University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository

Calgary (Working) Papers in Linguistics Volume 07, Winter 1982

1982-01 Aspects of *

Sayers, Coral

University of Calgary

Sayers, C. (1982). Aspects of idiom*. Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 7(Winter), 13-32. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/51297 journal article

Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca Aspects of Idiom*

Coral Sayers • 1. Introduction

Weinreich (1969) defines an idiom as "a complex expression • whose meaning cannot be derived from the meanings of its elements." This writer has collected examples of from the English, German, Australian English, and Quebec French dialects (Appendix I) in order to examine the properties of the idiom, to explore in the literature the current concepts of idiom, and to relate relevant knowledge gained by these processes to the teaching of English as a Second Language.

An idiom may be a , a "lexical idiom," or, if it has a more complicated constituent structure, a "phrasal idiom." (Katz and Postal, 1964, cited by Fraser, 1970:23) As the lexical idiom, domi­ nated by a single branch syntactic category (e.g. "squatter," a noun) does not present as much difficulty as does the phrasal idiom, this paper will focus upon the latter.

Despite the difficulties presented by idioms to the Trans­ formational Grammar model, e.g. the contradiction of the claim that virtually all sentences have a low occurrence probability and frequency (Coulmas, 1979), the consensus of opinion seems to be that idioms can be accommodated in the grammatical description. Phrasal idioms of English should be considered as a "more complicated variety of mono­ morphemic lexical entries." (Fraser, 1970:41)

2. Types of phrasal idiom

The data reveal, and the literature supports, the concept of at least two kinds of idiom. The first is the normal low frequency idiom, e.g. "kangaroo court," "on the breadline," etc. The second is the "pragmatic idiom" (Coulmas, 1979:240), a subset of Routine Formulae, e.g. greeting formulae such as "How do you do?" "Griiss Gott."

Despite its high frequency of occurrence, the pragmatic idiom is similar in some respects to the low-frequency idiom. "The expres­ sive aspects often dominate the descriptive aspects" (Coulmas, 1979: 241); the idiom must be learned as a whole; and from the point of view of the grammarian, it is transformationally defective,

Idioms may range in style from the formal to the extremely informal and may be acceptable or unacceptable as far as social usage is concerned. One would not hesitate to write about "a land of milk and honey," nor to produce in Australia books with titles such as the following: "Myths of the Dreamtime," or "Squatting in the Western

- 13 - - 14 -

District 1840-1880." Nevertheless, many idioms are purely colloquial and many of these are slang or taboo slang expressions. Idiomaticity as such has therefore become more important for the foreign language teacher since the emphasis in teaching moved towards the oral language. • Semantic ambiguity, even if it consists of ambiguity of the speaker's intention (Yorio 1980:436), is an essential characteristic of idiom; it is often, e.g. "step on the gas," a source of confusion and difficulty for the learner. If, however, the literal meaning of the expression is no longer utilized in the language, this ambiguity " ceases to exist. The resultant idiom, the type without literal ~ounter­ part, is a part of the class of the most frozen idioms (Fraser, 1970). Obviously, if the original meaning of the word has been lost, an attempt to discover the relationship between the literal and idiomatic meanings of a phrase will be unfruitful. With a knowledge of the ety­ mology of a given expression, relationship with the literal counter­ part may sometimes be perceived, e.g. "squatter." Nevertheless, Weinreich (1969:76) insists upon the arbitrariness of the relationship "which looks plausible only in retrospect" except for exceptional cases where there is "a separate act of historical analysis or of poetic evocation. No general predictions can be made."

3. Current views of idiom

With respect to lingu:J,stic and socio-cultural content, "[Routine Formulae] represent a kind of linguistic material where interaction between both sides is particularly obvious." (Coulmas, 1979:255) The data show that idioms are wedded to their environment and their cul­ ture in place and in time. The Quebecois expressions show vividly the influence of the English language. The Australian expressions utilize the unique fauna of the country, the social conditions of the emerging society, historical events, and possibly some linguistic material from the indigenous people.

