ENHANCING ACCULTURATION VIA PHRASEOLOGY

Abstract

The article deals with the topic of the common European heritage in the English phraseology. When speaking about the European heritage, we speak about culture, history, traditions, ceremonies shared in the European continent. Subject to analysis in phraseology are quotations of well-known persons, books, works, myths and traditions of international origin that we share in Europe. Acculturation of people is related with the concept of native culture of each person. To know the culture of the homeland is enevitable for understanding the culture of other nations. Moreover, the article deals with connections between culture and the language because they influence each other. After analysing proverbs and sayings of the Slovak and English language, it can be postulated that in most cases their target language for the Slovak as well as the English was Latin language. The existence of cross-linguistic absolute equivalents can result from the fact that idioms or in general, phraseologisms, including paremiological units, come from the same source and are cross-linguistically or even internationally shared, usually as translation loans or calques, which is also a case of some English and Slovak phraseologisms. Absolute equivalents are based on the identical imagery, symbolisms, and literally or almost literally corresponding lexical components of their basic forms.