The specifics of lexicographic representation of phraseological units in the "Russian-English Phraseological Dictionary" edited by S. Lubenskaya

Zhen' Tszyalu Postgraduate at the Russian Language Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119234, Russia, Moscow, Lebedeva str., E, sq. 834 rjialu@mail.ru

With the development of research on the semantics and syntax of phraseological units, their dictionary description and analysis of functioning in speech, conducted on the material of large corpora, new answers to the question "how to understand phraseology?" were proposed. Among the proposed new concepts, the most authoritative and representative are the opinions of I.A. Melchuk, A.N. Baranov and D.O. Dobrovolsky.

I.A. Melchuk widely uses the term "phraseme" ^[11], which allows combining all reproducible units of the language, since this term means "non-free combination of signs" ^{[14, p. 18]}. It can be said that broad classifications, on the one hand, take into account the established tradition, and on the other, complement the FE class with such categories that are not so traditional, but are in good agreement with the basic parameters (standards) of FE – this is, reproducibility and stability (in the narrow meaning of the term, which was introduced by I.A. Melchuk).

According to A.N. Baranov and D.O. Dobrovolsky, the constructing features of phraseology are idiomaticity (non-derivability of the meaning of phraseology from the meanings of its components) and stability, which determines the limitations on their transformability and defectiveness of the paradigm. According to the concept of A.N. Baranov and D.O. Dobrovolsky, expressions that were previously excluded from the category of phraseology, such as parremia, grammatical phraseological units, winged words, cliches, etc., should be included in the phraseological fund ^{[2, 10]}.

S. Lubenskaya considers phraseology to be a non-free combination of two or more words that functions as a semantic whole ^{[13, p. 10]}, therefore, in the dictionary of her dictionary she includes not only traditional units allocated according to the concept of V.V. Vinogradov ^{[5, 6, 7]}, but also situational cliches, winged words, parremia, etc. The point of view of S. Lubenskaya on the definition of the scope of phraseology basically coincides with the point of view of I.A. Melchuk, A.N. Baranov and D.O. Dobrovolsky and turns out to be broader than traditional theories.

Phraseology in the Russian language is well studied and described, which is reflected both in linguistic research and in lexicographic practice. Structural and semantic features of phraseological units and their status in the lexicon put forward high requirements for the compilation of phraseological dictionaries. The main purpose of compiling a phraseological dictionary is to provide as complete and accurate information as possible about the phraseological units included in it. Since the first phraseological dictionary was published in 1960 under the editorship of A.I. Molotkov ^[17], the work of lexicographers in the field of compiling phraseological dictionaries has not stopped. Russians Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms (2013) (Russian-English Phraseological Dictionary) edited by S. Lubenskaya (hereinafter - Lubenskaya Dictionary) has already been published dozens of monolingual and bilingual phraseological dictionaries, among which the most complete and detailed Russian–English phraseological dictionary is the "Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms" (2013) (Russian-English Phraseological Dictionary).

In terms of the coverage of phraseological material, Lubenskaya's dictionary turns out to be the most complete, but not only in comparison with monolingual dictionaries (the dictionary of A.N. Baranov and D.O. Dobrovolsky ^[1], the dictionary of A.K. Birich ^[3], the dictionary of V.M. Mokienka ^[15], the dictionary of V.N. Telia ^[19], the dictionary of A.I. Fedrova ^[20]), but also with bilingual ones (P. Bokrovsky dictionary ^[4], A. Vitek dictionary ^[8], V.V. Gurevich and J.A. Dozorets dictionary ^[9] and A.V. Kunin dictionary ^[12]). The linguistic attention of our research is focused on the subject vocabulary, namely, on the equivalence of this vocabulary in the FE of two languages – Russian and English. For this reason, the practical part of this article examines the specifics of the presentation of phraseological units in the Lubenskaya dictionary in comparison with other bilingual dictionaries based on subject vocabulary.

