Application of Determiners in Phraseological Units Containing Names of Human Body Parts

Marta Lackova

doi:10.26552/com.c.2010.3.54-57

Abstract

The article deals with formal expressive means of the category of determination which are applied in phraseological units of the English language containing names of human body parts (nouns ear, eye, face, foot, hand, head, heart are the focus of our attention). At first, the article provides a brief introduction into the linguistic area of determination. Three types of determiners (predeterminers, central determiners, postdeterminers) are classified in order to provide background information for further research. Moreover, general rules dealing with the use of articles with reference to body parts are introduced. The above mentioned types of determiners find their realization also within the framework of the analysed phraseological units. Possessive pronouns, the definite, indefinite and zero articles represent the most spread types of determiners in the studied area.

Highlights

Linguistic determination is an analogical term with the scientific term determinism
A determinative structure is an expression form of functional and semantic meanings of language area informational surroundings. Determinative structures find their potential in a language system; they are activated during language operation and they may be directly expressed in a text
The definite article the is often used instead of possessive pronouns when referring to parts of the body and clothes and following a preposition: He pulled her by the hair/the sleeve

Summary

Introduction

Linguistic determination is an analogical term with the scientific term determinism. Determination originates as a way of relations arrangement between communication activities and language systems. A determinative structure is an expression form of functional and semantic meanings of language area informational surroundings. Determinative structures find their potential in a language system; they are activated during language operation and they may be directly expressed in a text. We will base our research on the following classification of formal expressive means of the category of determination in the English language; we distinguish three basic types of determiners [6]: 1. Postdeterminers follow predeterminers and central determiners and they precede other modifying elements of the noun phrase. Postdeteminers include: – cardinal numerals: one, hundred; – ordinal numerals: the second, the twentieth + expressions last, past, other, another, additional, further; – closed-class of quantifiers: few, little, many, several, much, plenty of, a lot of, lots of; – open-class of quantifiers: a number of, a deal of, a quantity of, an amount of

The use of determiners with reference to body parts

Findings

Conclusion