Idiom (idiomatic expression) is a collocation of two or more words with a fixed lexical content that form a single lexical unit, which has a metaphorical meaning (as a whole; the meaning cannot be computed from its parts). Idiomatic expressions have two parts:
the governing element, i.e. the syntactically governing part of the idiom.
the dependent part, i.e. all other expressions that are part of the idiom.
Further, we distinguish:
non-verbal idioms, i.e. idioms whose governing node is not a verb with a regular paradigm. The governing node of a non-verbal idiom can be a verb, but this verb never has a complete paradigm, it is always a more or less fixed verb form (e.g.: willy nilly). If it is not possible to determine unequivocally the governing element of the idiom, it is the first expression in the sequence.
verbal idioms, i.e. idioms the governing node of which is a verb with a full paradigm.
Representing idioms in
the tectogrammatical trees. Idiomatic expressions are
represented by two nodes: a mother node and its immediate daughter. The
mother node is the governing node of the idiom and has a functor
depending on the position of the whole idiom in the structure. The
dependent part is represented by a single node with the functor DPHR (nodetype = dphr), which indicates that the node forms an
idiom with its mother node. The t-lemma with the functor DPHR consists of all the dependent parts of
the idiom (incl. prepositions), linked by the underscore character, the
order being identical to the surface word order (see also Section 3, “Complex t-lemma”).
Example of a non-verbal idiom:
Out.TWHEN
of the blue.DPHR they
appeared in our room. (Fig. 5.12)
Example of a verbal idiom:
We can talk now, I'm.PRED all ears.DPHR. Fig. 5.13