To solve this problem, four bilingual phraseological dictionaries were carefully studied: these are the dictionaries of A.V. Kunin, A. Vitek, V.V. Gurevich and J.A. Dozorets, and the dictionary of P. Borkovsky, and two of them were selected the most relevant for comparative analysis: the first is the "Russian–English Idiom Dictionary" edited by A. Vitek (Russian Russian Dictionary), which for almost two decades has been the only assistant on phraseology for translators from Russian into English and for people studying Russian as a foreign language; the second is the "Concise Russian–English Phraseological Dictionary" edited by V.V. Gurevich and J.A. Dozorets (hereinafter - the dictionary Gurevich), which is the first bilingual (Russian-English) phraseological dictionary published in Russia.

Comparing the volume of the dictionary of phraseological dictionaries of different lexicographers gives an answer to the questions "how is phraseology understood by the authors?" and "on what principle are phraseological units chosen?". The concept of phraseology (which is considered phraseology) defines both the boundaries of the phraseology of the language and the principles of selecting material for lexicographic description. The Vitek dictionary presents both "absolutely constant idioms" (absolutely constant idioms) that do not allow any lexical variants, for example, to keep a stone in your bosom, to get it from the bottom of the sea, and "partially constant idioms" (partially constant idioms) that have lexical or grammatical variants that do not change the semantics of the Russian idiom, for example, keep the pocket wider/wider, press against the wall/wall. The Vitek dictionary includes about 5000 FE.

Gurevich's dictionary includes about 1000 phraseological units, but those that, according to the author, are the most frequent in speech. Gurevich's dictionary does not include proverbs, sayings, precedent phenomena, as well as phraseological units that stand outside the literary norm, for example, colloquial, dialect, slang, etc. Descriptive predicates (to win, to make a decision) and phraseological combinations of V.V. Vinogradov's concept ("semi–free phrases" - pitch darkness) are also not included.

In comparison with the two dictionaries mentioned above and the concepts of their authors, the Lubenskaya dictionary, as already mentioned, has a broader scope of FE, since it is based on a broad understanding of phraseology compared to the traditional narrow understanding of phraseology ^{[5, 16, 21]}, the volume of the dictionary is 14,000 FE, combined in 7000 dictionary entries.

In order to establish the specifics of the lexicographic description of phraseological units in the dictionary of S. Lubenskaya, it is necessary to conduct a comparative analysis of the dictionary entries presented in it with the dictionary entries in the already mentioned bilingual dictionaries of Vitek and Gurevich. At the same time, we will take into account the following parameters: 1) the number of grammatical litters, 2) the number of litters about usage (usage labels), 3) the number of English equivalents, 4) the number of examples, 5) the presence/absence of a usage note in terms of interpretation.

For comparison, phraseological units with such common characteristics as the presence of food names in the FE were selected from three dictionaries. The motivation for choosing this particular group of substantive vocabulary is as follows: food names are specific to a particular national community and have rich cultural information, and around each of them in the language there are many phraseological units, including paroemias. Due to the similarities and differences of different peoples in climate, eating habits, national character, worldview, etc., in each language, food names and their connotative meanings are very different, phraseological units with such lexical components-ethnonyms give more interesting information about interlanguage correspondences and inconsistencies than others, for example, there is bread in phraseology the English equivalent of the name bread is the predictable word bread – both denotatives have the same connotative meaning of ‘life support resource’, but in both languages, to describe those who have experienced a lot and who are difficult to deceive, there is a phraseology in the Russian language grated roll, and whereas in its English equivalent sb is an old hand (someone represents an old hand) the denotative equivalent of the word kalach turns out to be the unpredictable word hand.

Lexicographers, paying special attention to these phraseological units, describe them in as much detail as possible, therefore, in comparison with other FE dictionary entries of phraseological units with food names have a more complete structure in three comparable dictionaries. The dictionary entries of these FE include all the information: stylistic marks, grammatical information, and, of course, English equivalents, as well as illustrative material, etymological and cultural references. It can be said that the dictionary entries of these phraseological units demonstrate the characteristics of each of the studied Russian-English phraseological dictionaries to the greatest extent.

