г. Саратов
Муниципальное образовательное учреждение
Восточно - Европейкий лицей
учитель английского языка
СЕМАНТИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АНГЛИЙСКИХ ПОСЛОВИЦ
В данной работе рассматриваются семантические особенности английских пословиц. что представляет интерес для каждого, кто изучает английский язык и познает английскую культуру, ведь пословицы выражает свойственный народу склад ума, способ суждения, особенности воззрения. В них проявляются быт и обиход, нравы и обычаи, дух и характер. Представленный ниже материал может быть использован при изучении вузовского курса « Фразеология английского языка».
The linguistic essence of proverbs lies not in their syntactical structure, but in their semantics characterized by “super wordness “(N. M. Shanskey’s term).
The semantics of a proverb is made not only by the meaning of the sentence. It is a part of a situation. Among other distinctive features of proverbs one of the most important is their didactic orientation. A proverbs is a succinct and memorable statement that contains advice (First thrive and then wine), a warning or prediction (Marry in haste and repent at leisure), or an analytical observation (A maid marries to pleasure her parents, a widow to pleasure herself). Besides, proverbs aim to appreciate. Appreciation and value are closely connected. Appreciation means presence or quality of value in an object. Values are divided into positive and negative. Positive values help a subject to achieve its goals and to satisfy its needs. Negative values, in their turn, prevent a subject from attaining its aims, and they are dangerous for it.
English proverbs have subject – logical and emotional – expressive appreciation, which can be:
a) positive;
b) negative;
c) ambivalent.
Ex. a) Kind hearts are more than coronets.
b) One law for the rich and another for the poor.
c) Like father, like son.
Value is based on certain desire, which in its turn, depends on a subject’s aims and needs. Any value of an object always compares it with an ideal object. Usually it is based on a system of norms and criteria characterizing the sphere of activity to achieve ends and ideals.
The main aim of this chapter is to consider some semantic peculiarities of proverbs.
All phraseological units are characterized by partial or complete transference of meaning. Phraseological transference is full or partial transformation of meaning on the basis of an image of a phraseological prototype based on the semantic shift (8, 97).
The proverbs which have a metaphorical quality, whose meaning must be transferred from the literal plane to the metaphorical plane, can be grouped into:
a) those having a completely transferred metaphorical meaning:
Ex. It‘s a wind that blows nobody any good. – Most things that happen will benefit somebody, somewhere, some time. It will be a really disastrous happening that brings no advantage at all.
A new broom sweeps clean. – When a new person takes over a job, he tends to make noticeable changes and carry out the job with thoroughness.
b) those having partially transferred meaning:
Ex. Fine words batter no parsnips. – Fine words are no substitute for effective actions.
One swallow does not make a summer. – One fact does not prove something, as it may be an exception to the rule.
The proverbs mentioned above are based on metaphor. An overwhelming majority of the proverbs is formed by means of metaphorical shift.
We have divided English proverbs into three groups:
a. proverbs with the metaphorical meaning of one component :
Ex. Brevity is the soul of wit. – Speakers are better appreciated when they say a lot in a few words.
Prolonius: …since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief…(Shakespeare « Hamlet »)
Like begets like. – Offsprings are often like their parents. Similar people have similar manners.
Like begets like, you know, and when space radio listening became respectable, a few courageous scientists dared to examine the innards of meteorites again, and to talk about the results ( Edward ).
b. proverbs with the metaphorical meaning of two components :
Ex. All bread is not baked in one oven. – People are not alike. People differ very much in character and abilities and this is necessary and desirable. So one should be tolerant of one’s fellow men.
« Do I look as moth-eaten as all that? » « Not moth-eaten, sir. Only intellectual like. » « You are quite right. A poet. » « Poet! All bread is not baked in one oven, is it? » said the taximan. « And a bloody good world it is », said Gordon (Orwell).
Two blacks do not make a white. – Avenging yourself against someone who has wronged you will not right the wrong.
…Helen sighed, then, squaring her shoulders and in a tone of resolution, « Two blacks don’t make a white », she said. « Besides, I’m my own affair! » (Huxley).
c. proverbs having a metaphorical word combination :
Ex. Life is not all beer and skittles. – Life is not always easy and pleasant; it contains troubles as well as pleasures, and we should all expect to meet difficulties as well as easy times.
I just had to come in and have a chart. I’ ve been feeling pretty fed up lately. Married life is not all beer and skittles (Waugh).
Another type of transference is based on simile. The images created by simile, as a rule, are very transparent semantically, because their basis is formed by reality. Each simile appeared as a result of people’s long-time experience. Therefore, it represents the reserve of such images which are known and customary to each member of the given language group. They are handed over from one generation to another. The formal elements of the communicative phraseological units based on simile as a way of transference are the constructions with the conjunctions “as…as; like…; so…as”. Proverbs of this kind are called comparative. These proverbs have the structure of either a simple sentence or of a complex one.
