Proverbs

[Pamela Munro]

Like John, I am often asked for proverb-analogues in the (Siouan and
non-Siouan) languages I work on, and I actually feel that this is definitely
a genre that is not highly represented in the Americas.

One of my students has been getting some aphoristic things in Pima, but they
are mainly of the form "Marry a ___ (fill in tribe) and your ____ (fill in
body part) will _____ (fill in verb with negative consequences)" -- this
doesn't seem completely like a proverb to me!

But some non-European exotic languages are very rich in proverbs (the best
case I know of being Wolof).

I hope more people will comment on this.

Pam



Koontz John E wrote:

> This is about proverbs as opposed to preverbs.  I apologize in advance for
> a topic that is perhaps more literary than linguistic, though a lot
> depends on where you draw the line.
>
> I've occasionally field questions about Siouan proverbs, i.e., analogs of
> things like "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."  Or maybe I should
> say, I've tried to field such questions, but, frankly, I haven't noticed
> any proverbs in Omaha-Ponca.  Am I missing something?  Or is there no
> native proverb genre in Siouan (and adjacent?) languages?
>
> Catherine Rudin may want to take note of this nested question
> construction!
>
> If there is no proverb genre, that would be interesting.  From a European
> standpoint proverbs are about as indispensible to a language as adjectives
> and "good bye." I know how to get along without adjectives or "good bye",
> of course.  But how do people get along without proverbs?  If Siouan
> speakers are doing so, then they must be doing it right under my nose, but
> I can't say that I've figured out how.  Does it have something to do with
> Trickster (OP Monkey) stories?  Or quotatives?  It might be harder to make
> your own opinions sound like universal truths if you have to append a
> quotative to them.  Maybe not - there seems to be a clear quotative on
> proverbs, manifested as zero, and it can even be made explicit with
> paraphrases (or periphrasis) like "(You know what) they say, ..."
>
> JEK

--
Pamela Munro
Professor
Department of Linguistics
UCLA Box 951543
Los Angeles Ca 90095-1543
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/people/munro/munro.htm