Lubenskaya's dictionary contains 76 such phraseological units, Gurevich's dictionary contains 18, Vitek's dictionary contains 56, of which 9 general phraseological units are selected for detailed statistical comparative analysis.

 TableComparison of dictionary entries of phraseological dictionaries

*L – Lubenskaya Dictionary

*G – Gurevich's Dictionary

*In – Vitek Dictionary

As can be seen from the table above, the average values of the number of grammatical litters in the Lubenskaya dictionary are significantly higher than in other lexicographic publications: L (3.55) > G (2.66) > B (0). As for the total number of these structural components of the dictionary entry, 84 grammatical litters were identified in the Lubenskaya dictionary, in the Gurevich dictionary there are 68 of them, 0 in the Vitek dictionary. This suggests that the system of grammatical litters of the Lubenskaya dictionary is the most complete.

The average values of the number of litters about the use of phraseological units in the Lubenskaya dictionary are slightly less than in the Gurevich dictionary – G (1.44) > L (1.33) > B (1). However, if we compare the total number of such litters, it turns out that there are more of them in the Lubenskaya dictionary than in the Gurevich dictionary (respectively: 26 and 21). In the Lubenskaya dictionary, the litter system by use is divided into three parts: temporary, stylistic and emotionally expressive, each part consists of several marking symbols covering all the characteristics of phraseological units.

The vast majority of dictionary entries in the Lubenskaya dictionary contain more than one English equivalent. Each phraseology is provided in the Lubenskaya dictionary with an average of 3.55 equivalents, in the Gurevich dictionary – 1.66, in the Vitek dictionary – 0.77. The English equivalents in the Lubenskaya dictionary are designed to cover all possible contexts, this significantly increases the practical value of the dictionary. It can be said that although Lubenskaya's dictionary is bilingual, but her focus is on Russian phraseology, which the author, as a result of many years of scrupulous work, found English equivalents.

As for the number of examples, the average figures are higher in the Gurevich dictionary: G (3.33) > L (1.44) > B (0.11). It is worth noting, however, that all the examples in the Gurevich dictionary are presented in Russian, without their translation into English, whereas in the Lubenskaya dictionary as illustrative material Russian Russian Russian Russian part uses such sources as works of Russian and Soviet literature, as well as "Russian abroad", most of the examples are accompanied by translation into English, and in many cases with several versions of the translation, which helps to better understand how to use phraseology in Russian and, accordingly, how to use its equivalent in English.

In the Lubenskaya dictionary, if necessary, together with the interpretation, notes on use (usage note) are given. The note lists the contexts and describes the cases in which this phraseology can be used, for example, the phraseology skim / skim cream in the Lubenskaya dictionary is interpreted as follows: "to take the best part of sth. for o.s. (usu. in cases where one's position gives one both first access to sth. and the opportunity to exploit the system to one's own advantage)" ^{[13, p. 561]} (translation: take the best part of sth. for s.o. (usually used in cases where someone's position gives someone both first access to something and the opportunity to use the system to their advantage). The context in which this phraseology can be used is indicated in parentheses. In the Lubenskaya dictionary, every third phraseology is provided with a note on usage, which is 34.2% (26/76). This indicator is 33.3% (6/18) in the Gurevich dictionary, there is no comment on the use in the interpretative part in the Vitek dictionary.

From the above comparative analysis, it can be concluded that the completeness of S. Lubenskaya's dictionary reveals its obvious advantages over the other two dictionaries in terms of the number of litters, English equivalents, the number of examples and notes on use.

