The importance of the pragmatics of verbal idiomatic expressions with a figurative meaning in Spanish

Abstract

In this paper, the behavior of verbal idioms in Spanish is studied. In the phraseological world, there are various classifications depending on the characteristic features of phraseological units. This article focuses on the pragmatics of various verbal idioms in Spanish. Verbal idioms are mainly phraseological units characterized by fixation and idiomaticity. The fact that these characteristics are shared with other phraseological units and that both fixation and idiomaticity are gradual characteristics has traditionally made it difficult to establish clear boundaries that adequately delimit different types of phraseological units, especially when they contain verbs. However, it is possible to characterize verbal idioms by distinguishing them as linguistic units at three gradually limiting levels: firstly, as phraseological units or fixed expressions with a high degree of fixation; secondly, as idioms with idiomatic meaning and, thirdly, verbal idioms as such differ in that they are formed by the verb core. The examples given in the work and many others show that, despite the fact that fixation is one of the defining features of phraseological units, hence verbal idioms, it is necessary to take into account various phenomena that call into question its immutability. These phenomena represent, on the one hand, the inflection of the verb core and other components that establish a relationship of agreement with elements external to the idiom when they are inserted into speech; on the other hand, the possibility of replacing some of its components with a more or less limited number of words forming a series of lexical variants of the same idiom; and, finally, syntactic-type operations, such as the inclusion of paragraphs between the components of a verbal idiom, the increase or reduction of certain expressions, changes in the order of the components of language expressions and transformations, such as the formation of a passive voice or the nominalization of some verbal idioms.