Social Functions of English Proverbs

1、2006年毕业论文 social functions of english proverbs 英语谚语的社交功能social functions of english proverbscontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction 2ii. literature review.3iii. classifications of english proverbs.5iv. characteristics of english proverbs.5 1. established forms6 2. essential features63. stylisti

2、c characteristics6 4. analysis from different angles.6v. social functions of english proverbs.7 1. the function to moralize7 2. the function to spread knowledge and experience.8 3. the function to advise.9 4. the function to make description in literature.10 5. the function to practise in society10v

3、i. conclusion.12references.12social functions of english proverbssocial functions of english proverbsabstract: proverbs are brief, memorable sayings that offer ethical direction in specific language situations from generation to generation. they are a feature in almost all cultures, historically, as

4、 well as today. as a group of words with a special meaning different from the meaning of its constituent words, proverb can be defined as a combination of two or more words, which are usually structurally fixed and semantically opaque, and the function as a single unit of meaning. it is an establish

5、ed form, in which the component words, word order, meanings and grammatical function of each proverb should be learned as a whole. english proverbs are essential parts of the general vocabulary, reflect the environment, life, history, and culture of the native speakers, and are closely associated wi

6、th their innermost spirits and feeling. english proverbs containing the abundant content have ingenious language forms, vivid rhetoric methods, have been proved to have extensive social functions. generally speaking, it manifests the following social functions: the function to moralize; the function

7、 to spread knowledge and experience; the function to advise; the function to make description in literature; the function to practise in society.key words: english proverbs；classification；characteristic；social functions摘要：谚语是世世代代在具体的语言形势里提供伦理方向的简短，值得记忆言论。 他们是在几乎所有文化里的一个普遍存在特征，无论在历史上还是今天。英语谚语是一个由具有特别

8、意义的单词构成的群体，这种特别意义与它们作为独立成分的意义是不同的。 谚语可以被定义为由两个或多个单词在结构上固定，在语意上晦涩的结合，并作为一个语意单元使用。它是一个已建立的并且已经被传统用法所接受的语言形式。因此，谚语的各成份词、词序、词义及语意功能必须当作一个整体来学习。谚语作为一个语言中一般词汇的必要组成部分。它反映出讲母语的人环境，生命，历史和文化，并与他们的最内部情绪和感觉相关。谚语蕴含着丰富的内容，具有巧妙的语言形式，生动的修辞方法，所以它们具有广泛的社会功能。总而言之，其社会功能用主要表现在思想道德、科学认识、教育警策、文学描绘和社会实践等几个方面。关键词： 英语谚语；分类；特

9、征；社会功能i. introductionenglish proverbs are a unit of english language, a kind of phraseology, the distillate of english language, which are colorful and vivid. they mainly come from oral tradition, literature and classics, religious books, and most of which from the lowest -the labor class. because t

10、hey are from social practices and real life, they are accepted and used by most people. the major difficulty we encounter about proverbs is that we dont know how to choose proper proverbs in proper situations. so it seems necessary to make a research on english proverbs. this paper will emphasize pa

11、rticularly on social functions of english proverbs, focusing on classifications of english proverbs, characteristics of english proverbs and social functions of english proverbs.an english proverb is a group of words with a special meanings different form the meaning of its constituent parts, which

12、may be defined as a combination of two or more words which are usually structurally fixed and semantically opaque, and function as a single unit of meaning. it is an established form, in which the component words, the word order, the meanings and grammatical functions of each proverb should be learn

13、ed as a whole. english proverbs, an essential part of the general vocabulary, reflect environment, life, history, and culture of the native speakers, and are closely associated with their innermost spirits and feeling. the english language teems with proverbs which are usually difficult to interpret

14、, and may cause one of the chief stumbling blocks to foreign students studying english. according to some computation the number of idiomatic expressions known by a cultured englishman is over 5,000 (not counting prepositional idioms and americanisms.). in the paper the writer will summarize the soc

15、ial functions of english proverbs, which are reflected by following properties: 1. language property: english proverbs are relatively complete immobile sentences with rhythms, popular languages, vivid tropes and laconic words. 2. content property of english proverbs: english proverbs are distillates

16、 of experience of peoples lives, flares of human wisdom, and contain specifically cultural tincts.3. social functions: its major functions are to enlighten peoples life, guide peoples actions, impart experience, morality education etc.4. variety of origins: generally speaking, english proverbs origi

17、nate from peoples practical living experience, mainly from folk tongues, some from written literatures such as religious classics and literature works.the paper will illustrate the english learning obstacles in using english proverbs. the classifications of english proverbs, characteristics of engli

