Phraseology is the study of fixed sets of words or phrases, often used to explain the meanings and histories of these sets. It helps linguists understand how speakers of a language communicate through lexical sets, including idioms and phrasal verbs. Phraseology developed in the 20th century and focuses on colloquial and idiomatic elements of a language. It is often involved in the study of semantics and can be used to disseminate the meaning of phrases to a wider audience.
Phraseology is the study of fixed sets of words or “phrases”. Generally, efforts in phraseology are related to explaining the meanings and histories of these sets of words. Linguists use this type of research to learn more about how speakers of a given language communicate with each other through sets of multiple words, often called “lexical sets” or “lexical units.”
In general, phraseology developed in the 20th century. This discipline helps academics and others gain a deeper understanding of how a particular language is used. Much of the focus of phraseology is on considering the many colloquial or idiomatic elements of a language.
Some of the elements that phraseologists often focus on include idioms and phrasal verbs. These two elements are widely used in many languages, especially in the English language. Phrasal verbs are sets of words that function as a single verb. Many of these have direct synonyms which are individual verbs. The use of phrasal verbs allows speakers to express themselves distinctly and, in many cases, the use of the phrasal verb has become preferable to the use of the individual verb, largely because individual verbs have become overly technical for the common ear.
Phraseology researchers also often focus on idioms or idiomatic language. The category of idioms in a linguistic lexicon is broad. Idioms include shorter phrases such as phrasal verbs and longer phrases that speakers might identify as “sayings,” phrases that have become popular over time and to which the general community has assigned a definite meaning. Evaluating the sayings of a given language is an important part of advanced sentence study and an interesting way to observe how anthropology or culture affects language and vice versa.
The study of sentences must be distinguished from the study of semantics. The study of semantics involves looking at words or phrases as signifiers and studying what these lexical units are associated with in the collective mind, whether they are individual words or entire sentences. This means that phraseology can be involved in a general study of semantics, but also arises as a specialized linguistic area of study.
While many efforts in phraseology are largely academic, others focus on disseminating the meaning of phrases to a wider audience. Some of these include printing small phrasebooks or lists of common phrases on the internet. These can serve as guides for non-native speakers or clarify meanings among a native linguistic audience, especially in languages such as English and Spanish, where multiple language communities have developed widely different idiomatic conventions in different parts of the world.
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