Evaluate the functions of phraseological units and Thematic classification.

Phraseologicalunits occupy an intermediate position between free word combinations and compound words. On the one hand, they are combinations of words and lack external inseparability. On the other hand, they are semantically integral and function as words.

Phraseological units have a set of specific functions, predetermined by their essence. Some functions are constant or definite, in other words – attribute to all phraseological units in any conditions of their use, others are variative, peculiar to some types of phraseologisms. Definitive are communicative, cognitive and nominative functions. ^[1]

The communicative function of phraseological units is their ability to serve as communicative or message means. Communication presupposes a mutual exchange of statements, and message presupposes the transfer of information without a feedback with the reader or the listener.

The nominative function of phraseological units is their relation to objects of the real world, including situations, and also replacement of these objects in speech activity by their phraseological denominations. The filling of lacunas in the lexical system of the language is characteristic of the nominative function of phraseological units. This function is peculiar to the overwhelming majority of phraseological units, as they do not have lexical synonyms. The sub-kinds of the nominative function are neutrally-nominal and nominal functions.

The neutrally-nominal function is the basic one for phraseological units, for example, brown paper. At realization of such phrases in communication the fact of a designation of the object is important, and not the stylistic use of the phrase. The nominal function is also characteristic for semantically transferred phraseological units (idiomatisms and idiophraseomatisms), but it is not neutral, it is stylistically marked.

Function which is closely connected with nominative function is the cognitive function, that is the socially-determined reflexion of objects of the real world mediated by consciousness, promoting their cognition. The social determinacy is shown in the fact that though potential phraseological units are created by separate individuals, these individuals are part of the society, and the realization of the cognitive function by them is possible only on the basis of previous knowledge.

The thematic principle of classifying phraseological units has real merit but it does not take into consideration the linguistic characteristic features of the phraseological units.

Academician Vinogradov classifies phraseological units which was based on the semantic principle and it is considered by some linguists of today to be outdated, because it was the first classification system.

Here phraseological units can be classified according to the degree of motivation of their meaning. He pointed out three types.

1) Fusions where the degree of motivation is very low, we cannot guess the meaning of the whole from the meanings of its components, they are highly idiomatic and cannot be translated word for word into other languages. These are word-groups with a completely changed meaning, but in contrast to the unities they are demotivated, that is, their meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts.

2)Unities where the meaning of the whole can be guessed from the meanings of its components, but it is transferred (metaphorical or metonymical). These are word-groups with a completely changed meaning, that is, the meaning of the unit does not correspond to the meaning of its constituent parts. They are motivated units or putting it in another way, the meaning of the whole unit can be deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts.

3) Collocations or phraseological combinations where words are combined in their original meaning but their combinations are different in different languages. These are word-groups with a partially changed meaning. They may be said to be clearly motivated, that is, the meaning of the unit can be easily deduced from the meanings of its constituents. This group contains one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically.