Dėl frazeologizmų pateikimo „Lietuvių kalbos žodyne“

LIETUVIŲ LEKSIKOS IR TERMINOLOGIJOS PROBLEMOS LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXIX (1991) KLEMENTINA VOSYLYTĖ ON THE PRESENTATION OF PHRASEOLOGISMS IN THE “DICTIONARY OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE” In the “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” (hereafter LKŽ), fixed word combinations, the so-called phraseologisms, are presented separately (after the ◊ sign). An attentive reader of the Dictionary will undoubtedly notice certain inconsistencies and inaccuracies here. Some of them were mentioned by Z. Jonikaitė in her article “Phraseologisms in the ‘Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language,’” published in volume IV of “Questions of Lithuanian Linguistics” (V., 1961). This article seeks to draw attention to other more frequently occurring inconsistencies and inaccuracies and to discuss how they might be avoided. The article relies mainly on examples from volumes XIII and XIV of LKŽ, and, where necessary, from other volumes as well. 1. A large group of phraseologisms denote an action. The principal grammatical word (grammatical dominant) in the structure of such phraseologisms is always a verb. As is appropriate, the headword of these phraseologisms usually gives the infinitive of the verb, e.g.: į kojas spáusti “to walk quickly, hurry”; į akis (ant akių) spjáudyti “to humiliate, despise”; į barzdą spjáudyti “to pay no attention”; ugnim spjáudyti “to curse, blaspheme”; ant sprándo jodinėti (jóti) “to exploit; torment, trouble”; kojas atsiūkti “to die”; akuotą (ešerį) šiaušti “to be proud, puff oneself up”; širdį lenkti (palenkti, prilénkti) 1) “to influence, win over,” 2) “to try to make someone love.” Inconsistencies also occur here from time to time. For example, the headword form is correctly given for the action-denoting phraseologism sprandą lenkti (palenkti) “to teach obedience, humility,” but in the same volume, a phraseologism with a similar grammatical structure and identical function is given not in the infinitive but in the third-person present tense, e.g., į sprandą muša (nėmuša) “forces (does not force).” Another obvious example of inconsistency: volume XIII gives the phraseologism po šikną smagenų ieško “to pick on, find fault with,” whereas in volume XIV the headword form of this phraseologism is different—po šikine smagenų ieškóti “to inquire about something unclear or unknown, to pester.” Since all these phraseologisms denote an action, their headwords should give the verbs in the infinitive. Thus, the headword forms of the phraseologisms mentioned above should be: į sprandą mušti (némuši); po šikine smagenų ieškóti. 2. Another large group consists of phraseologisms denoting a state. The form of some of them coincides with the structure of a two-part sentence. For example: akys stója stulpu “one becomes frightened”; akys iš kaktos išsprūko (of great astonishment); akys [iš kaktõs] sprógsta (1) said when astonished, 2) said when doing something with difficulty); akys slýsta “it is beautiful, delightful to look at; one cannot get enough of looking” 208 ; akys svyla “one feels ashamed”; akmuo slenka nuo širdies “one feels relieved, calmer”; ašaros sukasi akyse “one feels moved to tears”; ausys svyla (1) said when it is very hot, 2) “one is ashamed to listen (said when listening to vulgar talk or frightening stories)”; (whose) blūsos stintpa “is very afraid”; mólio bùlys sprógo “great friendliness arose”; nustaugė dieglióji (what) “something disappeared”; galva sprógsta [half] “one is weighed down by troubling thoughts”; káilis (kúodas) šiaúšiasi “fear takes hold”; kél nės nusmùko “became impoverished”; kójos smirdi grabù “very old”; kójos į žémę sménga “has no strength, feels weak”; kráujas stingsta (sustingo) gýslose “one becomes terrified, horrified”; liežùvis stója(si) kuolù “one cannot speak successfully”; liežùvis (liežùvis) atsistójo kuolù “it is difficult to begin speaking”; liežùvis išmìlko (nusmìlko) “one is tired of talking”; pádai (kójos, kùlnai, pa-uodegỹs, pėdėlės) svyla “things are becoming dangerous, worrying for someone”; pakáušis svyla (of great worry); ragai atslūgo “the desire passed”; on one’s