Idioms are peculiar expressions in a language, often figurative and culturally specific. They can be metaphorical, polysemous, opaque or transparent, and colloquial. Idioms are difficult to learn and understand for non-native speakers due to their cultural depth and hidden meanings.
Idioms can be a single word, phrase, or clause, or they can be a complete sentence or utterance. People often explain their use as figures of speech. Many are really figurative, sometimes just visually exaggerated. For example, it must be raining very hard to describe it as “it’s raining cats and dogs.” Idioms can be metaphorical, polysemous, opaque or transparent and are often colloquial or cultural.
These phrases or sentences are peculiar and enigmatic expressions of a given language. At first glance, based solely on the literal definitions of the words of the expression, idioms often make no sense. Usually, expressions have a hidden cultural context, such that only a native of the language and culture from which the phrase originated can understand its meaning. They are a significant field of study for theoretical linguists and foreign language educators.
Many idioms are metaphorical. Several adages are derived, for example, from the metaphor of time as money. Some metaphors are obscure analogies, but others can be broadly universal. “Spending time” with children is a phrase that can probably be understood in any linguistic translation.
The most common type of idiom is polysemes. They are words – often verbs – and phrases with multiple, somewhat related meanings. An example is the verb “run;” “running with a clever idea” or “running a computer program” are related to, but very different from, running a footrace.
While the distinction is not absolute, different types of idioms are classified as opaque or transparent. The determinant is to what extent the literal translation of the idiom reveals, with a little reflection, its underlying meaning. “Leave no stone unturned,” is clear idiom to search hard. The dull German idiom “to bite the grass” could mean various things, but the expression becomes clear enough when it is explained that it means “to die.”
Idioms are almost always colloquial or cultural. Americans are often uncomfortable talking about death, so the cryptic English idiom is “pull the bucket.” This identical expression in Brazilian Portuguese, however, means “to surrender, with emphatic drama.” Both arose independently of their respective cultures and have true meaning only within their local context.
The cultural depth of idiomatic expressions is such that most native speakers of a language are rarely aware that they are speaking colloquialisms. Some linguists and sociologists speculate that these inventions of language are a culture’s way of differentiating itself, a code that outsiders cannot decipher. As such, idioms are often the most difficult aspect of a foreign language to both learn and understand.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
