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Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 16 no 1 June 2026

Phraseologisms of Biblical Origin in Modern Romance Prose

A comparative-stylistic analysis

Alma Pinari, Elvira Xhamani

http://doi.org/10.54375/001/fbf8urpc4e

The aim of the study was to identify the functional role of phraseological units of sacred origin in Romance discourse. The methodology included corpus selection and classification of phraseological units of biblical origin from five works by Romance authors (1980–2024) that comply with the canons of the Biblia Sacra Vulgata and the New International Version (NIV). A comparative analysis of their contextual variation and stylistic function was conducted. A total of 77 phraseological expressions were recorded, of which two units (in principio erat verbum and diliges proximum tuum) occurred in different works more than once, while the rest appeared only once. The greatest number of examples was noted in the works of Michel Houellebecq, Umberto Eco and Carlos Ruiz Zafón, whereas Elana Ferrante demonstrated a tendency towards generalised allusion and emotional adaptation of phraseological units within the context of the author’s speech. Three predominant types of stylistic transformation were identified: partial reworking (18 cases), metaphorisation (9) and ironic rethinking (7). Direct quotation (12 cases) was found mainly in the works of authors who preserved the sacred structure of expressions. Contextual analysis revealed the distribution of functional roles: moral-evaluative (35.4%), expositional (25%), structural-compositional (16.7%), dialogic (14.6%) and symbolic (8.3%). A direct relationship was observed between the type of genre discourse and the communicative load of sacred forms. The obtained data may be applied in the linguostylistic typology of sacred expressions in fiction, in the teaching of literary studies and in translation studies practices.

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Published by
The Centre for Creative & Cultural Research
University of Canberra
Canberra, Australia
ISSN: 1838-8973