sprándo kába rýkštė “a scolding is imminent”; smagenai nèveda “feeble-minded”; smėgenys suminkštė́jo (išdžiūvo) “one’s mind has weakened”; smėlis byra (of someone grown old); smertis žiūri (vė́izi) į akis “death is near”; smilga dėga “one is worried, fears that one must hurry”; snarglỹs ištišo (1) of listening attentively, 2) said when waiting a long time); stálas (stalaĩ) lūžta “a great many (dishes/foods)”; strangai trūko “one’s health deteriorated, gave way”; sùbinė raukos “fear takes hold”; šerỹs státosi “pride takes hold”; šerỹs pasistátė “became angry”; šešėlis krìnta “a suspicion arises”; širdis nusmégo “one became frightened, chilled with horror”; širdis smaigstosi “one feels uneasy”; širdis stingsta “one becomes frightened, horrified”; tulžis sprógo “anger burst out”; vėjai sukasi galvoje “very frivolous”; žemė slysta iš po kojų “things are becoming unsafe.” Comparative phraseologisms denoting a state and having the same form as a two-part sentence are also presented, e.g., kaip akmuo nusmùko “the difficulty passed, the burden lifted”; lyg kálnas nuslì nko “one felt greatly relieved”; kaip slūogas nuslūgo “one felt greatly relieved and calm”; kaip šiupinỹs vèrda “it is noisy somewhere.” As the examples show, the headwords of phraseologisms whose structure is the same as that of a two-part sentence use the following forms: nouns in the nominative singular or plural; imperfective verbs in the third-person present tense; and perfective verbs in the third-person simple past. It is also worth remembering that aspect is not always determined by a prefix. Inceptive and momentary verbs are also perfective, e.g., sprogti, trūkti and the like. Thus, the headwords of the phraseologisms mentioned above are entirely correctly given as mólio bùlys sprógo, rather than mólio bùlys sprógsta; strangai trūko, rather than strangai trūksta. Nevertheless, inconsistencies sometimes prove unavoidable when presenting phraseologisms of this type. First of all, the grammatical dominant—the noun—is not always given in the nominative case, and the verb not always in the third-person present or simple past, e.g., pilvui prie strėnų pridžiūti (prikėpti, prilipti) (of someone very hungry and thin); sūbinei užrūkti “to live more modestly.” The headword forms of these phraseologisms should be: pilvas prie strėnų pridžiūvo (prikėpė, prilipo); sūbinė užrūko “began to live more modestly.” The verbal aspects are not always observed either, e.g., akys atšlenka “it becomes clear”; plaukai (káilis) pašiúrpsta “fear takes hold” (the correctly given form is plaukai šiurpsta [ant galvós]); smėgenys atsisuka “it becomes clear”; širdis atslūgsta “anger, unease passes”; širdis pasmógsta ir širdis pasmóksta “one becomes weak, no- 209 “something stronger, tastier” (well — širdis smōgsta ir širdis smōksta); širdis nu(si)smōksta; the devil gets into a person (of acting thoughtlessly). These phraseologisms should be listed as follows: akys atslinko “it became clear”; plaukai (kailis) pasišiaušo “fear seized [someone]”; smegenys atsisuko “it became clear”; širdis atslūgo “the anger, anxiety passed” (incidentally, this is how it is given under the word širdis); širdis pasmōgo ir širdis pasmōko “one felt weak, wanted something stronger, tastier”; širdis nu(si)smōko (it is already given this way under the word širdis); velnias įsisūko. Phraseologisms denoting a state may have a form that coincides with the structure of a word combination or a one-member sentence. The principal word in the grammatical structure of these phraseologisms is no longer a noun but a verb. Since these phraseologisms, too, denote not an action but a state, their headword form should be given not as the infinitive, but as the third-person singular present tense for imperfective verbs and the third-person singular simple past for perfective verbs. In most cases this is indeed done, e.g.: akis spiria (to someone) “very difficult”; ant krūtinės stōvi “unpleasant, uncomfortable”; ant smegenų sūkasi (said when one can almost recall something forgotten); ant širdies sūkasi (1) said when one cannot recall something well known, 2) “keeps remembering”); galvą sōpa “is a worry”; galvą išsopėjo “was a worry for a long time”; gėrvės (gegūtės) pieno stinga (said when there is plenty of everything); penkto balkio stinga “is not very intelligent”; (work) iš rankų slysta “(to work) unsuccessfully”; skersai (galė) gerklės stōja “will not go down, one does not feel like eating”; smilgos sūdegė (of the father of a child born out of wedlock); (someone) stulgėje nevērda “of limited intelligence”; sūbinėje gieda “who knows where, disappeared”; širdį (sielą) sōpa “is a worry”; širdį nusopėjo; širdį pērsopejo; širdį prasopėjo; širdį smelkia “is anxious”; širdžiai (ant širdies) pasūnko “became anxious, was overcome with worry”; vieno stipino trūksta “a bit foolish.” Comparative phraseologisms also belong here, e.g.: kaip ant dė́lno stōvi “clear, obvious”; tarytum kiaurai (skradžiai) žēmės prasmēgo; tarytum (kaip) į žēmę (žēmėn) prasmēgo “suddenly, unexpectedly disappeared,” and so on. The presentation of phraseologisms denoting a state whose form coincides with the structure of a word combination or a one-member sentence varies especially often and is inconsistent. For example, ant gālo liežūvio atsistōjo (said when one cannot quickly recall something well known) is given, while on the same page appears ant liežūvio atsistōti “to remember” (it should be ant liežūvio atsistōjo “remembered it”), whereas under the verb stovėti — ant liežūvio (liežūvio) gālo stovėti is given (it should be ant liežūvio (liežūvio) gālo stōvi). The headword for širdis also often presents the verbs in phraseologisms inconsistently, e.g.: ant širdies plūddūruoja (plūdura) (said when one cannot recall something well known); with the same meaning, ant širdies stōvi; ant širdies sūkasi, but in the same entry ant širdies skriūdėti (skriūpso, slūgo) “to trouble, be a worry.” It should be given as ant širdies skriūdi (skriūpso, slūgo). Under the word skrūpso­ti, širdis (širdį, ant širdies) skrūpso is given, while under the verb skriūdėti — ant širdies skriūdėti appears (it should be ant širdies skriūdi). The forms of verbs in phraseologisms under the verb susukti are likewise listed inconsistently, e.g., dūšią susuka (susūko) ir sielą susūkti. The following forms of these phraseologisms should be listed: dūšią susūko “one feels sick, is nauseated”; sielą susuko “one felt sick.” Under the verb šaldyti, the phraseologism nei šildo, nei šaldo (someone or something) “has no effect, is of no concern” is given, whereas in the same volume under the verb šildyti a different, inconsistent form appears: nei šildyti, nei šaldyti. 210 The headword form of some other phraseologisms denoting a state also needs correction. For example, the entry should give not ant kėlio stovėti, but ant kėlio stovi 1) “is about to leave somewhere,” 2) “is an obstacle to someone’s plan or activity, hinders”; not galvoje stovėti, but galvoje stovi 1) “is constantly on one’s mind,” 2) “seems”; not į galvą užsisukti, but į galvą užsisuko “a thought came over [someone]”; not į širdį digčioti, but į širdį digčioja “feels heartache, discomfort”; not kaulu (kieta ašaka) įstrigti gerklėje, but kaulu (kieta ašaka) įstrigo gerklėje “is unbearable”; not skersai gerklę atsistoti, but skersai gerklę atsistojo “has become extremely tiresome”; not ožiu smirdėti, but ožiu smirdi (of an old bachelor); not širdį spáusti, but širdį spáudžia 1) “is sad, sorrowful, painful,” 2) “causes worry”; not širdį suspausti, but širdį suspaudė “made [someone] sad”; not uodegą išūdyti, but uodegą išūdė “ended up in prison,” and so on. 3. When determining the headword form of a phraseologism, it is very important to pay attention to its syntactic relations in the sentence and determine whether it (usually some of its components) has paradigmatic forms, i.e. whether it is inflected. The paradigmatic forms of a phraseologism usually depend on its function in the sentence. Phraseologisms serving as verbs and nouns have paradigmatic forms. Such forms are often absent from phraseologisms serving as adverbs (sometimes they have number or gender forms), interjections, ideophones, and modal words. For example, iki paskutinio šiaudo “very thoroughly (searches, rummages)”; stačia galva 1) “headlong,” 2) “very quickly, at breakneck speed”; stačiais dantimis “reluctantly (eats)”; stačiomis akimis “without