“Widespread idioms in Europe and beyond”: Lesser-used languages and their contribution to a “Lexicon of Common Figurative Units” Cover Image
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“Widespread idioms in Europe and beyond”: Lesser-used languages
“Widespread idioms in Europe and beyond”: Lesser-used languages and their contribution to a “Lexicon of Common Figurative Units”

Author(s): Elisabeth Piirainen
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Domowina-Verlag GmbH / Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina
Keywords: lesser-used languages; idioms; European languages; Sprachen; Gleichheiten; Unterschiede

Summary/Abstract: Contrary to earlier assumptions, there are far-reaching similarities between idioms of the European languages. This fact was confirmed not least by the results of the project “Widespread idioms in Europe and beyond”: It is not rare to find idiom equivalents with a quite consistent lexical and semantic structure in fifty or more languages. The seventy-four European languages represented in the project can be roughly divided into major languages (well-developed larger literary languages, often also national languages) and varieties that can be subsumed under the technical term lesser-used lan-guages. This raises the question as to what extent the lesser-used languages share the features of a “common figurative lexicon”. Using four examples we point to differences and try to find explanations.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 85-103
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: English