An_Analysis_of_Idioms_and_Their_Problems
An_Analysis_of_Idioms_and_Their_Problems
Khofiana Mabruroh
Jurusan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni,Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia
Alamat korespondensi: ISSN 2252-6463
Gedung B3 Lantai 1 FBS Unnes
Kampus Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229
E-mail: ofieana99@gmail.com
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INTRODUCTION
The research problems of this study are 1)
English has many ways to express an is there any idiom found in the novel; 2) what is
idea. One of them is by using idiomatic the type of idiom found in the novel; 3) what is
expressions. The use of idioms can be intended the dominant type of idiom found in the novel;
to make a mock and give advice to someone. 4) what are the problems in understanding
Consequently, there are many idiomatic idiomatic meanings found in novel The
expressions found in spoken language (daily Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain?
conversation) and written texts (novels, short McCarthy and O’Dell in their book
stories, letters, poetry etc.). They make the ‘English Idioms in Use’ (2002: 6) stated that
language richer and more colorful. The use of ‘Idioms are expressions which have a meaning
idiom is unique. Idiom is one of the that is not obvious from the individual words’. It
characteristics of English, but not all non-native means that the meaning of idioms is not literal
speakers are aware of it. Idiom is combination of meanings, but they have non literal meanings.
one word and other word which conveys a The best way to understand idioms are by
certain meaning. The problem is that, do all looking at the contents. For example, ‘drive
people understand the meaning of idiom? somebody’ is an idiom meaning ‘make somebody
The answer is that not all people angry or frustrated’.
understand the meaning of idioms. There are In addition, Walker in the New
three reasons why understanding idioms are International Webster’s Comprehensive
difficult. First, idiomatic expression cannot be Dictionary of the English Language (2003: 627)
translated word by word from its literal context. explained that, ‘An idiom is an expression
For example in, ‘take someone for a ride’, we peculiar to a language, not readily analyzable
cannot translate it into ‘remove some one for her from its grammatical construction or from the
journey on a horse or bicycle or in a vehicle’, but the meaning of component parts, as to put up with’.
meaning is ‘deceive or cheat someone in some way’. The point of that statement is that there is no
Second, it usually has double or more than two grammatical rule in idiom. It is such a kind of
meanings, for example ‘look at’, in the sentence habit of native speakers. Therefore, it is
‘Management is looking at ways of cutting costs’. understandable that foreign learners have
’It means ‘to think about a subject carefully so that problems to understand the meaning of idiom.
you can make a decision about it’, and in ‘If I'd had Makkai in the book ‘Idiom in Structure in
children I might have looked at things English’ (1972: 25) divides idioms into two
differently.’ The meaning is ‘to consider something categories:
in a particular way’, and also ‘Can you look at my 1. Idioms of Encoding (identifiable)
essay sometime?” It is ‘to read something in order Idioms of encoding are those
to check it or form an opinion about it’. Third, there idiosyncratic lexical combinations that have
is no grammatical rule in forming idioms. It transparent meaning involving collocational
means if the structure is changed, it will have preferences and restrictions, exemplified by
different meanings or it will be meaningless. For at in ‘he drove at 70 m.p.h’.
example take a word ‘look’; if we add another 2. Idioms of Decoding (non-identifiable)
word like ‘in, after, up’, it will have different Idioms of decoding refer to those
senses. The combination ‘look in’ means ‘get a nonidentifiable and misleading lexical
chance to take part or succeed in’. ‘Look after’ means expressions whose interpretations could not
‘take care of or be in charge of someone or something’. be comprehended on the basis of only
And ‘look up’ is ‘try to find a piece of information by learned linguistic conventions. In other
looking in a book or computer’. If we add ‘off’, it words, the meaning of decoding idioms is
does not make senses. not predicable. Expressions such as ‘beat
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about the bush’ and ‘fly off the handle’ are 6) The leading verb is BE, for example ‘to be
examples of this type of idioms. above board’ means to be out in the open, honest.