Another important feature of the lexicographic representation of S. Lubenskaya's dictionary is the detail and accuracy of the description of phraseology. Let's show this by the example of a comparative analysis of dictionary entries of phraseology, it is impossible to lure anyone anywhere with a roll, which means that no persuasion, no means to invite anyone ^[18], selected from three dictionaries:

A) Dictionary entry in the Lubenskaya dictionary:K-35 • A ROLL DOES NOT LURE anyone where

coll [VP; subj: human; usu. fut gener. 2nd pers sing won't lure; fixed WO]

Interpretation: to be unable by any means to convince s.o. to go to some place or see s.o.

English equivalent: the X-and Y in place nothing will tempt ? you won't ?can't, couldn't? get X (to come ?to go?) to place Y for love (n)or money ?at any price?; nothing will ?can, could? (ever) X tempt to come ?to go? to place Y; nothing (in the world) will ?can, could? lure ?drag? X to place Y.

Examples 1: [Vasya:] You can't lure a roll to the theater. So you expect it! (A.N. Ostrovsky "Talents and fans").[V.:] You won’t get them to the theatre for love or money — that’s what you’re soon going to find out! (Transl. Elisabeth Hanson. Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press; New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970).

Examples 2: [Astrov:] Left. The professor is probably glad! You can't lure him here now with a roll (A.P. Chekhov "Uncle Vanya").[A.:] They’ve gone. The professor is happy, that’s certain. Nothing could ever tempt him to come back here now (Transl. Ann Dunnigan. New York: New American Library, 1964). [A.:] They’ve gone. The professor’s happy, that’s for sure. Nothing in the world could drag him back here (Transl. Michael Henry Heim. New York: Modern Library, 2003).

B) Dictionary entry in Gurevich's dictionary:Z-12 TO LURE someone WITH A ROLL-L. where-L. not to lure

Razg.

Interpretation: By no means, even by the most attractive means, it is impossible to persuade someone, to get someone to go, to go somewhere. Usually to where something happened. not pleasant or where it is worse to live, work.

Grammatical information: Upotr. more often in the form of 2 l. units. h. with a generalized meaning. The order of the components is fixed.

English equivalent: Smb will not go somewhere for anything (for all the tea in China)

Russian Russian dictionary shows only 4 examples selected from the Russian literary works of 4 writers (A.Ya. Yashin, V.A. Kaverin, M.A. Saltykov and A.N. Ostrovsky.), all these examples are presented only in Russian without translation in English.

C) Dictionary entry in the Vitek dictionary:Kalach

00

You can 't lure anyone with a roll !

English equivalent: You can't get someone to somewhere for love or money.

For phraseology, it is impossible to lure anyone with a roll where the stylistic litter coll is put in the Lubenskaya dictionary. This means that the phraseology is colloquial, and Gurevich's dictionary also notes the stylistic attribution of this phraseology to the colloquial style. In the Vitek dictionary, the numbers “00” are set, which indicate that the phraseology is neutral. 

Lubenskaya's dictionary shows the grammatical characteristics of phraseological units as fully as possible. In the above example of a litter [VP; subj: human; usu. fut gener. 2nd pers sing will not lure; fixed WO] means that the phraseology is a verb, the subject of which must be a person, the predicate is a verb of the perfect form to lure in the form of the future tense, the second person singular with a generalized meaning will not lure, the word order of the phraseology is fixed. This is the key grammatical information when using this phraseology. In Gurevich's dictionary, the rules of use and the peculiarities of the order of components are noted. Grammatical information is not provided in the Vitek dictionary. From this it can be seen that the dictionary entry of this phraseology in the Lubenskaya dictionary contains the richest grammatical information. 