seeing.” Paradigmatic forms of phraseologisms functioning as adjectives are usually expressed only by gender and number (e.g., ne iš kelmo spirtas “clever, smart, resourceful”), and sometimes they have no forms at all (e.g., to paties molio “of the same kind, of one nature”; košto molio “beautiful”). The following phraseologisms in LKŽ have no paradigmatic forms, for example: mešką nusišiktų galvą; velnias nusišuktų koją (of great disorder in a room); nors į pirštą kąsk; nors į ugnį šok; nors į žemę lįsk (said of being in a difficult, hopeless situation); nors prie žaizdos dėk (of a very gentle, helpful person); tik akis užspausk (of someone very weak and emaciated); sudie, Rūtkau, su spirgais! (said upon losing something). Nevertheless, LKŽ contains instances in which phraseologisms lacking paradigmatic forms are presented as if they had them. For example, the phraseologisms smilga pérdurti “very thin, skinny” and žemę badyti šubine “to make a great effort” are illustrated by the following sentences: Tai priganė karves — smilga perdurtai Vlk. Neparkalbėsi tu jos, koc šubine žemę badyk Sml. The illustrative sentences show that these phraseologisms cannot be inflected, so their headword forms should be the same as in the sentences, namely smilga pérdurtum (pérdur tai); koc šubine žemę badýk. 4. Some phraseologisms, especially those serving as adverbs, are associated with words belonging to a particular semantic group; that is, they occur in a fixed environment of words with defined lexical meanings and grammatical categories. The degree of specificity of the meanings of the surrounding words is generally not uniform. The environment of some phraseologisms consists of words with very narrow, individual meanings, while that of others comprises broader words with more general meanings from certain categories. Because of their defined environment, phraseologisms serving as adverbs acquire a fixed, generalized meaning, which is expressed by synonyms from the parts of speech serving the corresponding function. Those synonyms 211 usually has a very general meaning, whereas the meaning of a phraseological unit is in fact concrete and defined. The definiteness of the meaning is specified by indicating its environment. The environment is not part of the meaning of the phraseological unit, but rather a determining factor that makes it possible to define that meaning precisely. The definitions of phraseological units functioning as adverbs vary in LKŽ and are inconsistent. Often, even the necessary phraseological environment is not indicated at all; occasionally it is given after the headword, before the definition, or in parentheses alongside the definition of the phraseological unit. In dictionaries of other languages (e.g., „Фразеологический словарь русского языка“, М., 1967), the necessary phraseological environment is placed in the phraseological unit’s headword, set off in a different typeface or in parentheses. In our opinion, the phraseological environment is most conveniently given in LKŽ not alongside the phraseological unit’s headword but alongside its definition, because the environmental elements of some phraseological units have a relatively broad meaning, often not expressible in a single word. Moreover, a phraseological unit may have not one but several meanings. The phraseological environment of each meaning is usually different. Finally, in LKŽ the phraseological environment is most often given alongside the definition. E.g.: lyg pasvįlęs “a lot, everywhere (runs about)”; snukiu irdamas “drunk (goes)”; su užlūžusia spira “worried (runs about)”; uodegą pasvįlęs “a lot, constantly (runs about).” These phraseological units have an environment with a narrow, individual meaning. Words denoting an environment with a broader, more general meaning are difficult to enumerate, so it is usually described (in parentheses, in petit type) only by its most general semantic characteristic. E.g., kaip nustovi 1) “as much as fits, as much as the measure (or vessel) holds when pouring”; 2) “in all (with reference to quantity)” Nevertheless, the presentation here, too, varies considerably. Often the environment is not indicated at all, e.g.: nė spįktės “not at all” (the environmental