Discursive practices in the dynamics of the system of Russian phraseology: A case of constructional phrasemes

Abstract

The article examines the frequency distribution of a series of Russian constructional phrasemes — tot esche Х (≈ something of an X), tozhe mne X (≈ hardly an X), gde uzh nam P (≈ how could we P), vot tebe i X/P (≈ how do you like it, X/P), and to li delo X/P (≈ take X/P, isn’t it fine). We define constructional phrasemes as expressions that are based on a scheme with empty valences, which in itself has a lexical meaning that does not result from metaphorical or metonymical transformations. These schemes often have stable lexical parts. The main subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus spanning from the 18th century to the present was used as the material, although primary attention was given to the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. We interpret the examined constructional phrasemes as discursive practices, i. e. as conventional ways of expressing a certain meaning within a given language community. The analysis shows that the emergence of these constructional phrasemes in discourse is accompanied by a noticeable increase in their frequency of use, which then gradually decreases as the expression becomesassimilated as a discursive practice. The analyzed data allow us to conclude that the frequency distribution of constructional phrasemes is poorly predictable. However, it is possible to identify main types of distribution: increasing frequency of use, decreasing frequency of use, and relatively stable distribution. The first type of frequency distribution is examplified by the constructional phrasemes tot esche Х and tozhe mne X, the second type by gde uzh nam P, and the third type by vot tebe i X/P. Not all frequency distributions of constructional phrasemes show clear quantitative trends; cf. to li delo X/P

Keywords:

Russian phraseology, constructional phraseme, discursive practice, dynamics of phraseology development, corpus-based approach