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<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Dear all,</span><br>
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<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">in Korean proverbs consisting of two parallel sentences, the metaphorical object precedes the metaphorical subject:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">호랑이는 죽어서 가죽을 남기고, 사람은 죽어서 이름을 남긴다. A tiger leaves its hide when it dies, and a person leaves their name when they die.</span></li><li><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">열 길 물 속은 알아도 한 길 사람 속은 모른다. You can see through ten feet deep water, but you cannot see through a one foot deep heart.</span></li></ul>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">In these proverbs, the metaphorical objects (tiger, water) precede the metaphorical subjects (person, heart).</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">I have been assuming that this is the “natural” way of making a parallel comparison, until I came across Mongolian proverbs today that have the opposite structure: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Хүн ёс дагана, нохой яс дагана. A person follows traditions, and a dog follows bones.</span></li><li><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Уур биеийг зовоодог, уул морийг зовоодог. The anger torments the body, and the mountain torments the horse.</span></li></ul>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">I assume here that the person and the body are being compared to the dog and the horse (and not the other way around).</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Is this metaphorical subject - metaphorical object order common in proverbs of other languages as well?</span><br>
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From Hong Kong,
<div dir="auto">Ian</div>
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