Obra ressenyada: Sabine FIEDLER, English Phraseology. Tübingen: Günter Narr Verlag, 2008

Szerszunowicz, Joanna

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146    Language Design 10 Concluyendo, se puede decir que el libro abarca conceptos propios e imprescindibles para la fraseología, desde su base teórica hasta los estudios detallados de ciertos campos léxicos. En su conjunto, el libro aporta opiniones innovadoras y críticas de muchos especialistas que (otro punto importante) provienen de diferentes países, lo que amplía los enfoques le da una interesante dimensión multilingüística y multicultural.    Kamilla Tutáeva Universidad de Kazán  *****   SABINE FIEDLER: 2008 English Phraseology. Tübingen: Günter Narr Verlag. (198 pp.) ISBN 978-3-8233-6338-5  Phraseology constitutes the area which, on one hand, is most interesting for language learners, on the other, poses numerous problems due to its vastness, unpredictability and cultural markedness. English Phraseology offers students of English a course in phraseology, which can be used either for self-study or as a coursebook, bound to facilitate students’ learning phraseology as well as their learning about phraseology. As Sabine Fiedler states in Preface (p. 7), the book is aimed not only at university students, but at learners of English at different levels as well as various English language teaching institutions.  The book, according to the author, has a dual intention. Firstly, thanks to the book students can become familiar with the most important theoretical concepts in research on phraseology; second, attention is paid to the behaviour of phraseologisms and main functions performed by phraseological units in discourse. It should be emphasized that Sabine Fiedler’s approach to the presentation of English phraseology results in creating an innovative coursebook, which contains both the essentials of the theory of English phraseology and a multitude of academic-level tasks, attractive both from the teacher’s and students’ point of view.  The book is composed of four chapters, preceded with Introduction by Rosemarie Gläser, who also wrote Supplements. Each chapter includes a theoretical part, followed by exercises, to which answers are included in the key at the end of the book. English Phraseology contains very rich illustrative Book Reviews and Notices    147 material, covering about 200 examples, found in a variety of sources, which are explained in detail.     Chapter One, titled What is Phraseology?, contains two subsection devoted to a review of basic terms, such as: phraseology, phraseological unit and idiom (pp. 15-16) and the description of main characteristics of phraseological units, such as: polylexemic structure, stability, lexicalization, idiomacity, connotation, transformational deficiencies (pp. 17-25) as well as other types of anomalies, which are grammatical ill-formedness and fossilized constituents (pp. 27-28). The characteristics described are exemplified with a variety of phraseological units. The presentation of characteristics is followed by a definition of the phraseological unit (p. 28). In the first subsection of Chapter Two different types of classification of phraseological units are discussed (pp. 35-39), mainly the typologies by Adam Makkai (1972), Rosemarie Gläser (1986) and Eckhard Roos (2001). The second, Conventional types of PUs in the majority of systemic descriptions, presents the following kinds of units: phraseological nominations, (irreversible) binominals, stereotyped comparisons, proverbs, winged words, routine formulae (pp. 39-50), while the third one, Special types of PUs, covers four types: paraphrasal verbs, (restricted) collocations, rhyming slang, wellerisms (pp.51-55). The last subsection, devoted to onomasiological approach to phraseology, discusses phraseological units which contain special elements, for instance, colour terms, designations of parts of body and proper names. It is emphasized how important the relation between language and culture is in the research on phraseological units at issue (pp.55-63). The illustrative material is multilingual and cross-linguistic equivalents of selected units are presented in a very interesting way, signaling culturally conditioned differences as well as indicating interlinguistic similarities within the area of phraseology. Chapter Three, the title of which is Phraseology in Use, discusses phraseological units as text constituents stressing the mutual dependence of the text and the phraseological unit (pp.71-78). The author also discusses functions of phraseological units, basing the analysis mainly on their functions in journalistic and literary texts (pp. 78-87). Then she focuses on metacommunicative signals and marked uses of phraseological units. As to marked uses, the modifications of phraseological units are discussed and exemplified with very interesting creative adaptations of units (pp. 90-97). 148    Language Design 10 Moreover, attention is paid to playing with deliberate ambiguity (pp. 97-103). Another issue related to marked uses of phraseological units presented in this chapter is using phraseological units in combination (p. 104). Moreover, the author discusses non-verbal representations of phraseological units, drawing attention to the fact that phraseological units can be visualized without mentioning any constituents (pp. 104-107). The next aspect discussed is how proper names, viewed as carriers of connotative potential, are employed by language users in phraseology. Two ways are presented, the first of which is exploited when the use of a phraseological unit with a proper name is induced by the topic, while the second, more frequent, consists in involving an onym that is relevant in a text possessing an identical or similar form as another component of non-onymic character (pp. 107-109).  The last chapter, composed of three subsections, is devoted to phraseology and translation. First, the phraseological unit is discussed in terms of a translation problem (pp. 115-117). Then, the notions of equivalence and translation process are discussed briefly. The step-by-step model of translating a phraseological unit is described and exemplified (p. 120). Translation techniques are discussed and illustrated by giving examples of English and German translated phraseological units in a variety of text types (pp. 122-132). Four main techniques are presented: the phraseological unit in the source language is replaced by a phraseological unit in the target language, which is an absolute equivalent, i.e. has identical constituents and structure; the unit is paraphrased in the target language; a phraseological unit in the target language is used whose image differs from that of the phraseological unit in the source language; the phraseological units is omitted in the translated text.    There are two supplements by Rosemarie Gläser, which contain very important additional information. The first supplement is devoted to phraseological units in the language for special purposes (pp. 137-140), while in the second phraseological units in the national standard varieties of English are discussed and exemplified (pp. 140-142). Phraseologies of as many as four varieties are presented briefly, i.e. phraseology of American English, Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English.     Bibliography is also a strong point of the book, since it presents students with a comprehensive list of the most important texts devoted to phraseology, thus giving them some directions for self-studies and facilitating their further Book Reviews and Notices    149 reading. Moreover, a glossary of over sixty linguistic terms is included at the end of the book, so that students can find a term easily while reading.   The author set herself a clearly defined aim: to present students with a coursebook enabling them both to learn English phraseology and to increase their phraseological awareness. Definitely she succeeded in realizing her objectives, since the book meets students’ needs in both areas. They are given clear explanations thanks to the author’s avoidance of excessive terminology in her presentations of particular problems and as a result of her providing in-depth analyses of uses of phraseological units.   Moreover, the illustrative examples are very interesting, taken from a wide variety of well-chosen sources, both written and spoken, such as literary texts, newspapers, advertisements, comics, films, jokes and songs. Such a selection of authentic examples enables students to analyze actual uses of phraseological units in discourse and shows them how phraseological units function in texts of culture they are well familiar with, such as, for instance, novels by S. King, the film Notting Hill or Monty Python’s sketches. Another advantage is that many of the examples included in the book draw students’ attention to creativity in the implementation of phraseological units and their stylistic effects in discourse. What should be emphasized is the fact that the book is not just an exercise book and not only a book introducing students to theoretical issues. It offers them much more, since English phraseology is discussed as an academic subject in such a way that students are given tasks requiring the implementation of theory in practice and they are inspired to be involved in studying phraseology on their own. Such an approach renders it possible to raise their autonomy as language learners and language users as well as to arouse genuine students’ interest in phraseology. The book is thought-provoking and will inspire students to explore English phraseology further. Therefore, the coursebook deserves to be highly recommended to those are interested in teaching phraseology as a university subject and those learning English at advanced levels. Joanna Szerszunowicz Uniwersytet w Białymstoku  *****  

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