Makkai also classifies idiom of decoding 7) The form contains the compulsory it.
into two types. Those are lexemic and sememic c. Irreversible Binomial idioms
idioms (1972: 135-179). The explanation is: Irreversible binomial idioms consist of
1) Lexemic Idioms two words, which are separated by the
The lexemic idioms are idioms which conjunction. The word orders in this
collate with the familiar part of speech structure are fixed, for example ‘high and
(verbs, nouns, adjective and preposition) dry’ (without resources), and ‘Romeo and
and they are composed of more than one Juliet’ (institutionalized symbols of ideal
minimal free form and each lexon of which love or symbol of true love).
can occur in other environments as the d. Phrasal Compound Idioms
realization of a monolexonic lexeme. The Phrasal compound idiom contains
lexemic idioms are devided into six types. primarily nominal made up of adjective plus
There are: noun, noun plus noun, or adverb plus
a. Phrasal Verb Idioms preposition. For example ‘black mail’ means
A phrasal verb is a verb that contains of any payment forced by intimidation and
two kind of words. The first word is a verb, ‘bookworm’ means a person committed to
and the second word is a particle. The reading or studying.
particle can be an article (a, an, the), e. Incorporating Verb Idioms
preposition/adverb (up, in, out), and or affix Incorporating verb idioms have four
(un-, in-, -ness, -ly); for example ‘take off’ forms. Those are noun-verb, adjective-noun,
means leave the ground. noun-noun, and adjective-noun.
b. Tournure Idioms Incorporating verb idioms are separated by
Tournures idioms are the largest (-).
lexemic idioms, usually containing at least 1) Noun-verb, ‘sight-see’ means ‘visit the famous
three words and are mostly verbs. A places in a city, country, etc’.
tournures idiom mostly falls into sentences. 2) Adjective-noun, ‘blackmail’ means ‘the crime
Based on its structure, tournures idioms are of demanding money from a person by treating to
devided into: tell somebody else a secret about them’.
1) The form contains the compulsory definite 3) Noun-noun, ‘bootleg’ means ‘made and sold
article, for example ‘to do a guy’ means to illegally’.
disappear secretly. 4) Adjective – verb, ‘whitewash’ means ‘an
2) The form contains the compulsory indefinite attempt to hide unpleasant facts about
article. somebody/something’.
3) The form contains an irreversible binomial f. Pseudo-Idioms
introduced by preposition, for example ‘to be Pseudo-idioms can mislead or
at seven and eight’ means to be in condition of misinform an unwary listener. For example
confusion, at odds. cranberry, cranberry according to oxford
4) A direct object and further possible dictionary is bright red acid berry produced
modifiers follow the primary verb, for by any plant of genus oxycoccus. In the
example ‘to build castles in the air’ means to phrase ‘make a cranberry face’ means ‘the face
make impossible plans. become red’.
5) The leading verb is not followed by the
2) Sememic idioms
direct object but by the preposition plus a
Makkai said, ‘Sememic idioms
noun or nothing, for example ‘to dance on the
usually convey pragmatic meanings related
air’ means to get hanged.
to a particular culture’ (1972: 128). They
include:
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a. Proverbs: e.g., ‘a bird in hand is worth two in the whole content especially idioms. Second,
the bush’. identifying the suspected data, in the process of
b. Familiar quotations: e.g., ‘not a mouse identifying the data, the researcher used three
stirring’. steps. Those were underlining, bracketing and
c. First base idioms: associated with a national numbering. The identified data were classified in
game like baseball, e.g., ‘have two strikes order and put into a given inventorizing table.
against one’, ‘never to get to first base’. The data were selected based on frequencey
d. Idioms of institutionalized politeness: such accurrence (fifth highest occurring words).
as ‘may I ……..?’ After the data were selected, the data
e. Idioms of institutionalized greeting: e.g., would be analyzed. The techniques used for
‘How do you do?, So long’. analyzing data, first the data were identified to
f. Idioms of institutionalized understatement: prove whether or not there were idioms. Second,
e.g., ‘I wasn't too crazy about him’. the data were classified based on the types of
g. Idioms of institutionalized hyperbole: e.g., idiom by Makkai’s theories (1972:135-179)
‘He won't even lift a finger’. about lexemic idioms. Those lexemic idioms
were classified in 6 types. Those were phrasal
Sememic idioms include proverb and verbs idioms, tournures idioms, irreversible
similar stucture of sentence length, and therefore binomial idioms, phrasal compound idioms,
of less interest in our context. The lexemic incorporating verbs idioms, and pseudio-idiom..