However, it is currently argued (Criper and Widdowson, 1975) that variation in speech caused by geographical isolation is probably being modified in this century as a result of improved co11D11unications networks. Urbanization may have a similar modifying effect. Austral­ ians certainly use many North American expressions, e.g. "on the breadline," and have exported some phrasal idioms, e.g. "kangaroo court." "O.K." has a wide currency.

The question of universals of thought must be raised when one sees that "dark horse" is used as an idiom in both Chinese and English (Alter 1978:8). A universal that is undeniable is that of processes of language change. Lexical transfers and semantic shifts are extremely common when one language comes into contact with another, and it is interesting to note that Campbell (1979), in her study of these pro­ cesses amongst Italian-speaking !mmigrants to Australia, discovered - 15 - a rate (3.78%) of lexical transfer which correlates almost completely with that of Haugen's study of Norwegian immigrants to the U.S.A. (See Appendix I for examples of lexical transfer from English to Quebecois.)

Study of the data reveals the possibility of predicting prob­ lems and situations which directly affect the learner and teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL). As many idioms are colloquial in style, it is obvious that there will be a problem with materials. Colloquialism, often "ephemeral, local, idiolectal, vulgar" (Krebs, 1979:179) offers a real challenge to makers. Appropriate materials will only be produced if the size of the market will ensure a profitable result. It is unlikely that such a market exists for Australian-oriented or Quebecois-oriented Second Language (L ) materials. Even the orientation of some editors is suspect, The "Dictionary2 of Modern French Idioms" (Garland, 1976, Price $85.00 for two volumes) has a selection from Quebec from which the authors claimed to have omitted some more current phrases in favour of others that were more quintessentially Quebecois (Melpignano, 1980), Such a selection indi­ cates orientation towards a historical outlook and a failure to appre­ ciate the importance of time as well as place in the currency of idiomatic expressions.

The excerpts from O'Grady's novel (Appendix I) illustrate the problems which are confronted by the ESL learner who has already learned English in a formal situation, probably from a Received Pro­ nunciation (RP) model, when he meets people who speak a different dialect of English. In Australia, and in some parts of Britain, he may suffer from being aligned with the stereotype associated with RP (Criper and Widdowson 1975:192). He may also find that, although he can make himself understood, he may not understand what is said to him in return (Ball, 1979). However, in learning to use, in context, the pragmatic idioms of a social situation, e.g. the of "shouting," he will simultaneously acquire a knowledge of the country's social mores: "He looked quite stern. 'In this country, if you want to keep out of trouble, you always return a shout, see?"' (O'Grady, 1957, Appendix I) This social and linguistic interaction in "situa­ tional frames" explains one of the difficulties faced by a non-native speaker who is teaching a language to other non-native speakers. "Social situations have certain characteristics, and being a member of a socio-cultural system means to know how to assess these features." (Coulmas, 1979:243)

In processing an idiom, normal native language (NL) process­ ing strategies must be by-passed by the listener, Generally, use of the verb for information (Fodor, Garrett and Bever, 1968 cited by Foss and Hakes, 1978:127) is impossible in the case of an idiom be­ cause no part of an idiom can be separated from the other parts. This factor combined with the arbitrary nature of the idiom predicts difficulty for the learner. However, with pragmatic idioms at least, - 16 -

the high frequency of occurrence withdn a social setting is an aid to learning. Although the idiomaticity creates difficulties for the understanding of the semantic content, a knowledge of situational appropriateness will be learned along with the utterance (Coulmas, 1979). -

The literature currently reflects an interest in automatic speech (of which idioms are a sub-set), its neurological characteris­ tic of being localized in both hemispheres, and in the Gestalt style of learning (Krashen and Scarcella, 1978:284). A study of use of pre­ fabricated routines by Hatch, 1972 (cited by Krashen & Scarcella, 1978:291) shOlfed that the chLld second-language learner relies upon them far more than does the first-language learner. He is able to do so because of his more highly developed short-term memory (STM), and he is encouraged to do so (Hakuta, 1974) because of his greater need to communicate. A study of one adult (Hanania and Gradman, 1977, cited by Krashen & Scarcella, (1978:78) showed successful learning of routines before analytical grammatical development occurred. Krashen and Scarcella conclude that routines may be very useful for establish­ ing social relationships and encouraging verbal input.

