A pragmatic approach to proverb use and interpretation

Proverbs are interesting pieces of popular wisdom and tradition belonging to any culture, which help us to foreground the values and shared beliefs held by a speech community. However, its study has received little attention up to now. Thus, this dissertation research aims to analyze the functions and uses of proverbs taking examples from English and Spanish them. In order to achieve this goal, we have applied Sperber and Wilson’s Relevant Theory to explain how proverbs allow the speaker to express his/her intention in an implicit way. The findings demonstrate that the main functions of proverbs are criticism, advice and warning. In addition, we have offered an explanation of how their often ironical and metaphorical nature affects proverbs’ understanding. Besides, we have studied the use of the ellipsis in proverbs, which takes place in familiar proverbs, analyzing how familiarity and unfamiliarity influences on proverb use. Finally, we summed up our conclusions to achieve a better comprehension of proverbs’ functions and usesLos proverbios son ejemplos de sabiduría popular y tradición de cualquier cultura que nos ayudan a descubrir los valores y creencias compartidas por una comunidad de hablantes. Sin embargo, este estudio ha recibido poca atención hasta ahora. Por lo tanto, el propósito del presente trabajo es describir las funciones y usos de los proverbios y refranes concentrándonos en refranes de la lengua inglés y española para analizar y explicar las funciones y usos de los proverbios en general. Para conseguir nuestro propósito hemos aplicado la Teoría de la Relevancia de Sperber y Wilson a este estudio para explicar como ellos permiten al hablante expresar su intención de forma implícita. Las conclusiones demostrarán que la mayor función de los proverbios es la crítica, el consejo y advertencia. Además, hemos ofrecido una explicación de cómo su frecuente naturaleza irónica y metafórica influye en la comprensión de los proverbios. También hemos estudiado el uso de la elipsis en los proverbios, que toma lugar en los proverbios familiares, analizando como la familiaridad o el desconocimiento influye en el uso de los proverbios. Finalmente, resumiremos nuestras conclusiones para llegar a una mejor comprensión de las funciones y usos de los proverbio

Український переклад Дон Кіхота та іспанський переміологічний мінімум

This work highlights several points of interest concerning popular Spanish proverbs of The Quixote in the Ukrainian translation made by Mykola Lukash. Among hundreds of popular proverbs mentioned in Don Quixote the focus is on those which have survived after hundreds of years and, being frequently used and well known nowadays, stand out as so called Spanish paremiological minimum

"The Milk of Birds": A Proverbial Phrase, Ancient and Modern, and its Link to Nature

A curious phrase from ancient Greek, ὀρνίθων γάλα, finds parallels in Latin as lac gallinaceum and in Modern Greek, as και του πουλιού το γάλα. While the Greek phrases translate as "(and) the milk of (the) bird(s)", the Latin translates as "henʼs milk". This essay discusses the phrase in a select variety of Greek and Latin sources from the 5th century BCE to the 4th century CE, and its Modern Greek equivalent in the 21st century. In addition, it discusses the variety of meanings and uses found in those sources, and connections to the natural world. Information from ancient sources has been gleaned from a search of the Digital Loeb Classical Library online database. Information for modern use comes from informal interviews, Facebook messages, e-mails, and telephone messages of nine native speakers of Modern Greek from different parts of the Greek world, most of whom live in the United States. The essay discusses two points concerning the natural world: first, the phrase as found in the names of certain plants, and second, as a substance called crop-milk produced by members of the pigeon family. The linguistic connection between ancient and modern worlds and the parallels found in nature encourage scholars to look "outside the box" when investigating proverbs, proverbial expressions and proverbial phrases. The Modern Greek version of the phrase both confirms and expands the meanings of the ancient ones, thus suggesting that other connections between these ancient and modern languages may prove to be fruitful avenues of investigation.

The Contributing Role of Prevalent Belief Systems to Intergroup Attitudes and Behaviors

Abundant research shows that prevalent belief systems across cultures contribute to people’s levels of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Such popular belief systems are often communicated by everyday sayings (e.g., the belief that hard work leads to success, as captured by “Madruga y verás, trabaja y tendrás” [Colombia], “Kung may tiyaga, may nilaga” [Philippines], The early bird catches the worm [U.S.A.]). We review the relations between intergroup processes and the following belief systems: entity theory, incremental theory, multiculturalism, colorblindness, polyculturalism, and the Protestant work ethic. We discuss factors that affect the development, maintenance, and potential change in these belief systems, and ways that this knowledge may be used to reduce prejudice are discussed

