Quotation groups

In distinction of a borderline between a word and a phrase, a word and a sentence is seen most clearly if we turn to the so-called quotation group. In this case a syntactic structure is larger than a word performs the function of a single sentence part: a cat-and dog life. In the E. quotation groups are used as attributes in prep. to a noun because in this language there is no agreement in case, number and gender between a noun and its attribute. From structural viewpoint quotation groups may be equal to:

1) A phrase (a cat-and mouse play);

2) A simple sentence (That boy is I-don’t-care type);

3) A complex sentence (Mamma-thinks-I-am-foolish hairdo);

In Russian quotation groups are called ‘цитатные речения’ and here they are also used most usually as attributes. If in E. all the members of a quotation group are connected with the help of the hyphen to show their unity, in Russian they are taken into quotation marks. Another difference in Russian q. gr. stand in post-position to the noun modified because a prepositive attribute must agree with the noun in case, number and gender while q. gr. can’t do it (прическа «после тифа»; «взрыв на макаронной фабрике»).

Н.Ю. Шведов, а says that in this case phrases and sentences are involved into the sphere of functions of s single word and being used as single word quite often they acquire word-building and word-changing features of those parts of speech in whose function they occur (from every they heard sympathetic ‘ not reallys’; The ladies exchanged ‘you look beautifuls’).

The majority of scholars think that q. gr. are non-formations used no more than once. But their frequency in the language is so high that is impossible to think of some derivational patterns of q. gr. (a cat-and dog existence, their face-to-face talk, to wait-and –live attitude, a step-by-step movement). Some of these q. gr. have already been included into the vocabulary of E. or are registered in dictionaries (well-to-do family, would-be student). In the majority of cases q. gr. are very popular in the language of advertisements but sometimes to translate them properly we should have not only linguistic but some extra-linguistic information as well (She bought him a connect-the-dots book).

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