THE FUNCTIONS OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN ENGLISH

This article examines the principal functions of phraseological units in contemporary English and explains how fixed multiword expressions contribute to meaning construction in communication. Phraseological units are approached not simply as decorative idioms but as conventional linguistic resources that combine semantic stability, figurative motivation, evaluative force and discourse relevance. The study is based on descriptive, semantic, contextual and functional-pragmatic analysis of representative English expressions and on recent research in corpus phraseology, pragmatics and phraseological competence. The analysis shows that English phraseological units perform a complex set of interrelated functions: nominative, communicative, cognitive, evaluative, expressive-stylistic, pragmatic, cumulative-cultural, directive, summarizing and text-building. Their functional value depends on context, register and speaker intention. In discourse, a single expression may name a situation, encode cultural knowledge, evaluate an event and influence the addressee at the same time. Recent corpus-based research also confirms that idiomatic expressions are not restricted to informal conversation; appropriately selected units occur in academic, professional and other institutional registers. The study concludes that phraseological units should be treated as multifunctional language signs whose role is central to lexical richness, discourse organization, cultural representation and communicative competence.