Idiomatiske

Idiomatisk is an adjective used in Norwegian and related languages to describe expressions whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meaning of their constituent words. The form idiomatiske is the plural or attributive inflection used before plural nouns, for example idiomatiske uttrykk, meaning idiomatic expressions. The term is commonly heard in linguistics, language teaching, and lexicography.

Idiomatic expressions, or idioms, are often fixed or semi-fixed combinations that convey a figurative meaning distinct from the individual words. This non-literal nature makes their interpretation culture-specific and not directly translatable word for word. Idiomatiske uttrykk frequently rely on conventional usage within a speech community and may vary between dialects and languages.

In linguistics, idioms are studied as part of phraseology and as multiword expressions. They challenge theories of compositionality, semantics, and cognition because their figurative meaning is learned as a single unit rather than derived from each word. Some idioms show partial transparency, where some lexical components hint at meaning, while others are conventionalized. Others are highly opaque, requiring cultural or contextual knowledge to interpret.

Practical implications include language teaching, which emphasizes exposure to common idiomatiske uttrykk, and lexicography, where dictionaries annotate idioms and provide usage notes. In natural language processing, idioms are treated as multiword expressions to improve translation, parsing, and semantic understanding, since literal analysis often fails to capture intended meaning.