words negavo, nėra⟧ are not specified); stačia galva 1) “straight down to the ground,” 2) “very quickly, headlong” (the environment is not specified: 1) gruvo, davėsi; 2) lekia, neria, etc.); stačiu kąsniu “greedily, without chewing” (the environmental word ryja is missing). If the word in the necessary environment is a verb, in LKŽ it should be given as follows: for an imperfective verb, the third person present tense; for a perfective verb, the third person simple past, e.g.: kaip šieną pjovęs “greedily (eats)”; kaip šikinė 1) “who knows where (put, hid),” 2) “to no avail (went).” Sometimes the infinitive of an environmental verb is given unnecessarily, e.g.: kaip šieną “plentifully, in large quantities (consume)”; ir šilto, ir karšto “everything, both good and bad (experience, see)”; kaip šilta vėlnia “very pleasantly (receive).” The environmental verbs should be given in these forms: vartoja; patyrė, matė; priėmė. It happens that an environmental verb is used only in the future tense, e.g., kaip savo ausis “certainly (‘you will see,’ i.e., you will not see, will not get).” Phraseological units used in this way usually function as modal words. 5. The syntactic relations of a phraseological unit in language are not limited to lexical combinability alone. Like individual words, phraseological units in a sentence are connected by various syntactic relations: agreement, government, and adjoinment. Dictionaries of phraseological units generally try to indicate these relations. In LKŽ, the syntactic relations of phraseological units are also indicated sometimes, e.g.: akis spiria (to whom) “very difficult”; ant (whose) sprando; ant sprando (to whom) 1) “to someone’s misfortune (referring to a burden, exploitation, hardship),” 212 2) “by exploiting, oppressing”; (whose) ašaromis springti “to suffer setbacks after doing something bad”; nustaugė dieglioji (what) “something disappeared”; sparnai platūs (whose) “wealthy”; vandens lašas neprasisunkia (between what) (of a very close friendship or harmonious relationship). Nevertheless, the syntactic relations of phraseological units are indicated very rarely and inconsistently in LKŽ. They should be indicated especially for phraseological units denoting a state. Syntactic relations should be specified, for example, for such phraseological units as: akys iš kaktos išsprūko (to whom); pėčius persprogo (to whom); šiaudų galva (whose); širdis sprūgsta [pusiau] (whose, to whom). 6. The word order of some phraseological units is always the same and does not change, whereas that of others can change and vary. The headword of a phraseological unit should have the word order in which it is used in language. If the word order is not firmly established, the components of the phraseological unit should be presented in the order that is most characteristic and most frequently used. The word order of a phraseological unit must not be changed arbitrarily. Unfortunately, such cases occur in LKŽ. For example, čemerýs nesūks is given, whereas the illustrative examples show that only nesūks čemerýs is used. mešką nusisuktų galvą; velnias nusisuktų koją is given, whereas the examples show that only meška galvą nusisuktų; velnias koją nusisuktų is used. nė (nei) šiaudo pakrapštyti dančiui is given, whereas in language only nė (nei) šiaudo dančiui pakrapštyti is used. LKŽ lists snąpą galąsti; snąpą [pa]kaišioti; snąpą kýštelėti; snąpą kišti; snąpą nunešti; snąpą pravérti, whereas the examples show that it should list: galąsti snąpą; [pa]kaišioti snąpą; kýštelėti snąpą; kišti snąpą; nunešti snąpą; pravérti snąpą. 