Proverbs

Wendy Smith wsmith at csusb.edu
Tue Nov 13 18:21:31 UTC 2012


They are *extremely common* in the language I work with, Ladino (or Djudeo-espanyol). They are so common, in fact, that there are several books written about them and all Ladino speakers and their descendents can quote them with ease. They are an integral part of the culture, as is narrative.

On Nov 13, 2012, at 10:16 AM, Matthew Dryer wrote:

> My impression based on examples involving proverbs in grammars is that there are clear geographical patterns in the frequency or importance of proverbs.In particular, they seem far more common in Africa than elsewhere in the world, though I recall seeing examples in languages of southeast Asia.
> 
> With regard to metaphor, I might point out the following recent volume
> 
> *Endangered Metaphors*
> 
> *Edited by Anna Idström and Elisabeth Piirainen*
> 
> University of Helsinki / Steinfurt, Germany
> 
> *In cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett*
> 
> [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc>, 2]  2012.  vi, 376 pp.
> 
> contains the following chapters dealing with languages of the Americas:
> 
> "Our language is very literal": Figurative expression in Dene Su;?iné [Athapaskan] <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc.2.03ric>
> 
> /Sally Rice/
> 
> 	
> 
> 21 -- 76
> 
> "My heart falls out": Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabascan <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc.2.04pas>
> 
> /Carolina Pasamonik/
> 
> 	
> 
> 77 -- 102
> 
> Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabascan <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc.2.05lov>
> 
> /Olga Lovick/
> 
> 	
> 
> 103 -- 122
> 
> Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc.2.06mon>
> 
> /Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega/
> 
> 	
> 
> 123 -- 144
> 
> Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ashéninka Perené myths and folk stories <http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/clscc.2.07mih>
> 
> /Elena Mihas/
> 
> 	
> 
> 145 -- 160
> 
> 	
> 
> Matthew
> 
> On 11/13/12 12:31 AM, Bernd Heine wrote:
>> Looking through a range of grammars of languages across the world I am surprised that proverbs are largely or entirely ignored in grammatical descriptions. They appear occasionally in the exemplification of structures but are essentially never discussed, e.g., as a discourse type, or as illustrating a special kind of morphosyntactic structure or relationship between form and meaning.
>> To be sure, I could think of a number of reasons for that, but I find none of them entirely convincing. Why should proverbs not have a place in a (comprehensive) reference grammar? After all, they appear to occur in all languages that have been appropriately documented, and they are part of the knowledge speakers have about their language. Please advise.
>> Bernd
>> 
>> 
> 



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