XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

Set phrases are used as expressive means of language which already makes them the object of interest for stylistics.

Linguistic fusions are set phrases, the meaning of which is understood only from the combination as a whole: to pull person’s leg -дразнить.

The meaning of the whole cannot be derived from the meanings of the component parts. The stylistic device of decomposition of fused set phrases consists in reviving the independent meanings which make up the component parts of the fusion.

Set expressions are usually decomposed for creating a humorous, ironic, sarcastic effect or even the atmosphere of absurdity.

Here is a good example of the effective use of this device. The poet mocks at the absurd notion of idealists who deny the existence of every kind of matter whatsoever:

“When Bishop Berkley said: “there was no matter”

And proved it—’twas no matter what he said.” (Byron)

In the sentence “It was raining cats and dogs, and two kittens and a puppy landed on my window-sill” (Chesterton) the fusion ‘to rain cats and dogs’ is freshened by the introduction of “kittens and a puppy,” which changes the unmotivated combination into a metaphor which in its turn is sustained. The expression ‘to save one’s bacon’ means to escape from injury or loss.

By decomposing a set phrase the author discloses the inner form of the phrase and either:

1) pretends to understand the phrase or its constituents literally, i.e. distorting by 'literalizing';

2) revives the additional meanings of the components of which the fusion is made;

3) inserts additional components (words) or replaces the original ones, etc.

There are several types of decomposition of set expressions:

1) inclusion or prolongation

E.G.: She took a desperate hold of his arm;

2) interaction

E.G.: to be fed up with smth + to be fed to the teeth = There are the words of a man who for some reason not disclosed is fed up to front teeth with the adored object,

3) substitution (partial or complete):

E.G.: Divorces (instead of marriages) are made in heavens. (O. Wilde);

4) changes in spelling (attaining a new meaning and at the same time preserving or imitating the phonetical form of the original set expression)

E.G.: Sofa, So Good! (instead of So far, so good, when a furniture shop praises its sofas).

List of references:

Sachkova E.V. Lectures on English Stylistics: Учебноепособие. - М.: МИИТ, 2012. - 94 с.

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