Variance in Phraseology

Abstract

The article presents various approaches to the problem of variance in the context of Polish and French phraseology. As it follows from previously conducted research, the phenomenon of phraseological variance may encompass a wide or narrow spectrum of morphosyntactic and/or semantic changeability of fixed combinations of words. Formal differences between variants or changes in the components should not, however, interfere with the identification of a set phrase in its various forms. Therefore, the extent of possible modifications in the signifier and their impact on the semantic identity of a unit becomes a vital issue. Thorough analyses conducted by Polish and French linguists are an attempt to address the problems and difficulties connected with the description of phraseological variants which have not been completely solved. The author of the present article discusses the types of phraseological variance on the basis of examples excerpted from contemporary general and specialized dictionaries; these types include morphosyntactic and lexical variances as well as the variance in length. There are synonymic, metonymic and hypernymic-hyponymic relations between the components of phraseological variants. In the study of the polymorphism of fixed units, the concept of invariant is also of importance.