In her study of Italian innnigrants in Australia, Campbell (1979) reports that there were some examples of Australian English idioms being incorporated by translation and semantic shift into the speakers' Italian dialect. The speakers were unconscious of the pro­ cess, and believed that phrases such as "dortnire dentro" were correct renditions in a more prestigious dialect than their own. This pro­ cess indicates that the Australian idiom and its semantics was learned despite the speakers' limited command of English. It, therefore, con­ firms the suggestion that a Gestalt style of learning is possible.

4. Learning/teaching of idioms in the ESL classroom

The linguist will be interested to see that much of his research can be applied to pedagogy. The teacher can use theory which is ap­ plicable to the specific teaching situation in which he finds himself. One example of practical use of knowledge gained from linguistic theory would be the practice of the teacher who, cognizant of the difficulties associated with the RP model, alerts the students to the existence of other regional and social dialects of English. In this section of the article, it will be argued that a.number of useful pedagogical strate­ gies can be derived from the linguistic theory pertaining to idioms.

The overall implications of successful learning where frequency is combined with social situations suggest learners' strategies described by Fillmore, 1976 (cited by Cathcart, Strong and Fillmore 1979). In predictable and circumscribed situations such as classroom situations, children's play and sports situations, learners can make very successful use of pragmatic and other idioms, e.g. the ''Who's

------·--~------17 -

going to be 'it'?" of children's games, to become a part of the social group and encourage the continuation of co:nnnunication, thereby creat­ ing favourable circumstances for normal analytical language learning. Although adults share the developed STM of other second language learners, the strategy may be less successful for them because their world may not be as predictable as the child's world. However, good use could be made of idiomatic language and a Gestalt style in specialized 12 courses relating to work situations, e.g. for ambu­ lance drivers, nurses, etc. who are working in areas wher.e there is a high immigrant population with a common native language. Adult immigrant learners also might benefit from direct instruction of this type in notional-functional areas such as the work situation, social drinking and sports situations.

Data from Campbell (1979) are also a reminder that one of the many ways in which interference can occur is by translation. It is to be expected that students will occasionally translate idioms from their NL into English, the resulting sentence being ungrannnatical. There is another possibility, however. The result of translation may be a correct but unidiomatic English rendition. Although com­ munication will be unimpaired, the user's style will be marked if the utterance is used with the frequency usually associated only with that of the pragmatic idiom (Coulmas, 1979).

"An idiom should be treated like any other vocabulary item." (Yorio, 1980:440) Granted that an idiom is entered in the as a unit, Yorio's approach has the advantages of de-mystifying the idiom, and of encouraging the teacher to take advantage of the cur­ rent interest in vocabulary teaching as a whole, Many learner errors appear to be developmental in nature, and may be strongly influenced by factors such as those of psychological and social "distance" $chumann 1978) which are beyond the direct control of the teacher. Therefore, some teachers are suggesting that there should be a les­ sening of the stress upon syntax, with a corresponding increase in the time allotted for vocabulary enrichment (Judd, 1978). Because of the difficulties caused by the arbitrary nature of the idiom, the low frequency non-pragmatic type will have low priority in the selec­ tion of lexi.cal items to be covered, and will require a more conscious effort on the part of the teacher to apply to it generally accepted principles of good vocabulary teaching.

It is generally agreed that vocabulary ought to be taught in context (Rivers, 1968), and the ambiguity of idiomatic expressions makes this approach essential. In fact, the teacher may need to pre­ sent the item in several contexts so that the student can form the correct concept. Young children (Keller-Cohen, 1978, McNamara, 1972, cited by Huggins, 1977:43) and adult second language learners (Cooper, Olshtain, Tucker and Waterbury, 1979) use context as _a cue to language rather than language as a cue to context. In the case of idioms, where "the contention that idioms are typical of a culture ..• can - 18 -

be substantiated for pragmatic idioms at least" (Coulmas, 1979:260), the indications are that cultural patterns and idiom should be taught together. Teaching materials should consist of the dialogue type of lesson constructed around an experience which will demonstrate appro­ priate cultural behaviour (Rivers, 1968).

