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Inflectability of FEIs
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Inflectability of verbs in predicate
FEIs
Verbs in predicate FEIs normally inflect,although there may be restrictions onnumber , tense, aspect, voice and mood.
Also, other lexical items that supplysubjects, objects and prepositional objectsalmost always inflect fully. The exceptionsinvolve requirements for inserted nouns tobe plural (e.g. X+Y rub shoulders, or Xrubs shoulders with Y )
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Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
The problem of inflectability mainly involves thefixed nouns and adjectives in FEIs.
Nouns in non-metaphorical FEIs are more likelyto inflect than ones in metaphors.
Nouns bill , conclusion, and question inflect freelyin FEIs foot the bill , a forgone conclusion, andbeg the question.
The nouns in kick the bucket , bite the bullet and
spill the beans do not change, but in FEIs have achip on one’s shoulder , and (have) a frog inone’s throat both nouns pluralize.
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Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
In terms of inflectability, there is aninteresting distinction between He has
pulled our legs (which refers to separate
occasions) and He has pulled our leg (which refers to a single occasion affectingthe plural referent of our). The distinctioncan also mean that with the plural forms,
the focus is on the individualexperiencers, whereas with the singular,focus is on the mass (examples on the
next slide)
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Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
(1) Like a lot of Mt Isa old-timers, he‟ll yarn tovisitors, happily pu l l ing their legs a little,becoming just a little impatient with complaintsabout modern living in the outback.
(2) Ms Thomson is already making plans for nextyear‟s eisteddfod: „It has proved so popular wemust limit the number of acts but all childrenwill take part.‟ It‟s a worthy cause but is MsThomson pul l ing our leg by saying theeisteddfod is part of the Excellence InEducation In the Outback?
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Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
There seems to be insecurity amongst speakersconcerning pluralizations – the FEIs arecomparatively infrequent, plural subjects are notthat common, and the rules are not formalized.
A partial solution is suggested by the occasionaluse of an inserted plural marker: collective isused as a grammatical device in metaphoricalFEIs with plural subjects or referents andindeterminate rules for pluralization; corporate is also used in this way, although this insertion isinfluenced by management or business context.
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Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
In all examples, the action denoted by the FEI is a mass experience or joint action, rather than affecting people individually:
1. But advertisers have since mostly seen that they have shot themselvesand their viewers in their collective feet.
2. Banks, building societies and other high street lenders look set to put acollective hand in their pockets to help people in debt.
3. ...it is qualitatively different from the old review of the franchises where,provided the corporate nose had been kept reasonably clean, arenewal was virtually certain.
4. Tobacco was carrying health warnings in the West and it seemed prudentnot to put all your corporate eggs into one basket.
Shoot someone in the foot = do or say sth. stupid which causes problems foryou
Put one’s hand in one’s pocket = give money to charity
Keep one’s nose clean = keep out of trouble, esp. trouble with law
Put all one’s eggs in one basket = make everything dependent only on onething
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Distribution of proverbs in main and
subordinate clausesThe author did not record in her database the tenses in which FEIs
occurred in her corpus; she did not record mood choices of
interrogative and imperative either, except where they were
fossilized and near-mandatory, nor the clause types in which FEIs
occurred in her corpus.
However, the distribution of proverbs in main and subordinate
clauses shows some regularity. 20% of proverbs occur in
subordinate clauses, typically report clauses. In this way, the
selection of the proverb represents a further level of distancing or
interpretation on the part of the speaker/writer, reporting and
sheltering behind received wisdom.
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Examples of proverbs used in
subordinate clauses
1. There comes a point when we have to say
enough is enough.
2. Dudgeon, who throughout his professional life
stressed that prevention is better than cure,had the highly original idea that preliminary
trials should be undertaken in closed religious
communities. (“bolje spriječiti nego liječiti“)
3. You have to accept the notion that two heads
are better than one.
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Transformation
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Polarity (positive vs negative)
Negation is a very basic transformation.
