Patterns of Idiomacity in English, Italian and Romanian

The paper starts from the idea that the meaning of words in such patterns of Idiomacity is different from their individual meanings. They are at least delexicalized. This is the necessary correlate of co-selection. The selections are not independent, one selection depending on another. Consequently, there must be a result and effect on the meaning of idiomatic patterns as a whole. Key words: idiomacity, idioms, collocations Starting from the idea that patterns of idiomacity are closely related to the ‘national character ’ of a language, to its stylistic peculiarities, the present paper aims at proving that there are quite numerous instances when the patterns of idiomacity in different languages are similar or even identical. To begin with, it should be pointed out that the meaning of the words used in patterns of idiomacity is different from their individual meanings. Words are delexicalized and this is the necessary correlate of co-selection. Moreover, the selections operated at the semantic level are not independent, one selection depending on another. Consequently