Vocabulary items need to be reviewed in an active, participa­ tory manner. The teacher should not only initiate such a review: he should also (Carroll, 1973:359) explain to the students the current psycho-linguistic theory that retrieval of an item after an interval is necessary if the item is to register in "Truly Long-Term Memory," and encourage the students to use this knowledge in their studies. (N.B. Unless there is an interpreter available, this explanation would be appropriate only for an advanced ESL class.)

Another general suggestion which could be applied with great benefit in the case of the idiom is the development of a reading skill which relies upon general comprehension rather than on specific knowledge of every word and its translation equivalent (Twaddell, 1973). In his encouragement of an attitude of student toleration of a temporary vagueness in meaning, the teacher should he able to reduce the frustration of ten provoked by an unknown idiom. After the student has finished the paragraph, Twaddell suggests sensible guessing at meaning, with the use of both pragmatic and grammatical clues.

Use of a by a student trains him to use lexical items as translation equivalents, and he is often handicapped in spoken English because he cannot immediately recall the desired word. Use of a monolingual English learners' dictionary in conjunc­ tion with a bilingual one (Baxter, 1980) teaches the student through cumulative experience that, if a lexical item cannot be recalled, an alternative method of expressing oneself, that of definition, is avail­ able. Speaker behaviour involving definition makes use of addressee feedback and support. The learners' dictionary suggested in Appendix II makes use of superordinate terms with related hyponyms, thus regu­ lating the defining vocabulary, and ensuring that the dictionary is easier to use than is the native speaker dictionary. Exercise of a defining type of speaker behaviour could help overcome the problem of arbitrariness and consequent difficulty of recall of the idiom.

How important is it that students should learn idioms? Current thinking places a great deal of emphasis on communicative competence, on the importance of acculturation (Brown, 1980), and on notional­ functional considerations such as Halliday's Interactional Function. "Successful interactional communication requires knowledge of slang, jargon, jokes, folklore." (ibid., p. 194) Labov (cited by Criper & Widdowson, 1975:189) in his study of the English used by New York speakers, showed that "social-class dialects are not distinct entities. They merge into each other to form a continuum." (Trudgill, 1974:45) It seems that the learner must be able to understand, if not produce, - 19 - a range of social-class dialects and a range of expressions along a formal-informal continuum.

Pragmatic Formulae, however, are frequently obligatory, func­ tioning "like a password giving access to the group." (Coulmas, 19 79: 252) A refined understanding of pragmatic idioms such as "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry" is necessary, because the students need to produce them in appropriate contexts. Borkin & Reinhart (1978) discovered that many students felt uncomfortable about their control of these expressions and, after studying some widely-used textbooks, concluded that ESL texts are generally deficient in their mode of presentation of such expressions. A teaching unit was devised by Fisher and Reinhart (forthcoming: cited by Borkin & Reinhart, 1978) for inter­ mediate and advanced level students. It is based upon a generalization that "Excuse me" pertains to rules of conduct and violation of these rules, whilst "I'm sorry" pertains. to person-to-person relationships. The complexity of social relationships can thus be simplified by the teacher who realizes that the students need guidance in socio- cultural matters in order to gain control of some aspects of linguis­ tic behaviour, and is prepared to make generalizations for their benefit.

There are many other ways in which a teacher can be a helpful guide to the learner. "Idiomatic expressions can be encountered in any language." (Coulmas 1979:239) When the students are able to understand an explanation of the term, the teacher should address the issue directly by defining the idiom and then inviting the students to contribute examples from their NL, with English equivalents and an explanation of meaning if necessary. A discussion of their contribu­ tions could incorporate reminders of the universality of human experi­ ence. Is "dark horse," an idiomatic expression in both Chinese and English (Alter, 1978), a product of such experience? The Chinese idiom "green years" meaning "young person" (Twaddell, 1973), would be meaningful to many of the students. English shares with many other languages the heritage of the Western civilization, a Judaic, Greco, Roman civilization. Many other Europeans and speakers of Russian, Turkish and Arabic may share many aspects of this heritage, and con­ sequently will have many concepts, and possibly some idiomatic expres­ sions or proverbs in common.

