Phraseological units in the English language and their structural and semantic analysis in S.Maugham’s novel “Theatre”

Abstract

This paper presents basic principles and theories of phraseological units in the English language, attempts to provide a better understanding of the phraseology, and explores structural and semantic peculiarities of phraseological units in S.Maugham’s novel “Theatre”. Basic theories of phraseological units (phraseology) are reviewed including: A.V.Koonin’s belief that phraseological units are highly informative units of the language; they can not to be seen as "decoration" or "excesses"; T.I. Vendina’s belief that phraseology (or phraseological turnover) is a lexically indivisible, reproducible unit of language, consisting of two or more impact components, stable in its composition, structure and integral in its meaning; Charles Bally’s (1865-1947) system that words are combined according to the degree of their stability. According to his classification there are two main groups: 1) free combinations and 2) phraseological units. The term “phraseology” was the main research topic of a number of scientists, such as N.N. Amosova, V.V. Vinogradov, A.I. Efimov, M.A. Zakharova, A.V. Koonin, V.N. Teliya, I.I. Chernysheva, N.M. Shanskiy and others. Next, this paper expounds the importance of phraseological units in the English language and the ways of their usage in speech. Moreover, it will be very precious material for learners or linguists who have some difficulties while translating and understanding the meaning of phraseological units. And last, the final part of this work is devoted to the analysis of phraseological units which are used in Maugham’s novel “Theatre”.