Raising Awareness about Water Issues: The Role of Water Symbolism and Proverbs

Sustainable water management is one of the global grand challenges of our time. Tackling this challenge through corrective actions would require the participation of the general public, a public with sound awareness of the challenge and commitment. One such awareness raising intervention could be through the use of water symbolism and proverbs, targeted to particular society. Water has the different symbolism and levels of importance to people, depending of their personal characteristics and socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age, occupation, residence). Similarly, water proverbs can also demonstrate attitudes towards water among communities, ethnic groups and whole nations. Such meanings and symbolism could help determine attitude and be a powerful tool towards education. In this context, we describe and propose a psychological Health Belief Model (HBM) as a way to explain behaviour and stimulate sustainable water management practice

METAPHORS AND DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS IN THE JAVANESE PROVERBS

The current study investigated directive speech acts and metaphors in the Javanese Proverbs. In order to fulfill this goal, the researcher identifies the structural forms, the communicative function, the felicity conditions and the metaphor mapping. The felicity condition will explore four components: a) propositional content, b) preparatory condition, c) sincerity condition, and d) essential rule. Besides, the metaphor mapping will identify three components: a) objects/ idea, b) meaning, and c) mapping process. The current research would be designed as qualitative research. The researcher had choosen the purposive proverbs from the collection of Pitutur Luhur Budaya Jawa (has been composed by certain writers). Due to the investigation, the researcher found some findings:a) there would be two structural forms of the Javanese proverbs (declarative and imperative), b) there were four communicative functions or directive speech acts in the proverbs (prohibition, requirement, command, and suggestion), c) the researcher found that the Javanese proverbs contain the direct and indirect speech act. Beside those findings, the researcher also investigates certain animals and plants (as metaphorical expressions or idea) in the Javanese proverbs such as 1) kebo gupak (buffalo) and tiger (macan) as the people whose bad behaviour, 2) gagak (crow), timun (cucumber), and ant (semut) as the poorer/the weaker people, 3) merak (peacock), duren (king fruit), and elephant (gajah) as the richer people/ the stronger people, 4) mushroom (jamur) as the best result, 5) watang (stalk) as the difficult step or effort, 6) snake (ula) as the figures/ common people, 7) candlenut (kemiri), 8) bebek (duck), 9) kidang (deer)

O Auto da Compadecida - A Dog's Will: an analysis of the translation of idioms in the English subtitle

TCC (Graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Letras Inglês.The objective of this study is to analyse the English subtitles of the Brazilian film O Auto da Compadecida – A Dog’s Will (Arraes, 2000) – in order to verify which strategies were used in the translation of idioms and fixed expressions. The choices of translation strategies were described based on concepts discussed within Translation Studies (TS). The results reveal that despite the technical constraints of subtitling, especially with regard to time and space, the translator managed to use strategies, albeit varied, that reproduced the idioms in the subtitles, which shows an understanding of the important role of these elements in the mood of the film. / / / Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar as legendas em língua inglesa do filme brasileiro O Auto da Compadecida (Arraes, 2000) a fim de verificar quais estratégias foram utilizadas na tradução de expressões idiomáticas. As escolhas de estratégias de tradução foram descritas com base em conceitos discutidos no campo dos Estudos da Tradução. Os resultados revelam que apesar das limitações técnicas da legendagem, especialmente com relação ao tempo e espaço, o tradutor conseguiu usar estratégias, embora variadas, que reproduziram as expressões idiomáticas nas legendas, o que mostra uma compreensão do importante papel destes elementos no espírito do filme

The concept of Pulaaku mirrored in fulfulde proverbs of the Gombe dialect

The paper gives a brief history of the Fulçe people who are found all over West and Central Africa. Since no study of a people is complete without mentioning their language, the paper also gives a very brief account of Fulfulde, the language of the Fulçe people. However, the central focus of the paper is the concept of pulaaku, that unique attribute of the Fulçe that serves as an unwritten code of conduct for all ‘true’ Fulçe. Pulaaku is Fulçe’s guiding principle in their dealings with their fellow Fulçe as well as with all other people. Rather than talk about pulaaku in isolation, however, the paper tries to mirror it through Fulfulde proverbs. Coded or loaded messages called wise-sayings or proverbs are widely used in all languages. Fulfulde is particularly rich in this, which is why the paper explores this reservoir of knowledge in trying to portray the rich culture of the Fulçe people. The corpus of proverbs from which the selected proverbs come, was compiled in and around Gombe with the help of Mallam Bappayo Bappa Yerima Djibril. Since the Fulçe are easily the most dispersed people in Africa, no single study can do real justice to all of them. This is why this study narrows its scope to cover just the Fulçe of Gombe area of the northeastern of Nigeria

'Hence the name': Berwickshire parishes along the Anglo-Scottish Border as described in the Ordnance Survey Name Books

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