Fixed Phrases

Fixed phrases are stable expressions used repetitively in a given text (item) or shared in a number of instances of the focal tale. It is the frequency with which an especially stable combination of words occurs in the material that enables us to localize these expressions. This category points to expressions, i.e. word combinations on the grammatical level of the phrase, sometimes constituting a full sentence, but only rarely longer than the sentence. Most of the fixed phrases in the core material of the tiger tale are phrases constituting parts of sentences, e.g.:

• black rock, qing shi
• with slanting eyes and white forehead, jiaojing bai’e
• why should I care if you are eaten up by a tiger or a wolf?, wo guan ni wei hu shi wei lang

A subcategory of the fixed phrases functions as proper names for objects, such as names of good wine. Another subcategory functions as meta-narrative markers or so-called ‘stock phrases’.

View all fixed phrases