon

• Labours of Hercules
• To bell the cat

III. Practical research in classification of colour idioms in the English and Bashkir languages.

Idioms can be divided into groups according to their main word in the word expressions. For example there are food idioms, animal idioms, body idioms, idioms of comparison and colour idioms.

Last year I made a research work on translation idioms of comparison from English into Bashkir and came into conclusion that idioms derived from the culture of the nation and day-to-day life. They help language learners understand culture, penetrate into customs and lifestyle of people, and make a deeper insight into history of the country. For example, the idioms “as black as coal’ in English, “epҙәй ҡара” in Bashkir show that coal-mining was mostly common to England and crop Farming is typical to Bashkirs.

In this work I tried to look into nature of colour idioms in the English and Bashkir languages.

I looked through 200 English, 150 Bashkir colour idioms ( Appendix).

In this charts you can see the frequency of the colour idiom usage in the English and Bashkir languages.

As you see the “ white” and “black” idioms are most frequently used colour idioms.

If I ask what feelings “white” colour is assosiated with you’ll probably say “positive”, and respectively “negative” with the colour “black”. On this account I classified “ white” and “black” idioms into two groups: idioms, expessing positive meaning and idioms, expressing negative meaning.

“White” Idioms

“Black” Idioms

As you see most of the “white” idioms in the English language have negative meaning, while in the Bashkir language “white” idioms mostly express positive meaning.

     As for “black” idioms, in English “black” idioms express mostly negative meaning while in Bashkir there are a lot of “black” idioms with positive meaning.

“Blue” Idioms

The second frequently used colour in English is “blue” while in Bashkir there are quite few of them.

As we see “blue” colour is associated with sadness, boredom, the police and the working class. In Bashkir it is mainly connected with indifference and difficulty (cold, hard work, tiredness).

As for “red” colour it is used very widely as in English as well as in Bashkir.

“Red” Idioms

As we see “red” colour in the English language is associated with excitement, embarrassment, shame, anger (see red, red-hot). In Bashkir “red” colour is connected with the meaning of fire (кыҙыл әтәс, кыҙыл эт). Most of “red” idioms have historical background, connected with the October Revolution in Russia in 1917( кыҙыл коҙа, Кызыл Армия, кыҙыл такта).

“Green” Idioms

The colour “green” is very widely used in the English language and comparatively not very often used in Bashkir.

In English “green” colour is mostly associated with jealousy, being inexperienced, ecology and gardening. In Bashkir “green” colour gives a bit negative colouring (йәшел йылан (alcohol), йәшел ағыу (drugs).

                                                       Conclusion

A language is a living substance, which involves under the influence of different factors. Being very flexible English and Bashkir languages constantly enrich their vocabulary with the word invented by the language speakers, making it more colourful with new idiomatic expressions, and at times refills this stocks with the borrowings and neologism.

In this paper there was conducted analysis of idiomatic expressions of the thematic group “colour” in the English and Bashkir languages. During the investigation there were collected and analyzed 200 English and 150 Bashkir colour idioms.

I have chosen this topic because I think it is obvious that such expressions play an important role in the language. Thus ‘colour” idioms enrich the vocabulary and make the language more colourful and emotionally shadowed.

In this paper the expressions I have found were classified according to the meanings expressed by different colours.

The aim of my investigation was to compare the frequency of the usage of “colour” idioms in two languages, to compare the meanings that each colour express and find out differences and similarities in the “usage” of colours in idioms of the English and Bashkir languages.

My research consisted of the following stages:

• First of all I collected “colour” idioms in English and Bashkir dictionaries of idioms and phraseological units, from the Internet sources, from the literature, from the interviews with my friends, teacher, relatives and other sources and to calculate the frequency of usage of each colour.
• Then I classified the idioms according to the meanings (feelings, emotions) they express in every language. That presented different difficulties as there was a need of proper classification which could illustrate typical features of these stable phrases in English and Bashkir. In the proses of research I came into conclusion that the most frequently used colours in “colour idioms” are: black, white, red in the Bashkir and black, blue, red, white and green in the English languages.

In the process of research I came into conclusion that the most frequently used colours in “colour idioms” are: black, white, red in the Bashkir language and black, blue, red, white and green colours in the English languages.

One of the most unexpected practical findings was the fact that most “white” idioms in the English language have negative meaning; while some “black” idioms in the Bashkir have positive meaning.

