English and Russian somatic phraseological units: Differentiating outcomes

Abstract

© BEIESP. This paper deals with the outcomes of a comparative analysis of English and Russian somatic phraseological units, namely the lexical, structural and semantic levels have been involved; the total number of somatic phraseological units is more than 300 units. Somatic phraseological units (further as PhUs) represent a wide group in any language. The lexical and semantic group of somatic PhUs is regarded an independent subsystem within Phraseology of any language. This system is comprised of PhUs whose key constituent parts include human body part names (from Greek soma means human body or a body part). It should be noted that the most frequent PhUs include somatisms. This circumstance can hardly be explained by interlinguistic reasons only. The somatic components correspond both to sensual (eye) and logic (head) level of knowledge and a criterion of its validity-practice (hand). PhUs with somatisms in their structure appeared in different languages at different time due to the development of the language, culture, social and political contacts of the nation with other nations. However, PhUs with somatisms have some general basis for the use of any human body parts, to express physical and psychological states, feeling and emotions of people. Somatic PhUs belong to a highly-frequent zone of lexical structure, to its oldest, primordial, and socially significant part. As a rule, they are polysemantic words, their separate transferred meaning to a greater or lesser extent are noticeable in phraseological meanings of separate PhUs. Nevertheless, the main, primary and direct meanings (of a body part) play the decisive role in the formation and use of any somatic PhUs.