A discussion of the idiom, its properties, and the problems it causes, would alert the students and thus give them the possibility of making an identification. The students should be advised to sus­ pect idiomatic usage when the apparent meaning of the phrase is not sensible in the context (Twaddell, 1973). For incidental teaching, Twaddell suggests that the teacher place the idiom in different con­ texts so that the student may try the "sensible guessing" referred to earlier in this paper. In the event of the failure of "sensible guessing," the teacher may have to supply a paraphrase. The teacher should ensure that the student understands the meaning and associates it with the idiom, because "semantic content could be the only relevant - 20 -

factor in memory for messages over relatively long periods." (Fodor, Bever and Garrett, 1974: Sect. 5-23)

The teacher should be able to consult a good current dictionary of idioms for guidance as to the relative degree of "frozenness" of particular idioms in terms of application of syntactic transformations. If materials are unavailable, he will need to use common sense and sensitivity with respect to the language and the students' needs, and choose current and relevant items. Some books (see Appendix II) are suitable for student use, but the comprehensive and complicated idiom (see Appendix II) should be reserved for the teacher's use.

The fact that many idiomatic expressions are informal in style should not be allowed to mislead the students into a belief that idioms per se are socially unacceptable. Such a belief could cause the student to avoid idioms altogether. Students whose NL exhibits diglossia may have difficulty in recognizing that. some idioms are acceptable in the written language. The teacher should give guidance to the student on the social acceptability of individual idioms. A method of guidance, such as a system of asterisks, should be agreed upon and adhered to.

Whilst it is important that students should be trained in the correct production of pragmatic idioms, it is at least arguable that, apart from specialized sports or b·ther situational jargon, the pro­ duction of other idioms by adults should be delayed until the student is skilled in use of the language. A recent study (Oppenheim & Stenning, 1979) indicated that peer student listeners evaluated more favourably a formal, less idiomatic style of foreign student speech than,,they did a style which was less formal and more idiomatic. De­ layed production is particularly advisable in the case of curses or profanity. Rooted in the culture, taking account of and referring to a conmon system of values and beliefs, "their usage is notoriously risky in a foreign language." (Coulmas, 1979:260)

It is suggested therefore that, in general, exercises should involve recognition tasks (e.g. sentence completion with appropriate idiom to be chosen from a multiple-choice list) rather than production tasks. The exercises should help reinforce appropriate usage, as "the adult second language learner must acquire adaptability of register in order to be able to encode and decode the discourse around him correctly." (Brown, 1980:191) The task could be a choice of the less or more colloquial expression of a pair, or the choice from a list of collocational items of those items sharing the register of the idiom, etc. Songs containing idiomatic expressions give a controlled environment for initial production.

For advanced students, the use of modern plays is suggested. An interesting possibility for the language laboratory (Holmes, 1980) is the use of appropriate excerpts from recordings made by professional

'""""""'"""""'""""""""""'""""'"""""""""""'"'""""""""""""...... - 21 -

entertainers. During the first playing of the material the student follows with the aid of a script, which he keeps whilst listening to the teacher's informal explanation of relevant linguistic and cultural points. During the second playing he has to rely on aural comprehen­ sion. Idioms can also be used as topics for discussion or composition, e.g. "straight from.. the horse's mouth" or "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." (Alter, 1978) Despite the fact that the focus of attention is directed towards the task, the idio­ matic expression will be learned.