idioms are composed of more than one minimal Third, the data were counted to get the
free form. They must also be able to give the precentage of dominant type of idioms, with
wrong impression about an innoncent listener. formula Χ= in which; Χ= the
In this research, the reasecher is going to use the precentage of dominant type of idioms; n = the
lexemic idioms instead of sememic idioms. number of idioms for each group; and N= the
total numbers of idioms. Then, the data were
RESEARCH METHODS explained to analyze the problems in
understanding the meaning of idioms.
The object of the study was the English
idiom in the novel ‘The Adventure of Tom
RESULTS AND EXPLANATION
Sawyer’ by Mark Twain retold by Marie Coghill
entitled ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’. This
A. Data Analysis
novel consists of 168 pages within 15 chapters
1. Idioms Found in the Novel The Adventure of
and was reprinted by permission of Macmillan
Tom Sawyer
Education Ltd. © 1971. The data were the
In the novel The Adventure of Tom
phrases or words or collocations found in the
Sawyer, there are 796 idioms. The example of
novel.
the idioms are shown on the following table.
The techniques used for collecting data,
first, reading novel was intended to understand
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1. go on 18
2. whitewash 14
3. look at 13
4. be over 11
5. be the matter 11
... ..... ...
Total 796
Based on Table 1, the total idioms found Tom Sawyercontains idioms. In order to show
in this novel are 796 idioms. For proving that that there are idioms or not, the idioms are going
there are some idioms found in the novel, five to be classified in the next research problem.
idioms are taken based on the fifth highest
occurring words. There are go on, whitewash, look 2. The Types of Idiom Found in the Novel
at, be over, and be the matter. According to English In this sub-chapter, I would like to answer
Idiom Dictionary, go on means ‘to continue or the second research problem. Here, I classified
move to the next thing’ or ’to start operating’; the idioms based on Makkai’s lexemic idiom
whitewash means ‘disapproving an attempt to stop types, since, in this research, that theory
people finding out the true facts about a situation’ or becomes the basis to determine the type of
‘a complete defeat in a game or competition’; look at idioms. There are 6 types in this analysis. They
means ‘to think about a subject’ or ‘to consider are phrasal verb idiom, tournure idiom,
something in a particular way’; be over means irreversible binomial idiom, phrasal compound
‘finish’; and be the matter means ‘what’s wrong?’ or idiom, incorporating verb idiom, and pseudo-
‘what happened?’. From that explanation, it can idiom. The classification the types of idiom can
be concluded that in the novel The Adventures of be seen in the Table below.
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63 go On
268 go back
The characteristic of this type of idiom is means ‘to continue or move to the next thing’ or ’to
a verb that contains two kinds of words. Those start operating’; and (268) go back means ‘to return’
are verb and particle. From the table, there are or ‘to have existed since a time in the past’ are
three data, number 6, 63, and 268, which are included into phrasal verb idioms.
formed based on their structural forms. Those
data consist of verbs which are followed by b. Tournure Idiom
particle especially preposition. Therefore, (10) This type of idiom is supported by
look at means ‘to think about a subject’ or ‘to 185 data. The examples of the data can be
consider something in a particular way’; (63) ‘go on’ seen in Table 4.
The tournure idiom is devided into 7. tournure idiom by containing the compulsory
First, the structure contains the compulsory non-representative it. The idiom (149) ‘be the
definite. Second, the structure contains the matter’ are examples of tournure idiom by the
compulsory indefinite article. Third, tthe form leading verb is be. The idiom (260) settled the
contains an irreversible binomial introduced by score isone of the type the tournure idiom of the
preposition. Fourth, a direct object and further form contains the definite. The idiom (272) every
possible modifiers follow the primary verb. tree or bush in their path like a man and enemy is the
Fifth, the leading verb is not followed by a direct tournure idiom of the form contains an
object but by a preposition plus a noun or irreversible binomial introduced by preposition.