7. In language, some phraseological units always have the same structure, while others have formal variants in certain components. For example, phraseological units may vary in the case of a nominal component and in prepositional constructions: kaip (lyg) karvė ant ledo (ledi); kaip (lyg) maišų (su maišu). In addition, to save space, varying components that are componential synonyms of phraseological units are often listed together, e.g., prepositional noun constructions: kaip už dūtką (už dvylekį, už trečioką) agurkás; kaip kiaulė apie debesį (apie lietų). Since formal variants or varying components that are componential synonyms may be prepositional constructions or nominal forms without prepositions, all varying prepositional constructions in parentheses must be given with their prepositions. E.g.: ant akių (į akį, į akis, ant galvos) šikti; ant dantų (ant liežuvio) atsistoti; ant galvos (ant sprando) užsodinti; kaip medumi (su sviestu) tepti per širdį; nòrs prie širdies (į širdį) dèk; [nuo] próto (nuo galvos, nuo išminties, nuo ražumo) atstóti; su átbula (su átakala, su átkarą) širdimi; nuo šaukšto (nuo lėtenų) nuslysti. Cases in LKŽ where varying prepositional constructions are given in parentheses without prepositions can mislead the reader, e.g.: prieš ákštiną (ákštinus, ákštiną) spárdyti; nuo lėtenų (narių) nusprūsti; ant atminties (galvós, liežuvio [gálo], mintiės, minčių, pómėties) sukasi. Presented this way, the reader may understand that phraseological units such as ákštinus spárdyti; narių nusprūsti; galvós sukasi also exist, and so on. Thus, the varying components of phraseological units should be presented in the headword as follows: prieš ákštiną (prieš ákštinus, prieš ákštiną) spárdyti; nuo lėtenų (nuo narių) nusprūsti; ant atminties (ant galvós, ant liežuvio [gálo], ant mintiės, ant minčių, ant pómėties) sukasi. 213 8. The LKŽ is inconsistent in accentuating the structural components of phraseologisms—certain pronouns, prepositions, particles, and conjunctions. It would seem there should be no doubt that neither in the headword of a phraseologism nor in an illustrative sentence should those structural components that attach to a stressed word and form a single accentual unit with it—that is, proclitics and enclitics—be stressed. The LKŽ often does so, for example: akių nėra kur pasukti; be soties; iš rankų slysta; žemė slysta iš po kojų; nuo šaukšto (nuo lėtenų) nuslysti; ką ten smalą; kad tave smalas; kad (tu) smegtum (smegtai); nors į šopulį dėk; nors spjaudyk ir gaudyk; nors į žemę įsme(k); tik smer ties pakviesti (pasisiūsti); net padai nusmuko; smurgai do ašaros; smūrgiai ir ašaros; spindi ir spragčioja; kiški su snukiu; tik akis užspausk; ne toliai spirtas; ne iš kelmo (iš grumsto) [šunies, zuikio] išspirtas; šonai vos nesprogsta iš juoko; kreiva koja (ne ant tos kojos) atsistoti [iš patalo]; nei eiti (bėgti), nei stovėti; šė [tai] tau; šė [tai tau] kad (jei) nori. Nevertheless, the proclitic and enclitic components of phraseologisms are quite often stressed without any justification. For example: apie (aplink) ausį sukti; giltinė suka [apie uodegą]; nėra kur apsisukti; negali nė pasisukti; nei šė, nei diok; kaip smaigas; kaip kokioj smaloj; iki (lig, ligi) kaulų (kaulo) smegenų; iki (ligi) snapo; nė snapo nekiši; anė (nė) spakt; čia spaudžia, čia nevarva; nei nuspjauti, nei nuryti; nei traukt, nei stumt; nė pastumt, nė patraukt; nors širdį rodyk; nei šildo, nei šaldo. 9. Both the LKŽ instructions and its introduction state that phraseologisms are presented alphabetically. Unfortunately, some editors disregard the instructions and this tradition, especially in recent times. Since we regard phraseologisms as independent units of the language system, with all their features of form, generalized meaning, and use, these must also be taken into account in their presentation; that is, they must not be broken down into separate components or derivational formants. A typical example of such subdivision is the presentation, in volume XIV, of phraseologisms containing the word širdis ‘heart’. In arranging these phraseologisms alphabetically, neither noun endings nor verb prefixes were taken into account. For instance, it is unlikely that everyone could readily understand the principle according to which the following phraseologisms are arranged: širdį (širdyje) duria; širdis atsidūrė kulnyse; širdį džiovinti (išdžioventi); širdis džiūsta (sudžiūvo). Only after considerable thought can one understand that these phraseologisms are presented alphabetically according to the verb root, disregarding prefixes and the endings of the noun širdis ‘heart’. The question arises: how can one morphologically divide, for example, the phraseologism širdis atsidūrė kulnyse ‘the heart ended up in one’s heels’, if its verb is never used without a prefix? After all, Lithuanian has no phraseologism širdis dirė kulnyse. Thus, this principle of presentation runs counter to the nature of phraseologisms and is therefore unacceptable. Phraseologisms could also be presented according to other criteria, for instance, according to the grammatical dominant or the like. Since work on the LKŽ is nearing completion, there is no point in changing the principles for presenting phraseologisms. It is important that everyone writing and editing the Dictionary follow the instructions and the already established, traditional principles—that is, present phraseologisms in strict alphabetical order. 