5. Conclusion

I believe that the teacher who understands the properties of the idiom and who recognizes its socio-cultural as well as its linguis­ tic content, will be in a good position to address the problem and to assist his students in their language learning and acculturation. Child second language learners should be encouraged to make use of idiomatic expressions which are used by their target language (TL)­ speaking peers, so that they can join in their games and thus create for themselves a favourable language learning environment. For adults, a useful distinction may be made between pragmatic and other idioms. Pragmatic idioms require early production and may require in-depth analysis to ensure correct social usage. With informal and excessively jingoistic idioms the writer recommends a cautious approach stressing recogrui.ti~n in advance of production. At the same time the teacher should develop in the students, wherever possible, an awareness of the essential quality of economy in the idiomts bi-functional use of language, and of its succinctness in capturing and reflecting univer­ sal aspects of human experience and the unique nature of the society •

• Footnotes

*I wish to thank Dr. V. De Guzman with whose encouragement this paper was attempted, and Dr. Aleks Steinbergs who also offered helpful advice. I am responsible for any errors J:>r inadequacies displayed herein.

- 22 - References

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Data

Idiom - "A complex expression whose meaning cannot be • derived from the meaning of its elements" (Weinreich, 1969)

Asterisk * indicates a semantic shift. That is, the word form exists in the standard dialect, but has a different meaning, sometimes being a .cognate or partial equivalent.

Quebecois Expr.ession English Equivalent French Equivalent

1. *Posez sur le' gazl Step on the gas! Accelerez! 2. Avoir du fonne To have fun S'amuser 3. Avoir les bleus To have the blues Avoi:r le cafard 4. Faire du change To give small change Faire de la monnaie 5. *Bienvenu(e) You're welcome Il n'y a pas de quoi 6. Un long-distance A long distance Un inter-urbain telephone call

N.B. The register correspondence of the three expressions #3.

Australian Proposed "M.e.an_fJlg" English English &tymology ·&qui'Valent

*Squatter Owner of a large In the 19th century, None tract of land free grants of land "Rancher" were given to people Connotations - who worked the land, wealth and social or "squatted" there, prestige for a length of time. In general, only the wealthy had the re- sources to succeed.

It's a boomer! It's very good! A "boomer" is a large male kangaroo. (Not a soccer team!)

- 26 - - 27 -

Australian "Meaning" Proposed English English Etymology Equivalent

Dream time Mystical pre­ Loan translation None creational and from an aboriginal creational period language? in the formation of the earth.

To go walkabout To go away for a This custom was part None period of time, of the life-style of often quite the aboriginal unexpectedly. peeple. Loan trans­ lation?

Up there, This is an order Cazaly was a great None Cazaly! to football Australian Rules foot­ players, roared ball player of the by the crowed, 1930's, who was able to jump high to to jump to extra­ catch the ball. ordinary heights.

*A school of A group of people ? drinkers who are drinking together socially.

To *shout a One person pays To pay for round of drinks for the drinks the round e.g. "Whose of the members of e.g."Whose shout is it?" "school." round is it?"

Fair dinkum Genuine, true Pidginization? None

*Go and see if 19th Century There were many Many and the horse has euphemism for a horses in the 19th varied. kicked off "visit to the Century rural his blanket. bathroom." Australia, and they were valued. Indoor plumbing was non­ existent.

Kangaroo Court Court set up Illegal activity and Kangaroo without legal the meting out of Court authority sunnnary justice was more likely to occur "in the bush." - 28 -

Australian Proposed ''Meaning" English English Etymology Equivalent • How do you do? Middle class prag- ? How do you matic idiom used do? when an introduc- tion is made.

How are you Informal pragma- "Mate" is an honour- going, mate, tic idiom used able term in the all right? as greeting. Australian working- class tradition and 19th Century liter- ature.

Some expressions which Australian speakers of English share with other speakers of English:

Expression "Meaning" Proposed Etymology

Dixie The Southern part New Orleans ten-dollar bills, of the U.S.A. printed at one time in English and French, were called "DIXIES" (New Orleans Vignette).

On the bread­ To be poor Fleischmann's of New York gave line away at 11 o'clock each even­ ing the day's unsold bread. (Goldberg, 1977:19)

O.K. O.K. Similar forms meaning 'yes,' 'yes indeed' in some West African languages, including Mandingo, may have led to a form 'oh ki' in Jamaica, which was recorded be­ fore the recording of 'O.K.' in the U.S.A. (Todd 1974:67)

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Some German-language "pragmatic idioms" used at different times as greetings (Coulmas, 1979): • Gruss Gott (Bavarian German) Heil Hitler N'achstes Jahr in Jerusalem

Idioms used in the sport of cricket:

To bowl a maiden over - To deliver a group of six/eight balls "over" to the batter (striker) without any runs being scored.

