Selected English, German, and Polish Phraseological Units about Human Communication: An Attempt of a Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Undoubtedly, phraseological units constitute one of the most fascinating aspects of the language, especially with regard to their illustrative and often abstract meaning contrasted with their equivalents in other languages. Describing the same phenomena, they often emphasise distinct elements. For instance, in English one can lie through one’s teeth, however, one neither needs teeth to lie in Polish, as eyes are indispensable (kłamać komuś w żywe oczy), nor in German – in this case, all that is necessary is somebody’s face (jemandem glatt ins Gesicht lügen). In order to beat about the bush, cotton is required in Polish (owijać w bawełnę) and flowers in German (etwas durch die Blumen sagen). Nevertheless, in some cases the equivalence rate is considerably high (lay one’s cards on the table – wyłożyć karty na stół – die Karten offen auf dem Tisch legen). However, speaking off the cuff has hardly anything in common with its German equivalent (aus dem hohlen Bauch heraus sprechen), whereas the Polish equivalent (mówić bez przygotowania) is not even deemed a phraseological unit at all. This article is an attempt at a comparative analysis of selected English, German, and Polish phraseological expressions concerning human communication with regard to both their idiomaticity degree in accordance to typologies by Harald Burger (2010), Christiane Römer and Brigitte Matzke (2005) and the represented equivalence type, based on classifications by Hessky (1992), and Laskowski (2003). Finally, the question regarding the linguistic worldview, the origin of convergences and divergences between the aforementioned expressions, is touched upon.