Phraseological Units with Zoonyms: A Look through the Window of the Cultural Influence

Abstract This paper discuss about the influence of the cultural aspects on the phraseological units with zoonyms (PHUz), expressions that carry a zoonym in their composition. The PHUz reflect the history and culture of the people who use them, and they include idiomatic expressions from Brazilian Portuguese language such as ser um bagre ensaboado (to be as slippery as an eel). We mobilize some theoretical foundations about Phraseology, including Manca (2008), Hall ([1976] 1989), Malinowski (1922, 1923, 1935), Corpas Pastor (1996), Corpas Pastor and Mena Martínez (2004), Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1987, 1990), etc. Cultural aspects influence on the phraseological units and allow the appearance of interlinguistic coincidences, cultural windows that foment the universal dimension, and possess, in the conceptual metaphors, the origin of certain phraseologysms. The methodology presents some PHUz in Brazilian Portuguese with functional correspondences in English.摘要 本研究探讨文化维度对带动物名称的短语语块（phraseological units with zoonyms，PHUz）的影响，此类语块的核心构成要素为动物名称。PHUz承载着其使用者族群的历史与文化内涵，涵盖巴西葡萄牙语中的惯用语表达，例如ser um bagre ensaboado（字面义为“像涂了肥皂的鲶鱼”，引申义为“为人圆滑如鳝鱼”）。本研究援引了短语学领域的诸多理论根基，包括Manca（2008）、Hall（[1976] 1989）、Malinowski（1922、1923、1935）、Corpas Pastor（1996）、Corpas Pastor与Mena Martínez（2004）、Lakoff及Johnson（1980、1987、1990）等学者的研究成果。文化维度对这类语块具有显著影响：不仅催生了跨语言的契合现象，提供了彰显普适性内涵的文化视角，同时在概念隐喻中构成了部分短语表达的起源。本研究的方法论部分选取了若干巴西葡萄牙语中的PHUz，并梳理了其在英语中的功能对应表达。