Ex. Enough is as good as a feast. – Enough is just as good as great quantities; it is best to be reasonable and not violent in one’s demands.
Moore would have pressed upon the heroic mill – owner a third tumbrel, but the clergyman, who never transgressed, not would suffer others in his presence to transgress the bounds of decorum, checked him.” Enough is as good as a feast, is it not, Mr. Sykes?” (Ch. Bronte)
As the tree, so the fruit. – People should be judged by the character of their children.
Like father, like son. – Children are often like their parents in character, tastes, opinions, habits, etc.
“Always one for a joke, master Roc…like his father. Now he were one for a joke till…” His hands began to pluck at the cloth of his trousers nervously. “Like father, like son”, said Roc. “Well, we must be moving on”. (Holt)
Though a great number of English proverbs have noticeable images, the bulk of them possess a generalized meaning, which helps to use a proverb allegorically:
Ex. Easy come, easy go. – What was easily won, gained, earned, etc., is easily lost, spent or wasted.
“What happened to all the money you got when the will was and the business was sold”, Lucy asked. Tony shrugged again. “The usual”, he said. “False friends, riotous living and bas investments. Easy come, easy go. I wasn’t particularly anxious to hold on to it. It made me uncomfortable” (I. Show).
The meaning of proverbs is stable. They belong to the monosemantic type. Proverbs can have variants for all the stability of their form, the invariant of meaning being preserved:
Ex. More haste, less speed = The more haste, the less speed = The more in haste, the less in speed = Most haste, worst speed. – More quickly but also methodically. If you must act swiftly, proceed with caution.
The more haste, the less speed.
“The more haste, the less speed”….When we remember that speed really meant success in Old English, the sense becomes “The more haste, the less success”, which is a perfectly wise and sensible proverb. (Skeat)
More haste, less speed.
He’d studied Rouse and Furnace all right and profited by their mistakes. Pity he overlooked that matter of the cast porcelain. Makes a quicker job, does it, Lamplough? Well, more haste, less speed. I do wonder though, at what point of the proceeding Williams actually died. (Sayers)
The more in haste, the less in speed.
“I ran straight upstairs – to fetch the pearls, you know”. “Of course. It took you some time to fetch them’’. “Yes. I couldn’t find the key of my jewel – case all at once”. “So often is that the case. The more in haste, the less in speed”. (Christie)
Most haste, worst speed.
Alike in small matters and great, the old curate’s maxim was: most haste, worst speed. With his son’s, dear Begum, on the contrary, it was always a case of now or never, time and tide wait for no man, and the devil catch the hindmost. (Edwards)
The analysis of the semantic peculiarities of proverbs makes it possible to draw the following conclusions:
Proverbs show in the condensed form the accumulated life experience of the community and they serve as conventional practical symbols for abstract ideas. They are usually didactic and image – bearing. Proverbs express in a few words a truth, which relates to everyday experience. Some proverbs fit any human situation and this gives them general application.
Semantically proverbs may be characterized as utterances having transferred meaning.
The content of English proverbs is very diverse and covers all fields of life of the English.
The main group is constituted by proverbs making up a thematic group “Man and society”. The semantics of proverbs reflects the most typical relations between people and situations of public life. The proverbs of this group contain “recommendations” concerned with the behaviour of man in different situations, evaluation of situations, actions and phenomena.
Proverbs of groups that follow such as: Characteristics of man’s qualities; Immorality; Appearance; Activity, etc., can be regarded as being more concrete expressions of characteristics of a human being.
The fundamental content of proverbs is to generalize life experience and turn it to people’s knowledge.
We have divided the proverbs into the following semantic groups:
1. Proverbs which teach to be industrious and economical:
Ex. A penny saved is a penny gained. – Money that has been kept, instead of being spent, can be counted equivalent to that amount earned.
My proverbs are: “A penny saved is a penny gained; A stitch in time saves nine; Look before you leap” and the British Empire rests on them. (Forster)
A good anvil does not fear the hammer. – A person who is good at work will succeed in it.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. – A person who lives a life of moderation is sure to succeed.
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”. (Franklin)
2.Proverbs which make fun of fools:
Ex. Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself. – Let a foolish person act as he pleases, and he will cause his own destruction.
“If Sir John has found out about the allowance and thinks I have been defrauding Mary all these years, he might have had the decency to tell me himself, and employ a detective‘’, she said. ‘’Oh, no, here we go’’, thought Black. ‘’Give the old lady enough rope and she’ll hang herself‘’. (D. du Maurier)
A fool and his money are soon parted. – Foolish people are not capable to save their money. They spend it quickly.