nothing. Sixth, the leading verb is be. Seventh, And the idiom (279) to breathe a word is the
the form contains the compulsory it. From the tournure idiom of the form contains the
table above, there are some examples that indefinite article. Therefore, it can be concluded
represent the data. They are (5) an angle that those idioms are tournure idiom.
calculated for distance is included into tournure
idiom by the leading verb is followed by a c. Irreversible Binomial Idiom
preposition plus a noun or nothing. The idiom This type of idiom consists of two
(10) to do my duty is the example of the kind of words, which are separated by a
tournure idiom of a direct object and further conjunction. There are 69 idioms found in
possible modifiers follow the primary verb. The the novel. The examples of these are shown
idiom (113) got it out is one of the kind of in Table 5.
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Irreversible binomial idiom consists of those idioms are included in the irreversible
two words, which are separated by a binomial idiom.
conjunction. The table above shows that idioms
(154) by and by is separated by a conjunction d. Phrasal Compound Idiom
‘and’. The idiom (178) as long as is separated by There are 73 phrasal compound
conjuntion ‘as...as’. And the idiom (543) day or idioms. The examples of the idioms are
night is separated by conjunction ‘or’. Therefore, shown in Table 6.
A phrasal compound idiom contains explanation, those idioms are phrasal compound
primarily nominal made up of adjective plus idiom.
noun, noun plus noun, or adverb plus
preposition. From the table above, it can be seen e. Incorporating Verb Idiom
that idioms (94) right away is formed by adjective There are 15 incorporating verb
plus noun; (250) sawbones is formed by noun plus idioms. The examples are shown in the
noun; and (230) a far-off dog is formed by adverb Table 7.
plus preposition. Therefore, from that
Incorporating verb idiom has four forms. verb; means ‘not enough’. Therefore, those two
Those are noun-verb, adjective-noun, noun- idioms are incorporating idiom.
noun, and adjective-noun. Table 7 shows that
there is the idiom (18) whitewash is formed by f. Pseudo-Idiom
adjecyive plus verb; means ‘an attempt to hide Pseudo-idiom is the type of idiom
unpleasant facts about somebody/ something’. The that can mislead or misinform an unwary
idiom (455) pretty thin is formed by adjective plus listener. There are 8 pseudo-idioms. The
examples are shown in the Table 8.
Table 8 Pseudo-Idiom
Idiom's
No. Idiom
Number
a bucket of water under one hour
1 28
(water)
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This type of idiom is supported by data that explanation, it can be concluded that the
28, 64 and 81. The idioms ‘a bucket of water under above three idioms are pseudo-idiom.
one hour’ (28) means ’for nothing’; (water means ‘a
clear liquid, without colour or taste, which falls from 3. The Dominant Type of Idiom Found in the
the sky as rain and is necessary for animal and plant Novel
life’); ‘the core of my apple’ (64) means ‘the From classifying the idioms, I also
important of secret’; (apple means ‘a round fruit with counted the percentage of the type of idioms
firm white flesh and a green, red or yellow skin’); and found in the novel to answer the third research
‘a choice apple’ (81) means ‘a good choice’. From problem. The percentage of the data can be seen
in the Table 9.
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Based on Table 9, the total data of phrasal compound idiom. There are 73 idioms
pseudo-idioms are 8. Therefore, the of this kind or 9.17%. The fourth is irreversible
percentage of pseudo-idioms is 1.01%. binomial idiom. There are 69 and the percentage
is 8.64%. The fifth is the incorporating verb
From the statically data, the dominant idiom. There are 15 idioms of this type or
type of idiom used in the novel The Adventures of around 1.88%. The last is pseudo-idiom. There
Tom Sawyer is phrasal verb idiom amounts are 8 idioms or 1.01%.
56.03%. This means that idioms are the idioms
mostly found amounts to 446 out of 796 4. Problems in Understanding Idiomatic
inventoried idioms. This shows that verbs with Meanings Found in Novel
preposition and adverbial particles are mostly In analysis idioms found in the novel The
used in daily conversation of the novel. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, I found 4 problems.
second is tournure idiom. There are 185 idioms The data of this problem can be seen in the
and the percentage is 23.24%. The third is Table 10 below.