To field in the slips - To field in a position close to, or behind, the striker.

To get a hat-trick - To get three batsmen out in three consecutive balls.

To be out for a duck - To be bowled out without scoring any runs.

Some idiomatic expressions originating in the Bible (Goldberg, 1977: 129, 130, 131, 132):

Fly in the ointment. The fat of the land. The apple of his eye. By the skin of my teeth. Set your house in order. The top of the head. Stumbling block. Can the leopard change his spots? The bitter end.

Non-standard Italian idiomatic expression used by Italian-speaking Australians in a closed rural comnunity:

*dormire dentro To sleep in. (i.e., to stay longer in bed)

In standard Italian the expression means to sleep in something, e.g., a sleeping bag. - 30 -

The following excerpts are taken from the novel "They're A Weird Mob" by John O'Grady (alias Nino Culotta). 0 1 Grady's hero Nino is an educated Italian journalist who is sent to Australia by his news­ paper. He decides to obtain an unskilled part-ti.me job to supple­ ment his income. These excerpts are taken from the first part of the book, i.e. very soon after his arrival in Australia.

"What, please, is a bloke?" "Eh? Oh, everybody's a bloke. You're a bloke, I'm a bloke. We're all blokes." "Oh, I see. Like what the Americans call guys?" "Yeah, something." He handed me the beer, and raised his own to his lips. "Cheers." I replied, "Cheers," and drank some of my beer. It was very good. He said, "Tasted Australian beer before?" "No. This is the first ti.me." "Best beer in the world, Puts a gut on yer, though. Wodda yer do for a crust?" "I am sorry. I do not understand the Australian patois. Could you please use English ?"

''Your turn." "What is my turn?" ''Your turn to shout. 11 ''Why should I shout?" "Because I shouted you." "I did not hear you shout at me." He thought for a while and said, "I get it. When you buy a bloke a beer, it's called a shout, see?" ''Why is that?" ''Haven't a clue, but that's what it's called. I shouted for you, now it's your turn to shout for me.'' "I was only a little thirsty, I do not think I wish another drink." He looked quite stern. "In this country, if you want to keep out of trouble, you always return a shout, see?"

"Ow yer gain' mate orright?" "Yeah mate, Ow yer gain 1 orright?" "Orright mate. Nino, this is Pat. Pat - Nino." Pat extended a hand, and said, "Pleased ter meet yer." I shook hands with him and said, "How do you do?" He said, "Orright mate." APPENDIX II

References for Use in the ESL Situation •

Books suggested for student use:

Hornby, A. s. 1974. Oxford Advanced Learner 1s Dictionary o~ Current English. Gt~- Britain: O.U.P. 1974.

Worrall, A. J. 197 5. (revised by D. G. Sawer) English Idioms for Foreign Students and More English Idioms for Foreign Students. Gt. Britain: Longman.

These books give the student a guide to social acceptability of the idiom. They have useful exercises, e.g. (1) complete sentence with idiom to be chosen from a group of 3 or 4; (2) replace word in italics with less colloquial expression.

Books suggested as teacher's reference:

Freeman. 1973. ~cise Dictionary of English Idioms. Boston: The Writer. This book gives a guide to slang expressions, and includes American idioms. Longman Dictionary of English Idioms. Gt. Britain: Longman. 1979. This book give guidance as to whether the expression is colloquial, taboo slang, etc. It also gives guid­ ance as to the "frozenness" of the idioms, showing the ways in which the phrase may vary whether in word­ ing or in grammatical details. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. Vol. I: Verbs with prepositions and particles. London: O.U.P., 1975. Headphrase is designed to show limited range of lexi­ cal choice. (N.B. Guidance as to fixedness of expres­ sion is not as extensive as it is in the Longman book.) Expressions are marked if informal or slang. Collocates are given, e.g. "bring to attention." S: sergeant, officer O: troops, platoon, company.

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