See! A twenty leva note! Sergius gave me that simply to let me how important he is. A foolish man and his money are quickly parted. (B. Shaw)
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. – Foolish people say and do things too hastily. A wise person avoids rush actions.
Ursula was such an insufferable outsider, rushing in where angels would fear to tread. But then – fools must be suffered, if not gladly. (Lawrence)
3. Proverbs which condemn wars:
Ex. Better a lean peace than a fat victory. – It is better to live than to die. There’s always hope for the living but death is as final for the great as it is for less important people.
They always prefer a lean peace to a fat victory. (Maugham)
War is the sport of kings. – War is sweet to those that know it not, and who do not take part in it.
4.Proverbs which give an uncomplimentary appraisal of the rich:
Ex. A thief passes for a gentleman when stealing has made him rich. – Rich men have no faults.
Rich men may have what they will. – Well – off people do not need something.
Beggars cannot be choosers. – If one is in dependent a situation, one cannot insist on one’s own conditions or terms.
“But dammit, what’s the use in talking, I’ll have to take it”, Coffey said. “I’ve told Vera I have a job”. “It’s up to you”, Gerry said. “ But if you start small, you’ll wind up small”. “Yes, but beggars can’t be choosers –“ Coffey began. (Moore)
5.Proverbs having a positive appraisal:
Ex. Practice what you preach. – Behave the same way you tell others to.
Practice what you preach. (Titus M. Platus)
Cleanliness is next to godliness. – Cleanliness is second in importance only to religious devotion.
Let it be observed, that slovenliness is no part of religion, that neither this, nor any text of Scripture, condemns neatness of apparel. Certainly this is a duty, not sin. “Clearliness is next to godliness”. (Wesley)
Never do things by halves. – Never leave a job half – done, complete properly anything you begin to do.
6. Proverbs which critisize lazy – bones and slackers:
Ex. An idle brain is the devil’s workshop. – Idleness is the root of mischief.
Tell him to be a good boy and study hard. An idle brain is the devil’s workshop. (Biggers)
Don’t have thy cloak to make when it begins to rain. – Don’t do many things at the same time, do them in time.
7. Old conservative proverbs:
Ex. Spare the rod and spoil the child. – A child who is never punished will grow up to be rude and inconsiderate.
With all your pretence of liberalism I sometimes think you’re an old – fashioned reactionary. First it was your spare the rod and spoil the child theory and now you want her to starve in a garret. (Dodd)
8. Proverbs which reflect morality:
Ex. He that will steal an egg will steal an ox. – A man who can rob a little thing can prowl an important one.
Our analysis makes it possible to state that proverbs are one of the basic characteristics of phraseology – anthropocentrism. The content of the phraseological units under consideration is diverse and covers all spheres of man’s life.
The semantic analysis made it possible to come to the following conclusions:
Proverbs are used to give a word of advice, warning, or a wise general comment on a situation. They do it in a precise, poignant style, which makes them easy to remember and use.
A great number of proverbs have a metaphorical quality, whose meaning must be transferred from the literal plane to the metaphorical plane.
The metaphorical meaning of proverbs has a wide application, which extends far being the literal meaning. It is applied to any situation in which one has been hurt, disappointed, deceived, etc.
The basic types of transference – metaphor and simile are common in English proverbs, metaphor being more productive. It served a basis for the formation of 70% of English communicative phraseological units.
CПИСОК ИСПОЛЬЗУЕМОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ:
1. Арнольд современного английского языка (на английском языке). – М.: Высшая школа, 1973. – 304 с.
2. Гусейнов -семантические особенности и национальная специфика английских пословиц: Автореф. дисс. … канд. филол. наук. – М.: Типография МГПИИЯ им. М. Тореза, 1981. – 21 с.
3. Дубровин и русские пословицы и поговорки в иллюстрациях / Худож. . – 2-е изд. – М.: Просвещение, 1995. – 349 с.: ил.
4. Интерпретация текста (на материале английских пословиц и поговорок): Учеб. пособие для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. / , , . – М.: Высшая школа, 1991. – 166 с.: ил.
5. Кунин фразеология: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М.: Высшая школа, 1970. – 344с.
6. Кунин фразеологии английского языка: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М.: Высшая школа, 1986. – 336 с.
7. Селянина пословиц английского языка: Автореф. дисс. ... канд. филол. наук. – М.: 1-й Московский гос. институт иностранных языков, 1970. – 27с
8. Смит Фразеология английского языка. – М.: Учпедгиз, 1959. – 208 с.
9. Чернышова современного английского языка. – М.: Высшая школа, 1970. – 200 с.
