Ebook: Idioms: Motivation and etymology

Глава из Kuiper K. (ed.) Yearbook of Phraseology. Berlin, New York (DE GRUYTER MOUTON), 2010
(2010). - Pages 73–96Abstract
One of the questions in idiom research is the extent to which the image component
of a figurative idiom fixed in its inner form reaches into its lexicalized
meaning and consequently its pragmatics. This paper explores two hypotheses:
that traces of the image component of idiom semantics can have an effect on
the usage of the given idiom, and that, in certain cases, its etymology (as a
contributor to its imagery) can thus influence an idiom’s usage conditions. To
test these hypotheses we will use data drawn from large text corpora.
Keywords: idiom motivation; etymology of idioms; image component; intertextuality;
usage restrictions.