214 К. ВОСИЛИТЕ ON THE PRINCIPLES FOR ARRANGING PHRASEOLOGISMS IN THE “DICTIONARY OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE” Abstract The article draws attention to certain inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the arrangement and lexicographic treatment of phraseologisms in the “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” (hereafter, DLL). 1. In the headword of a dictionary entry, the grammatical dominant—the verb in phraseologisms denoting an action—is given in the infinitive, e.g., į kojas spáusti ‘to walk quickly, to hurry’. 2. The form of phraseologisms denoting a state may be identified with the structure of a two-member or one-member sentence, or of a phrase. More specifically, the form of phraseologisms whose structure is identified with that of a two-member sentence is as follows: the noun is in the singular or plural, in the nominative case; imperfective verbs are in the third-person present tense, and perfective verbs are in the third-person past tense. Verb forms are presented in the same way in phraseologisms whose form, in turn, is identified with the structure of a phrase or a one-member sentence, e.g., akis spiria (to someone) ‘very difficult’; ant krūtinės stóvi ‘unpleasant’; gálvą sópa ‘a worry (someone) oppresses (weighs on)’. 3. When establishing the form proper of a phraseologism, it is important to consider its syntactic relations within the sentence and determine whether the phraseologism has paradigmatic forms (as a rule, these are either limited or entirely absent). 4. Often the obligatory phraseological context is not given in full, and sometimes it is provided but presented inconsistently. By tradition, the obligatory phraseological context in the DLL is always given where the meaning is defined (in parentheses), e.g., lyg prisvilęs ‘a lot, everywhere (runs around)’. 5. Syntactic relations of phraseologisms are indicated very rarely and inconsistently in the DLL. These relations should be indicated especially when lexicographically describing phraseologisms denoting a state, e.g., åkys iš kaktos išsprūko (to someone); širdis sprógsta pušìau (of someone, to someone). 6. The headword of a phraseological dictionary entry should have the same word order as that found in the language. If the word order has not yet become firmly established, the components of the phraseologism should be arranged in the order that is more characteristic and more frequent. 7. Often, variant components of componential synonyms of phraseologisms are given in parentheses in the headword of a dictionary entry. All variant prepositional constructions are used with prepositions, e.g., ant galvós (ant spráindo) užsodinti; kaip medumi (su sviestu) tepti per širdį. 8. Stress is not marked on components of phraseologisms that attach to a stressed word and form an accentual unit with it—that is, on proclitics and enclitics—e.g., iš rankų slysta; net pàdai nusmilko. 9. Since phraseological units are considered independent units of the language system, with all the distinctive features of their form, generalized meaning, and use, they must not be broken down into separate components or derivative formatives when they are presented. Both the instructions for the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and its introduction state that phraseological units are listed in alphabetical order. It is therefore very important that the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language be compiled and edited in strict accordance with the instructions and established traditional principles, that is, in alphabetical order. 215