For the phraseology in question, only 1 equivalent is given in the Gurevich dictionary and the Vitek dictionary, and in the Lubenskaya dictionary, readers are presented with 3 English equivalents, among them 2 equivalents with the actant-subject of the pronoun nothing: nothing will/can/could (ever) tempt X to come/go to place Y –‘nothing will/can (never) tempt X to come/go to the place of Y‘and nothing (in the world) will/can/could lure X to place Y –'nothing (in the world) will/can lure X to the place of Y'. These two expressions are often used by native English speakers, but they are not represented in the dictionaries of Gurevich and Vitek. The vast majority of dictionary entries in the Lubenskaya Dictionary contain more than one English equivalent, since the English equivalents in the Lubenskaya Dictionary are designed to cover all possible contexts.

The phraseology does not lure anyone to where in the Lubenskaya dictionary is provided with two typical examples from literary works with their official translations into English, the first example is taken from the work "Talents and Fans" by A.N. Ostrovsky, the second is quoted from the play "Uncle Vanya" by A.P. Chekhov, for which two versions of the translation into English are specially presented language. Gurevich's dictionary gives 4 examples in Russian without an English translation. There is no example in Vitek's dictionary.

It should be specially noted that in the Lubenskaya dictionary, in all dictionary entries with verbal FE, variable signs (variables) X, Y are used to denote the subject, object; in some dictionary entries, there is also a variable Z, which functions to denote the place of a situation or a third party in speech (except for the subject and object), for example, X introduced Y-a into the Z-s house – X introduced Y to Z/to Z's family (X introduced Y to the Z family), such variable signs are not used in the dictionaries of Vitek and Gurevich. Variables show the number and case of nouns and pronouns (X-a, X-y, X-s, Y-a, Y-y, Y-s, etc.), for example, you can't lure X-a to place Y with a roll, which helps the reader to understand the meaning of phraseology and the specifics of its syntax: used in a generalized personal sentence, the predicate must be in the form of the second person singular of the verb to lure, and accordingly, the object X must be in the form of the accusative case (X-a).

Thus, comparing the dictionary entries of three dictionaries by the "degree of detail" parameter of the lexicographic description, we can say that the dictionary of C. Lubenskaya is the most detailed and accurate of the three analyzed Russian-English dictionaries.

Phraseological units generalize the collective experience and convey the traditions of the people, enriching the nominative inventory of the language. Phraseology is an important unit of the lexical system of the language.

The Russian-English dictionaries considered in this article have their own peculiarities. Gurevich's dictionary includes the most frequently used phraseological units, so many of those that actually exist in the lexicon of the language are not included in the dictionary, as a result of which the volume of the dictionary is small, but it is worth noting that the compilers describe in detail the phraseological units included by them, presenting in the dictionary entry all the necessary information about them, including grammatical and stylistic characteristics, English equivalents, as well as illustrative examples. Vitek's dictionary is larger in volume, but the vast majority of phraseological units are not provided with grammatical marks and examples. In comparison with these two phraseological dictionaries, Lubenskaya's dictionary has such characteristics that distinguish it from all bilingual phraseological dictionaries. Firstly, the dictionary is distinguished by the breadth of coverage of the material: it includes 14,000 phraseological units combined into 7000 articles. Secondly, the dictionary entry is distinguished by the completeness of the structural parts of the dictionary entry, which is built with a large number of grammatical litters, English equivalents and examples. Thirdly, a distinctive feature of the Lubenskaya dictionary is the detail and accuracy of the lexicographic representation of phraseology. Russian Russian dictionary entry accurately and scrupulously describes not only grammatical, but also stylistic characteristics of phraseology, collects the maximum number of conventional equivalents to the Russian FE, which are illustrated in different contexts, while illustrative material on Russian FE is extracted from the texts of works of "Russian abroad" that were unknown or little known to the Soviet reader, all examples are given and on Russian Russian, and in English, which makes the Lubenskaya Dictionary a valuable source of information about the FE of Russian and English languages.

Thus, the Lubenskaya dictionary has every right to the status of the most complete Russian-English dictionary of the FE with a high degree of linguistic detail of the presentation of lexicographic material and the accuracy of interpretation of the meaning of phraseology, which meets the modern requirements of further and versatile research of bilingual phraseography.