Semantička (ne)prozirnost idiomatskih izraza o cveću u engleskom jeziku

Abstract

In the literature idioms are frequently considered to be semantically non/transparent i syntactically frozen. However, both of these features are being questioned within linguistic research of loose use of language. In this paper the authors examine the potential (non)transparency of idiomatic expressions in English language by conducting a survey with the students of English language and literature at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. The primary goal is to verify the hypothesis that certain idioms (at least partially) follow the principle of semantic compositionality. The secondary goal is to examine whether certain aspects of meaning of the lexemes in the semantic field flower affect the overall meaning of the idiomatic expressions they are a part of. The results show that the idioms exhibit various levels of transparency as well as that there are certain encyclopedic information that are frequently activated when interpreting expressions containing a lexeme from the semantic field flower.