ON FOLK ETYMOLOGY CAUSED BY NEAR-HOMOPHONY IN THE PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS OF THE CONCEPTUAL SPHERE «FOOD» IN ENGLISH

Abstract

The article deals with folk etymology as an erroneous perception of verbal signs leading to the creation of new signs. The author studies three types of phraseological units from the conceptual sphere «Food» in English: the units with a proper name, the units with a geographical name, and the units consisting of common names. The analysis brings out some cases of folk etymology caused by near-homophony: an ethnonym is interpreted as an anthroponym; a common name is taken for a toponym. It is stressed that language users tend to find some linguacultural grounds in the similar-sounding associated (confused) words. The examples of folk etymology serve as an illustration of creative semiosis.

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Published: March 1, 2017.

Keywords

• фразеологизм
• народная этимология
• звуковое сходство
• этноним
• топоним
• имя нарицательное
• пища
• языковая игра
• креативный лингвосемиозис
• phraseological unit
• folk etymology
• near-homophony
• ethnonym
• toponym
• common name
• food
• language play
• creative linguosemiosis

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© 2017 The Author(s)
© 2017 Gramota Publishing, LLC

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)