英语习语的变异性及修辞特色

VARIABILITY OF ENGLISH IDIOMS AND THEIR RHETORICAL FEATURES

英语习语是语言在长期使用过程中形成的独特、固定的表达方式,具有语义的统一性和结构的固定性。但习语也并非一成不变,随着语言的发展、社会的变化以及某种特定表达的需要,习语在保持相对稳定的同时,也在不断地演变,具有变异性。当然,习语的变异性是建立在定型性的基础上,是有规律可循的。

English idioms, characterized by semantic unity and structural stability, are distinctive, fixed expressions of language in its long-term usage. But owing to linguistic development, social changes and special need for expression, they are not constantly invariable but relatively stable. Of course, variability is based on fixity, with regularity to conform to.