The phraseological status of the construction with the meaning Odzvonilo je nekome/nečemu in Slavic languages

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of the construction with the meaning Odzvonilo je nekome/nečemu and its phraseological characteristics in Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Czech and Slovak. Regardless of the specific differences between these languages, in terms of the lexicographic nature of this construction, our analysis has shown that the construction with the meaning Odzvonilo je nekome/nečemu in all these languages is used in the same or almost the same contexts. This expression is most often used in publications, particularly in newspaper headings, which represent the most expressive part of the text. As this expression does not have the status of phraseologism in the said languages, our main goal was to draw attention to the characteristics that, in our opinion, provide it with such a status. These are, primarily, a complex process of creation (ellipsis, metonymy, and metaphor), pronounced expressiveness, the possibility of using a full and truncated form of the perfect with the meaning related to what is yet expected or hinted, and impersonal form.

Keywords

• construction with the meaning Odzvonilo je nekome/nečemu
• phraseology
• metonymy
• metaphor
• grammatical metaphorisation
• ellipsis
• impersonal sentences
• Slavic languages