Around 5% of database FEIs are
conventionally negative, i.e. a negative is
part of the canonical expression. Forexample: I k id you not , leave no stone
unturned , no laughing matter , not l i f t a
f inger , there is no t ime to lose , (thereis) no th ing new under the sun .
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Negation
A few other FEIs typically occur in
negative environments, for example: l i f t a
f inger , a red cent , at all , in the least , be
the end of the wor ld .
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Negation
The proportion of positive and negative clauses as regards FEIs,more specifically proverbs:
The typical case is where the canonical form is a negativeimperative or modal (Don’t ..., You can’t ...): such examples can betransformed to positive predicates, although a negative evaluationmay still be implied, e.g.:
(1) He wanted to have his cake and eat it – somehow to marry Mrs.Simpson and yet to remain on the throne. = you can’t have yourcake and eat it
(2) Well, Mr Patten will do his best to make a silk purse out of asow’s ear , and the audience will know it was not his idea. = youcan’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear (= you cannot make
a good quality product, using bad quality materials)
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Negation
In a few cases, proverb tokens have their
conventional polarity (either negative or
positive), but are then contradicted in the
further text:
(1) Variety, as the poet William Cowper first
observed, may be ‘the very spice of life’.
But in motor racing, the less the variety,the spicier the contest.
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Passivization
There are FEIs where passive forms are at
least as common as active forms:
(1) X bears something in mind
something is borne in mind
(2) X cuts Y short
Y is cut short
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Passivization
There are FEIs where there is no evidence in the
corpus of active forms:
(1)something is cheered to the echo = shout and
call a lot in order to support someone(2)X is laughed out of court = dismiss something
presented in earnest as ridiculous
(3)X is mentioned in dispatches = be commendedfor one‟s actions by name in an official military
report
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Nonfinite uses
FEIs can be used as –ing forms or infinitives:
(1)Or some writers felt they had earned the right in the
Seventies, and now had the duty, to participate in the
reassessment of the Left, if necessary by washing dirty
linen in public. Most writers have done a bit of both.
(2) A much grander house, the property of firm solicitors,
suffered similar treatment. Again, original, perfectly
sound wooden parts were destroyed and, to add insult
to injury, plastic, press-moulded doors inserted.
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Embedding
Embedding involves moving part of an FEI to a relative clause:
(1) Another straw at which we can clutch is that if real snow arrives
in the near future it will be falling on cold slopes and so will last
reasonably well. = clutch at straws
(2) It is not, however, easy to contemplate putting whole federations outof action. That is a bullet on which the Arthur Golds of this
world have steadfastly failed to bite. = bite the bullet
(3) The question begged by all those glowing predictions is whether
they will ever be fulfilled. = beg the question
(4) This may be a hard bullet for the left to bite, but there is noquestion of what families want. = bite the bullet
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Nominalization
There are three specific forms of
nominalizations of FEIs.
In the first, the FEI is truncated and reduced to
one of its clausal components:(1)a new broom sweeps clean - new broom
(2)every cloud has a silver lining – silver lining
(3)play second fiddle to someone – second fiddle
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Nominalization
In the second kind of nominalization, verbs
occur as verbal nouns or participial adjectives,
or they are replaced by cognate nouns:
(1)lose face – loss of face (loss – verbal noun)(2)stab someone in the back – a stab in the back
(stab - cognate noun)
(3)turn up one‟s nose – upturned noses(upturned – participial adjective)
(4)waste one‟s breath – a waste of breath (waste
– cognate noun)
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Nominalization
In the third kind, a different lexical item is
formed, often involving the inversion of the
original lexical elements:
(1)keep house – housekeeper
(2)pick someone‟s pocket – pickpocket
(3)take the mickey – mickey-taker, mickey-taking
(4)twist someone‟s arm – arm-twisting
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Transformation to adjectives
Adverbial and nominal FEIs may be
transformed into adjectives. The
transformations are often hyphenated, and
truncation is sometimes involved:
(1)(a)round the clock – round-the-clock
(2)face to face – face-to-face
(3)on the spur of the moment – spur-of-the-
moment
(4)clear as crystal – crystal-clear