18、sh proverbs and social functions of english proverbs, the purpose of which is to improve our students cognition about english language. ii. literature reviewenglish proverbs can trace back to middle ages or even earlier. when we studying english proverbs, we cant have to mention english idioms, beca

19、use the category of english idioms is larger than that of english proverbs.the word "idiom" comes from greek "idios" which was from "idioma-", meaning one's own, private, peculiar. english idioms have their own peculiar features, which enhance their inseparability,

20、cohesion and constancy. english proverbs belong to a specific group of english idioms. a proverb, (a word from latin) which is often a saying popularly known and repeated, usually expressing simply and concretely, though often metaphorically, and a truth based on common sense or the practical experi

21、ence of mankind. e.g.: a proverb 'a stitch in time saves nine.' describing a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. if a proverb is distinguished by particularly good style, it may be known as an aphorism.most proverbs are borrowed from different languages and cultures, and come

22、 down to the present, of which bible and medieval latin have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across western europe and even further.the study of proverbs called paremiology (a word from greek paremia = proverb) which can be dated back as far as aristotle, meaning the collection o

23、f proverbs. currently, the foremost proverb scholar in the united states, wolfgang mieder, who defines the term proverb as follows:“a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and

24、 which is handed down from generation to generation.” (mieder 1985:119; also in mieder 1993:24)proverbs as brief, memorable sayings that offer ethical direction in specific situations from generation to generation, are a feature of almost all cultures, historically, as well as today. the proverb is

25、tailor-made for primary oral cultures with no system of inscription, and in contemporary literary cultures new sayings continue to be coined. a parable is a more expansive cousin to the proverb. it is a short narrative fiction that expresses a moral or religious lesson. like the proverb, parables wh

26、ich can be used to inspire listeners participation are memorable and can be applied in one's daily life. “proverbs are context-transcending on account of their inclusion of several memorable features of oral communication.” (fernando, chitra: idioms and idiomaticity m. oxford: oxford university

27、press). they can be represented in the forms of: 1) repetition ("all's well that ends well"); 2) alliteration and rhyming ("haste makes waste"), 3) use of opposites ("what goes up must come down"); 4) and use of the present tense. the eloquent anonymous definition o

28、f the proverb as “a winged word, outliving the fleeting moment”comes from this context-transcending quality “an english proverb is a group of words with a special meaning different form the meaning of its constituent words.” (strang, barbara, m.h.(1974), a history of english, london：methuen & co

29、mpany ltd. proverb may be defined as a combination of two or more words which are usually structurally fixed and semantically opaque, and the function as a single unit of meaning. it is an established form, one that has been accepted by traditional usage. as such, the component words, word order, me

30、anings and grammatical functions of each proverb should be learned as a whole. english proverbs are essential part of the general vocabulary. proverbs reflect the environment, life, history, and culture of the native speakers, and are closely associated with their innermost spirits and feeling. peop

31、le are always using proverbs, but few of them know their functions clearly. so only a few have researched social functions of english proverbs. the proverb “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink” is exceedingly familiar to americans, from schoolchildren to cosmopolitan soph

32、isticates. the saying is so well known that writer dorothy parker, when challenged to create a witty saying using the word “horticulture” ultimately quipped “you can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her drink.” this well-known anecdote proves the fact that the original proverb is deep

33、ly ingrained in the minds of american english speakers.the paper will illustrate the english learning obstacles in using english proverbs, focusing on classifications of english proverbs, characteristics of english proverbs and social functions of english. the purpose of it is to improve our student

34、s cognition about english language. the social functions of english proverbs contain:1. the function to moralize;2. the function to spread knowledge and experience;3. the function to advise;4. the function to describe in literature;5. the function to practise in society.iii. classification of englis

35、h proverbs an english proverb is a unit of english language, a kind of phraseology, the distillate of english language, which is colorful and vivid. english proverbs could be divided into many classifications. according to the motivation of the unit, english proverbs compartmentalize as followings:

36、1. phraseolgical fusions: as their name suggests, english proverbs represent the highest stage of blending words together, with the meaning of their components completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole, that is, they are completely non-motivated. 2. phraseological unities: in phraseological un

37、ities the meaning of the whole unity is not the sum of the meanings of its components but based upon them, i.e. may be understood from the components. they are clearly motivated.3. phraseological combinations: from this angle, words in proverbs retain their full semantic independence although they a

38、re limited in their combinative power. these units are clearly motivated, and though sometimes their components can also be used metaphorically.besides the classification mentioned above, english proverbs may have other different ways of classification, e.g.: according to source, make-up or grammati

