Proverbs

[Koontz John E]

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