Main phraseological theories.

Proverbs are different from phraseological units. If viewed in their structural aspect, they are sentences. In their semantic aspect proverbs could be best compared with minute fables, because they sum up the collective experience of the community. They moralize (hell is paved with good intensions), give advise (don’t judge a tree by its bark), then criticize (everyone calls his own geese swans).

The functions of proverbs in speech is communicative. They give certain information.

Familiar quotations

As to familiar quotations, they are different from prov­erbs in their origin. They come from literature but by and by they become part and parcel of the language, so that many people using them do not even know that they are quoting, and very few could accurately name the play or passage on which they are drawing even when they are aware of using a quotation from W. Shakespeare.

Excepting only W. Shakespeare, no poet has given more of his lines than A. Pope to the common vocabulary of the English-speaking world. The following are only a few of the best known quotations: To err is human; To forgive, divine; For fools rush in where angels fear to tread; At every word a reputation dies.

#9 English lexicography.

Lexicography is the science and practice of compiling dictionaries and describing them.

The history of British and American lexicography.

The history of dictionary-making for the English language goes as far back as the Old English period where its first traces are found in the form of glosses of religious books with interlinear translation from Latin. (Aelfric of Eynsham (Эльфрик Грамматик) (the Old English period): the first glossary)

Regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries were already in existence in the 15th century. (Ortus vocabulorum (ca. 1430, printed in 1500) and Promptorium parvulorum (1440, printed in 1499, the first English-Latin bilingual dictionary)).

The unilingual dictionary is a comparatively recent type. The first unilingual English dictionary, explaining words by English equivalents, appeared in 1604. It was meant to explain difficult words occurring in books. Its title was “ A Table Alphabeticall “, containing and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usuall English words borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine or French. The little volume of 120 pages explaining about 3000 words was compiled by one Robert Cawdrey, a schoolmaster. Other books followed, each longer than the preceding one.

In the 18 century hard-word dictionaries began to be replaced by ordinary-word dictionaries focusing on literary usage. In 1702 John Kersey published his New English Dictionary and moved away from the 'hard word' tradition. It included words of daily language and aimed 'for Young Scholars, Tradesmen and the Female Sex' to teach them 'to spell trucly'.

The best dictionary of this time was the Universal Etymological Dictionary by Nathaniel.

The first attempt at a dictionary including all the words of the language, not only the difficult ones, was made by Nathaniel Bailey who in 1721 published the first edition of his “ Universal Etymological English Dictionary ”. He was the first to include pronunciation and etymology.

In 1755 Dr. Samuel Johnson, the poet, essayist and literary critic published his great Dictionary of the English Language in two volumes consisting of 2,300 pages with 40,000 entries. This work became the most authoritative text for several generations of Englishmen and was superseded only by the Oxford English Dictionary. It took Johnson more than eight years to write it (instead of the intended three), and it was the first English dictionary ever compiled by a writer of the first rank.

The dictionary was a scholarly record of the whole language, based on a corpus of examples (an important innovation!) by the 'best' authors of that time like Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Addison, Bacon, Spenser (though many of them were reproduced from memory). Thus it became a prescriptive, 'purifying' guide to the best usage of the English language for more than a century. Johnson's attempts to fix the language, his thorough choice of the words for inclusion, and high repute in which the dictionary was held established a lofty bookish style that was given the name of " Johnsonian " or " Johnsonese ".

A pronouncing dictionary that must be mentioned first was published in 1780 by Thomas Sheridan, grandfather of the great dramatist. In 1791 appeared “ The Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language ” by John Walker, an actor.

The Golden Age of English lexicography began in the last quarter of the 19th century when the English Philological Society started work on compiling what is now known as “ The Oxford English Dictionary ” (OED), but was originally named “ New English Dictionary on Historical Principles ”. It is still occasionally referred to as NED.

The purpose of this monumental work is to trace the development of English words from their form in Old English, and if they were not found in Old English, to show when they were introduced into the language, and also to show the development of each meaning and its historical relation to other meanings of the same word.

The result is a kind of encyclopaedia of language used not only for reference purposes but also as a basis for lexicological research.

The first part of the Dictionary appeared in 1884 and the last in 1928. Later it was issued in twelve volumes and in order to accommodate new words a three volume Supplement was issued in 1933. These volumes were revised in the seventies. Nearly all the material of the original Supplement was retained and a large body of the most recent accessions to the English language added.

“ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English ” was first published in 1911, i.e. before the work on the main version was completed. It is not a historical dictionary but one of current usage. A still shorter form is “ The Pocket Oxford Dictionary ”.

Another big dictionary, also created by joined effort of enthusiasts, is Joseph Wright ’s “ English Dialect Dictionary ”.

It was Noah Webster, universally considered to be the father of American lexicography, who emphatically broke away from English idiom, and embodied in his book the specifically American usage of his time. His great work, “ The American Dictionary of the English Language ", appeared in two volumes in 1828 and later sustained numerous revised and enlarged editions. N. Webster attempted to simplify the spelling and pronunciation that were current in the USA of the period. He devoted many years to the collection of words and the preparation of more accurate definitions.

Later on, the title “ International Dictionary of the English Language ” was adopted, and in the latest edition not Americanisms but words not used in America (Britishisms) are marked off.

N. Webster’s dictionary enjoyed great popularity from its first editions. This popularity was due not only to the accuracy and clarity of definitions but also to the richness of additional information of encyclopaedic character, which had become a tradition in American lexicography. As a dictionary N. Webster’s book aims to treat the entire vocabulary of the language providing definitions, pronunciation and etymology. As an encyclopaedia it gives explanations about things named, including scientific and technical subjects. It does so more concisely than a full-scale encyclopaedia, but it is worthy of note that the definitions are as a rule up-to-date and rigorous scientifically.

The other great American dictionaries are the “ Century Dictionary ", first completed in 1891; “ Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary ", first completed in 1895; the “ Random House Dictionary of the English Language ", completed in 1967; “ The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language ", first published in 1969, and C.L. Barnhart ’s “ The World Book Dictionary ” presenting a synchronic review of the language in the 20th century. The first three continue to appear in variously named subsequent editions including abridged versions. Many small handy popular dictionaries for office, school and home use are prepared to meet the demand in reference books on spelling, pronunciation, meaning and usage.