Pragmatic Idioms within Vocabulary Teaching. An Analysis based on Italian Data

Abstract

This contribution will focus on pragmatic idioms, that is, conventional expressions whose main feature is not a figurative meaning but a pragmatic or functional meaning. After briefly reviewing the treatment of pragmatic multiword expressions in phraseological studies, I will outline a typology of pragmatic idioms by distinguishing three functional classes of expressions – expressive, discursive, and social. These three classes and some of their subclasses will be described by using examples from Italian. Finally, I will propose some reflections on the contribution made by the Lexical Approach to the understanding of pragmatic idioms and their treatment in language teaching.