Phraseological units with onomatopoeic components in English and German

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of motivation/non-motivation of meaning of phraseological units (PUs) with onomatopoeic components in the English and German languages. Such an analysis is conducted for the first time from the point of view of combining two types of motivation of meaning of phraseologisms: by the onomatopoeic component itself, and by the image, or inner form of the whole unit. Three groups of phraseological units are distinguished in the course of the analysis in three languages. The meaning of the first group of such units is motivated both by their onomatopoeic component and their inner form. The meaning of the second group of PUs is non-motivated by both of them. The third group presents phraseological units, the meaning of which is motivated by their image but is non-motivated by their onomatopoeic component.