The classification of the “colour” idioms according to their expressed meanings may be reflected in the table given below:

Idioms derived from the culture of the nation and from day-to-day life. Idiomatic expressions pervade every language with a peculiar flavor and give it astounding variety, bright character and colour. They help language learners understand culture, penetrate into customs and lifestyle of people, and make a deeper insight into history of the country. For example, the idioms “as black as coal” in English, “ерзәй қара» in Bashkir show that coal-mining was mostly common to England and crop farming is typical to Bashkirs. Whilst, the majority of native language speakers cannot always know the origin of idioms they use, though as long as they utilize them in every day communication, they know its meaning and feel where it is appropriate to use this or that idiom.  I think colour idioms are very important, because they make speech more expressive. They help to express different feelings of people. In literary language as well as in everyday speech we just cannot do without them.

                                               Bibliography

1. A.V.Kunin. English -Russian Phraseological Dictionary.Moscow, 1984.

2. З.Ғ.Урақсин. Башкорт теленең фразеологик  hуҙлеге. Өфө -2006.

3. Useful English , Idioms of Comparison    usefulenglish.ru 2007-2013

4.Cambridge  International  Dictionary of  Idioms      twirpx.com›Cambridge University

5.Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. – Harlow, Pearson Education Limited, 2001

6.Идиомы на шести языках с переводом и толкованием.

http://polyidioms.narod.ru/english_list/ 2010-2011

7.Идиомы, устойчивые выражения на русском языке с объяснением на английском ( Idioms )  http://www.znatok.ua/Russian_idioms

8. Сolour idioms.  http://www.native-english.ru/expressions

9. Английские идиомы в цвете  http://fenglish.ru/anglijskie-idiomy-v-cvete/

Appendix

English Colour Idioms

“White” Idioms:

To be a white elephant

White Christmas

Wave a white flag

White sale

As white as a ghost

Raise a white flag

As white as a sheet

Great white hope

Like white on rice

White feather

White liver

Whitewash (something)

A white-knuckle ride

As white as the driven snow

Whiter than white

White fury (white heat)

White lie

White night

White coffee

White heat

The White House 

“Blue” Idioms:

Cry oneself blue in the face

Look blue

To be feeling blue

Be true blue 

Blue blooded.

Talk a blue streak

A bluestocking  

A bolt from the blue

Boys in blue

Blue collars 

Scream blue murder 

Blue in the face

Until you are blue in the face

Blue blood

Blue-ribbon

Blue devils 

Hot as blue blazes

Thin blue line

Walk the green mile

Blue study

Make the air blue
To drink till all's blue

Once in a blue moon

Blue water

Out of the blue

To look through blue glasses

give somebody the blues

Blue-eyed boy

Blue film

Blue joke

A true blue

“Green” Idioms:

Green belt

Greenhorn

Walk the green mile

Chiste verde (“green joke”)

Green with envy

Green-eyed monster

Green thumb

Be not as green as one is cabbage-looking 

Green wound

Green hand

Green collars 

To look through green glasses

To get the green light

A greenhouse 

Give (someone) the green light

Grass is always greener on the other side (of the fence)

Green around the gills

Green house

Keep a person’s memory green

“Black” Idioms

Things look black

Black looks

Look black

As black as a skillet

Pot calling the kettle black

Black mood

As black as pitch

Black hole

Black will take no other hue

Beyond the black stump

Black as Newgate's knocker

Blue-eyed boy

As black as the ace of spades

As black as a stack of black cats

As black as a sweep

As black as coal

As black as night

Black as hell (night, pitch, my hat)

Black as sin (thunder, thundercloud)

To know black from white

Black as ink

Black and blue

Black and white

Black box

Black market

Black magic

Black out

Blackball (someone)

Blacklist (someone)

Blackmail (someone)

Blackout

In (someone's) black books

Black humor

Black dog 

Lack-tie event/affair

Black dog

Black in the face

Black an eye

Black sheep 

In the black

To put down in black and white

Black smith

Black guard

Be not as black as one is painted

Black-ball

“Red” Idioms:

To have a red face

Out of the red

Paint the town red

Red herring

As red as a cherry

As red as a poppy

As red as a rose

As red as a ruby

Straight red

Not a red cent 

As red as blood

Be in the red

A red flag

red herring

Red-hot

Ears are red

See red

Like waving a red flag in front of a bull

Red-letter day

Red-carpet treatment

Roll out the red carpet

Red tape

Catch (someone) red-handed

The Red Army

Red Cross

Red head

“Purple” Idioms:

To turn purple with rage

To be in / have a purple patch

Shrinking violet

Purple passion

Purple prose

Be born in purple

“Brown” Idioms:

Brown off

As brown as a berry 

In a brown study 

Brown nose

Brown bag it

“Pink” Idioms:

To see the world through rose

In the pink (of condition)

See pink elephants

Tickled pink

Pink slip

Pink of perfection

“Yellow” Idioms:

Have a yellow streak

The yellow press

“Gray” Idioms:

Get gray hair

To go grey 

Grey existence

All cats are grey in the dark 

Grey Cardinal

Grey pound

A gray area

Gray matter

“Golden” Idioms:

Golden opportunity

As good as gold

Black gold

Golden handcuffs

Golden handshake

Golden parachute

Golden rule

A heart of gold

Worth its weight in gold

“Silver” Idioms:

Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

Silver-tongued

Every cloud has a silver lining

Silver screen

Silver bullet

Silver lining

Silver surfer

Off - colour
Come off with flying colours

Cast a false colour on something

Come out in one's true colours
Lay on the colours too thickly

To take one's colour from somebody
To stick to one's colours

To nail one's colours to the mast

To sail under false colours

A horse of a different color

Bashkir Colour Idioms

“White” Idioms:

Ақ бәхет (happiness)

Ақ күнел (kindness)

Ақ юл (wishing good luck before departure)

Ақны қаранан айырыу (to be literate)

Ақ қорбан салыу( to sacrifice)

Ақ йорт (қара йорт) (the rich man’s house)

Ақ һөйәк (noble)

Ақ һақаллы қарт булыу (ақһақал) (a wise man)

Ақ эт бәләһе қара эткә (to be blamed unfairly)

Аҡ әби (the aunt who is elder than one’s parents)

Аҡ бабай (the uncle who is elder than one’s parents)

Ақ билет (a person who can’t  go to the Army has it)

Ақ күбеккә батыу (to try hard)

Ақ армия (the White Army that was against the Revolution in Russia)

Ақ флаг күтәреү (to give in)

Аппағым ( a sweet address to somebody)

“Black” Idioms:

Қара ақыл ( very wise)

Қара алтын (oil)

Қара таныу(to be literate)

Қара таңдан (from early morning)

Қара тиргә батып эшләү (to work hard)

Қара тир түгеү (to work hard)

Қара тырыш  (hardworking)

Қара иҫәп  (approximately)

Қара бауыр ( mean,cruel)

Қара башына  (to wish bad)

Қара бизәктәр менән күрһәтеү (to describe bad)

Қара буран сығыу (scandal)

Қара гүргә инеү(to die)

Қара исемлек (black list)

Қара йөҙлө (angry)

Қара йорәкле (mean)

Қара күкрәк (cruel)

Қара йылан(cruel)

Қара көйөү((to feel sorry)

Қара көн( hard days)

Қара қағыҙ (bad news)

Қара қорһақ (ready to eat everything)

Қара сәүкә кеүек (all together)

Қара тақта (board of shame)

Қара таң (very early)

Қара уй (bad thought)

Қара һақал ( bad fortune)

Қара һарық (illiterate)

Қара эсле (mean)

Қара яға (a worker)

Қара яғыу (to blame)

“Blue” Idioms:

Зәңгәр сәскә (indifference)
зәӊгәрләнгәнсе ( till one gets blue)

“Green” Idioms:

Йэшел йылан (alcohol)

Йәшел ағыу (drugs)

Йәшел бишек (motherland)

Йәшел билет (who is allowed to the military service)

“Red” Idioms:

Кыҙыл ауыҙ- very young

Кыҙыл ҡар яуғас- never

Кыҙыл коҙа – the Soviet Power

Кыҙыл тақта – the board of fame

Кыҙыл туй – a wedding

Кыҙыл олау – the first harvest brought to the elevator

Кыҙыл эт ашаhын – to lose something

Кыҙыл әтәс – fire

Утә ҡыҙыл тиҙ уӊа (very close relationship)
ҡыҙылға ҡыҙыу (love for the bright things)

Yellow Idioms

hары елек – very strong

hарыға hабышыу

hарғаеп кату – to fall ill

hары алтын – very valuable

Golden Idioms

Алтын багана – a supportive person

Алтын қул – a skillful person

Алтын туй – 50th anniversary of the wedding

Алтын hүҙ – a wise word

“Silver” Idioms

Көмөш тамсы (silver drop)