For Indonesian, English is foreign clean something using water of a colour like that of
language. Therefore, Indonesian learners found snow, milk or bone’. That is unacceptable
some problems in analyzing idioms. Based on translation. ‘whitewash’ means ‘disapproving an
Table 10, there are four problems in attempt to stop people finding out the true facts about
understanding idioms. First, they were confused a situation’.
by the distinction between phrasal verbs that is The next problem is the problem in
idiom and not idiom or just phrasal verbs. In understanding the closest meaning of idioms.
phrasal verbs, they have two meanings. The first Idioms have two meanings or more than one
is idioms’ meanings, and the second is literal meaning. Therefore, the foreign learners have to
meanings. To differentiate them, we can see see the context of the sentence to get the closest
from the context of the sentence. From this meaning of the idiom. For example ‘give up’ in
analysis, we can see that not all phrasal verbs are the sentence, Mr. Jones said, ’Tom wasn’t at
included the type of idioms, but all phrasal verb home so I gave him up, but I found him and
idioms are phrasal verbs. For example ‘go away’ Huck right by my door’ (page 148, par. 3, line 1-
does not have idiom’s meaning as it is only 2). In that sentence ‘gave up’ means ‘did not know
phrasal verbs. about Tom’. In the sentence, He gave up the idea
The second problem is translation of of trying to buy the boss’ (page 13, par. 3, and
idioms. Idioms cannot be translated in literal line 11). In this sentence, ‘gave up’ means
translation. Therefore, in translating idiom the ‘surrender’.
translator cannot translate it word by word. The The last, there is no grammatical rule in
foreign learners had to open the English idiom forming idioms. It means if the structure is
dictionary. For example ‘whitewash; we cannot changed, it will have different meanings or it
translate this way ‘white’ means ‘a colour like that will be meaningless. For example the word ‘go’
of snow, milk or bone’; and ‘wash’ means ‘to clean in ‘go on’ means ’continue’; ‘go up’ means ‘rise’; ‘go
something using water‘; so ‘whitewash’ means ‘to in’ means ‘enter’; ’go over’ means ‘look into or
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the closest natural equivalence in target translation of idiom. The third problem is the
language. problem in understanding the closest meaning of
From the explanation above, the idiom. The last problems is there is no
conclusion is that the aspects of etymology, grammatical rule of forming idiom.
collocation and translation are related. The Based on the conclusions above, I would
aspect of etymology influences the aspect like to give suggestions to the readers, especially
collocation in forming different collocations. those who are interested in reading English
The aspects of etymology and collocation novel. The readers should comprehend the
influence the aspect of translation for a idiomatic expressions used in novel, so that they
translator to choose the closest meaning of an understand the meaning of idioms. After that,
idiom. they can understand the whole context of novel
well.
CONCLUSION
BIBILIOGRAPHY
By referring to the result of the research, I
present the following conclusions. Ball, W. J. 1968. A Practical Guide to Colloquial Idiom.
First, there are many idioms found in the London: Longman Group Ltd.
novel ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that are Hornby, A. S. 2006. Oxford advanced Learner’s
Dictionary 7th Edition. Oxford: Oxford
796 idioms. Based on the analysis of the
University Press.
sentence in the novel, from 796 were classified
Makkai, A. 1972. Idiom Structure in English. The
into 6 types of idiom offered by Makkai used. Hague: Mouton.
Those are phrasal verb idiom, tournure idiom, Mc Carthy, M. & O’Dell, F. 2003. English Idioms in
irreversible binomial idiom, compound idiom, Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
incorporating idiom and pseudo idiom. The Moon, R. 1996. Fixed Expressions and Idioms in
phrasal verb idiom is the dominant type of idiom English: A Corpus Based Approach. Oxford:
found in the novel. It covers 446 out of 796 Oxford University Press.
represent idioms. In understanding the meaning Redman, Stuart. 1997. English Vocabulary in Use.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
of idiom, there are 4 problems existed. The first
Walker, Read, A. Et. al. 2003. The New International
problem is the foreign learnes are confused by
Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the
the distinction between phrasal verbs that is English Language. Columbia: Trident Press
idiom or not idiom. The second problem is International.
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