Idiom modifications: What grammar reveals about conceptual structure

Abstract

This paper deals with modifications, which are defined as creative changes of idioms’ conventionalized forms for communicative purposes. The focus is on verb phrase (VP) idioms and their structural modifications – deliberate alterations of the grammatical structure (which may be accompanied by lexical changes). Idiom modifications are analyzed within the framework of Cognitive Grammar. The aim is to show that structural modifications are systematic to a certain extent and that the restrictions governing such changes are similar to those that apply to conventionalized variations. We performed a study of 160 VP idioms in the English Web corpus 2013 (enTenTen13). Two groups of results were obtained. Firstly, structural modifications of VP idioms are limited to four types – active and passive voice, transitive and intransitive constructions, directional opposites and nominalization – which are parallel to those usually mentioned for conventionalized variations. Secondly, modifications exhibit systematicity in how conceptual content is expressed grammatically in that they follow established grammatical patterns. This implies that, when using an idiom creatively, the speaker can choose from a set of options, but those options allow for creativity within certain boundaries. Overall, this study shows that structural modifications are jointly constrained by semantic and grammatical factors.