Исследовательская работа "Colours in English idioms"

                                               Sabina Buribaeva, form 8

                                         School №2, Baymak

                                     Scientific adviser:

                                                                       A.A.Syrlybaeva, a teacher of English

                                           School №2, Baymak

Colours in English idioms.

       In our time, learning English as a language of international communication has become a necessity. It is difficult to name the scope of human activity, where English is not used. When studying it, reading fiction in the original, as well as in speech, we often come across phraseological idioms, or idioms, which can be difficult to understand, despite the fact that we know the translation of each word. In English there are more than 15,000 idioms, which are studied by linguistic scientists and collected in special dictionaries. The relevance of this study is that the knowledge of stable expressions of the English language and their use in oral and written speech makes it possible to make it more natural, beautiful and expressive. The understanding of phraseological units in reading fiction, in conversation, in writing, is an indication of the level of language proficiency.

 The purpose of this work is to study English idioms with a color component. This group of idioms is of greatest interest to us, since the concept of color exists in every culture, with its important information accumulated by the people, and the meaning of colors is not always the same for different peoples.

To achieve the goal, we set ourselves the following tasks:

1. To study the theoretical material on the research topic;

 2.To identify idiomatic expressions with a colorative component, using special dictionaries.

3.To investigate the level of understanding and use in the speech of English idioms by high school students.

4.To develop a dictionary - a memo "Colored idioms", with the purpose of placing it on the official website of the school and in the offices of a foreign language.

The object of the study are idiomatic expressions of the English language.

The subject of the study are the values ​​of idioms with the color designation and their use in speech, as well as the level of knowledge and possession of them by high school students.

Research hypothesis is schoolchildren rarely use the idioms of the English language due to the fact that it is very difficult to catch the meaning of the expressions.

 Methods of research are analysis of scientific literature, descriptive and comparative methods, questioning of students.

The practical importance of this work lies in the possibility of its use by students in English lessons, in preparation for competitions and olympiads, as well as teachers of the English language. In addition, the proposed material can be used by those wishing to expand and deepen their knowledge in the language.

 1. The concept, characteristics and classification of idiomatic expressions

     The word "idiom" comes from the Greek "idίōma", which means "singularity, originality." In the modern dictionary of foreign words, the following concept is given: an idiom is an indecomposable word only to a given language, the meaning of which is not determined by the separate meanings of the words entering into it. That is, an idiom is a phrase or expression in which words used together have a definite meaning. Many idioms have similar meanings in other languages, but there are idioms that are formed under the influence of certain national and cultural features of the language, so they do not have an equivalent in other languages. Linguists pay much attention to the cumulative ability of idioms. Idioms, in comparison with other linguistic units, accumulate more historical and cultural realities of the nation, traditions, customs.

The study of absolutely all idioms is not possible, therefore we have chosen the aim of our work to study idiomatic expressions with a colorative component. This group of idioms is of greatest interest to us, since the concept of color exists in every culture, with it is important information accumulated by the people, and the meaning of colors is not always the same for different people.

2. Idioms with a color component Red

To be in the red

Literal translation is to bear losses, have financial problems. The origin of this idiom is directly related to the use of red ink by accountants when balancing. They redeemed the debts of their customers in red, so the expression to be in the red became associated with a difficult financial situation and debts. Accordingly, the phrase "to be out the red" says that financial problems are resolved or a debt is paid. Example: Being in the red we had to put off the purchase of a house. (We had to postpone the purchase of the house because of financial problems).

A red-letter day

 Literal translation is the day of the red letter: a holiday, a memorable day. The origin of this idiom has come from the tradition of highlighting the red days of holidays in the calendar. In Russian there is an analogue of this idiom - "Red day of the calendar". Example: It was a holiday for Richard, since nobody bothered him. The word red is found in many other idiomatic expressions, such as to see red, red-herring, red-blooded.

Blue

The phrase" once in a blue moon" means extremely rare. Such a phenomenon as the blue moon happens very rarely, hence the origin of the expression once in a blue moon. In Russian, to denote an event that happens very rarely, there is an expression "for some time". Example: Once in a blue moon he called his mother (For some reason he called his mother).

Blue collar

The phrase"  blue collar" means working class. This expression emerged from the color of the blue uniform worn by workers engaged in heavy physical labor. White collar expressions are also used to refer to clerks, office employees engaged in mental work, pink collar - servants of the service sector. Example: His father was a blue collar worker (His father was a worker).

Black

To be in the black means  do not have debts. This expression is related to the idiom to be in the red and is inverse in meaning. Black ink in the accounts of the customer's income was allocated. Example: Our business has been in the black for five years (Our business has been making a profit for five years already).

White

The phrase"  a white elephant"  means to be of the burden, burdensome or ruinous property. The origin of the expression is connected with the legend according to which the King of Siam gave the faces of a white elephant objectionable to him. White elephants were considered sacred animals and were not used as workers. The cost of keeping an elephant ruined the recipient of such a gift. The Russian equivalent is the expression "a suitcase without a handle". Example: We are having a white elephant sale at school next week (Next week the school will sell off unnecessary things).

Practical part

      Investigating the understanding of English idioms by students

To understand the meaning of English idioms, as well as the frequency of their use in speech, we conducted a questionnaire among students of 9th, 10th and 11th grades of our school. The number of respondents was 40 people. We offered the students 8 English idioms and asked them to write down the idioms in Russian, and also indicate how often they use them in oral and written speech:

1.to be in red - be in a difficult financial situation

2. as white as sheet - pale about fear or horror

3. a gray area - something indefinite

4. blue devils - longing, melancholy

5. black sheep - "white crow", "black sheep"

6. a red eye - a night voyage

7. a heart of gold - a man with a heart of gold

8. blue blood - belonging to the aristocracy of the survey

     The results showed that the students were able to translate the proposed idioms into Russian, as they knew the words included in their composition, but the true meaning of these idioms is known to a small number of students. After studying the theoretical material and the results of our questionnaire, we began to develop a memo. In our opinion, the memo contains useful information for students of English.

Conclusion

     The use of idiomatic expressions in speech makes it more expressive, vivid and rich. Having a rich stock of idioms in his vocabulary, it is possible not only to understand the meaning of the statement, its stylistic and emotional coloring, but it is also possible to enrich your speech, make it more natural, which will certainly facilitate communication with foreign colleagues and friends. In addition, we managed to prove by examples that the literal translation of an expression is often wrong and unacceptable. As a result of a questionnaire conducted by us in order to find out how senior students of the English language are familiar with the idioms of the English language, we found that students experience considerable difficulties in translating idiomatic expressions with a color-coding component (especially partial equivalents and equivalent-equivalent phraseological units). Most respondents could verbally translate phraseological units, but could not determine their significance. The students of our school very rarely use English idioms in their speech, because they find it difficult to understand the meaning of the expressions, which confirms our hypothesis.

Literature

 1. Vinogradov. V.V. On the main types of phraseological units in the Russian language [text] // Dubrovin MI Russian and English idioms .- M., 2001.- 140-161 sec.

2. Goldenkov, MA, Watch out! HOT DOG! Modern active English, Moscow, 2004. - 272