39、cal function: according to british and american linguists, english phraseological or stock phrases generally may be classified according to their sources or their lexical or phonetic make-up.iv. characteristics of english proverbsclassifications of english proverbs are based on characteristics of en

40、glish proverbs, the characteristics of which reflect on classifications. english proverbs have their own peculiar features, which enhance their inseparability, cohesion and constancy. english proverbs have the following characteristics:1. an established form an english proverb has an established for

41、m, one that has been accepted by traditional usage. generally speaking no element can be added to, be deleted, be replaced by, and changed in english proverbs even without destroying the sense as a whole. in other words, english proverbs have their structural stability, their fixed and ready-made na

42、ture. it is generally accepted that when analyzed structurally, the most important characteristic of proverbs is stability.2. essential features the term " proverbs " generally implies that the essential features of the linguistic unit under consideration is idiomaticity or lack of motivat

43、ion. by semantic unity we mean proverbs function as a unit of meaning, that is, the member words of a proverb do not possess any lexical meaning outside the integral meaning of the whole. by lack of motivation proverbs are semantically non-motivated, i.e. the special meaning of a proverb cannot be d

44、educed from the literal meaning of its member-words. generally speaking, we can find the following features of the english proverbs: 1) english proverbs also acquire figurative meaning due to extra-linguistic factors such as the history of the people and its culture;2) an english proverb usually has

45、 a meaning peculiar to itself. its meaning can't be made out from the ordinary acceptance of the term. it has a meaning that defies grammatical or logical analysis.3) english proverbs have the characteristics of syntactic inseparability.3. stylistic characteristicsenglish proverbs are essentiall

46、y national in character, i.e. their components are mostly native elements.1）english proverbs as a rule are highly endowed with a national flavor and taste of the soil from which they grow, but they also contain a large deposit of idiomatic expressions of foreign origin.2）most english proverbs, wheth

47、er of native or of foreign origin, are colloquial in style from the viewpoint of style and expressiveness. besides, english proverbs have another important feature, namely, their euphony. it has been often pointed out that many proverbs are distinctly rhythmical; contain alliteration, rhyme, etc, ap

48、art from their euphonic qualities. english proverbs have their stylistic value, namely, terseness, vividness and forcibleness.4. analysis from different angleswe have made an analysis of english proverbs from different angles-semantically, structurally, syntactically and stylistically. from this ana

49、lysis, we may sum up the characteristics of english proverbs as follows:1) idiomatically: according to the authors of the oxford dictionary of current idiomatic english, “idiomaticity is largely, though not wholly, a question of meaning”. that is to say, proverbs are mainly characterized by their se

50、mantic unity and lack of motivation.2) structurally: when analyzed structurally, most proverbs have the characteristic of stability, which is considered as one of the most important features of english proverbs, due to their fixed and ready-made nature.3) syntactically: inseparability is viewed as o

51、ne of the aspects of idiomaticity which implies that the part-of-speech meaning of a proverb is considered as a whole irrespective of the part-of-speech meaning of member-words.v. social functions of english proverbsthe english proverbs contain abundant contents, ingenious language forms, the vivid

52、rhetoric methods, which manifests they have extensive social functions. their social functions are exhibited through characteristics. generally speaking, its social functions display as following:1. the function to moralize;2. the function to spread knowledge and experience;3. the function to advise

53、;4. the function to make description in literature;5. the function to practise in society.1. the function to moralize the proverbs are summarization of peoples social experiences in real life and reflection of certain objective laws. proverbs can help people realize and transform subjective world, r

54、aise people's moral level of thought. a lot of proverbs in english language have expressed the idea of considering material and practicing as the most important and this is the people's conscientious, simple dialectical materialism thought.in english, proverbs which can be used to express th

55、e idea of viewing the material and practice as the most important are as following: “where nothing is, nothing can be had.”“if you have no hand, you cant make a fist.”“practice makes perfect.” “in doing we learn.”“experience is the mother of wisdom.”of course, the people not only realize that substa

56、nce and practice are primary, but realize the subjective function spirits and theories as secondary, which can be proved in bacon's famous epigram: “knowledge is power.”“where there is a will, there is a way.” (the proverb implies that people believe that we can make roads out of any rugged plac

57、es.)english proverb has also reflected the simple dialectical thought besides reflecting the thought of materialism. “the water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up.”a lot of english proverbs reflect that the truth can overcome everything, higher than all, showing peoples urgent hope

58、of pursuing the truth.“truth conquers all things.”“truth will prevail.”“truth fears no colors.” “truth is mighty and will prevail.”2. the function to spread knowledge and experience there are a lot of proverbs in english that reflect people's understanding of objective world that are regular in social work and scientific r