英汉谚语的文献综述.docx

英汉谚语的文献综述.docx

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英汉谚语的文献综述

英汉谚语的文献综述

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英汉谚语的文献综述】

毕业论文文献综述英语英汉谚语文化涵义对比研究languageisinseparablefromculture,andwithoutlanguagetherecanbenoculture.proverbsarecrystallizationsofanationswisdomandthecreamofitslanguage.asfrancisbacononcecommentedthatthegenius,witandspiritofanationarediscoveredinitsproverbs.asaninventorizedunitbelongingtoaparticularlanguage,aproverbhasitsowncustomarymeaning,itsstandardproverbialinterpretation（spi）（nealr.norrick,1985）.thisspimaycoincidewiththenationsgeographicalenvironment,history,custom,thesenseoftraditionalvalues,religiousbeliefs,socialsystemandtheliteralreadingofproverb,inwhichcasetheproverbissaidtobeliteral.however,asashortandconciseformoftheproverb,theidiomisalwaysconsideredindivisiblefromtheproverb.mitchell（1975）sawanidiomascumulateassociationandasanassemblageofroots,rootsbeinghistermforthebasewordformsconstitutingtheidiom.inotherwords,aproverbisformallyamultiwordexpressionfunctioningasasinglesemanticsentence.sinceproverbsdiffergreatlyfromoneculturetoanotherduetothedifferentlanguageenvironmentinwhichthespeakersliveandreflectthegeneralandspecificcharactersofdifferentnations,alotofresearchhasbeendoneoncomparativestudyofthechineseandwesternculturethroughthemeaningsofproverbs.everyoneunderstandstheimportancethatproverbshaveineverylanguage.intheformofshort,easilymemorablephrases,theproverbscontainagreattreasureoffolkwisdom,andthroughuseofashortproverb,itisofteneasiertoexpressanideabetterandmoreconvincingly,thanwithalongspeech.knowledgeofproverbsisnecessaryforperfectknowledgeofalanguage（m.f.zamenhof,1905）.infact,theresearchcombinedlanguagewithculturebeganinthefirsthalfofthe19thcentury.asmichaellosonsky（1999）mentionedinherbook,thegermanlinguistandphilosopherbaronvonwilhelmvonhumboldt（1828）thinksthatthelanguageisthetoolbywhichanationthinksandmakesmentalpercepts,anddiscussedtherelationshipbetweenthestructureofalanguageandthehumanspiritforthefirsttimeinhisfamouswork:

onthediversityofhumanlanguageconstructionanditsinfluenceonthementaldevelopmentofthehumanspecies.asisknowntoall,thedevelopmentofproverbstudyisfollowedalongwiththestudiesonmetaphor.thus,thecomparativestudiesofproverbscanbedividedintothreedifferentperiodsaccordingtothedifferentscopesandmethodsofresearches.theseperiodsinvolvetherhetoricalstudiesonproverb,fromabout300b.c.to1930s;thesemanticstudiesonproverbs,from1930sto1970s;andthemultidisciplinarystudiesonproverbs,from1970stonow（shudingfang,2000）.theauthorherewantstoconcentrateonsomefigureswhohavecontributedmuchtothestudyanddevelopmentofsemanticstudiesonproverbsandcomparesthecultureimplicationthroughthesemanticstudiesonproverbs.generally,thecultureimplicationreferstothecognitiveresultontheformationofculture,whereasthesemanticsisanexpressionofthisresult.therefore,itisofsignificancetostudysemanticsforcultureimplication.itisanimportantleapinthestudyoftheproverbfromtherhetoricalstudiestothesemanticstudies.theprocessrevealsthattheresearchonproverbshasshakenofftheliteralmeaning.meanwhile,thesemanticstudyprovidesusabetterunderstandingofwesternandchineseproverbs,aswellasthedifferentculturesinvolved.thesemanticstudyperiodismarkedbyl.a.richardspublicationofthephilosophyofrhetoric（1965）.richardscriticizedthetraditionalrhetoricalstudyoftheproverb,andhearguedthatthereplacementinproverbsisnotthelevelofwordorevenlanguage,sohedidnotseeaproverbasafigureofspeechbutdescribedthatawordisusuallynotanisolatedsubstitutionofanotherexpression,butacombinationofgeneralideascomingfromgeneralculture.healsostatesthataproverbisamodeofthinkingandtheresultofinteractionoftwothoughtsinonewordorphrase.therefore,hisstudymakesitpossibleforpeopletocomprehendthedifferencesofsemanticstructureofproverbsinwestandchina.however,proverbresearch,atthetimeofrichards,wasstillinarelativelypoorstate.quitetypicalisthestatementofarchertaylor（1931）,whointroducedhisseminalbooktheproverbandanindextotheproverbwiththewords:

theproverbandrelatedformshavelongbeenobjectsofgeneralinterestandtheoccasionformanybooks,buttheyhaveattractedlittleseriousandthoroughstudy.maxblack（1962）developedrichardsinteractiontheory,especiallyfortheinterpretationofaproverb.blackdefinitelypointedoutthecreativeandcognitivefunctionofproverbs,whichprovidedanewperspectivetocomprehendthingsthroughcreativesimilarityandhelpedpeoplebetterunderstandthedifferentcultureofwestandchina.onthebasisofrichardstheory,blackwidensthehorizonofunderstandingtheessenceofproverbs,emphasizesthemeansandprocessofhowthemeaningsofproverbsareproducedthroughdifferentculturebackgrounds,andmakesaprofoundcontributiontothecognitivefunctionofproverbsderivedfromdifferentculturebackground.whenitcomestothereasononchinese-westernproverbdifferences,somescholarsfocusontheexperiences.atthattime,moreandmorescholarsputforwardthatwecannotunderstandtheproverbsapartfromtheculture.thus,thecultureimplicationbehindtheproverbssetfootintothecomparativeresearchfieldofproverbs.researchersputtheproverbsintocontextratherthandenotation,enhancingtheimportanceofcultureimplication.forjolles（1930）,aproverbistheform,whichconcludesanexperience.therearemanydifferenttypesofexperiences,suchasthesenseofvalue,customarypractice,historyandculture,andreligiousbeliefs.still,thesetwoterms,textandfunction,propoundedbyjakobsonandtynyanov（1929）shouldfocusthesemioticstudyofproverbs,ifaproverbistobeunderstoodasbeingaparticulartexttowhichaparticularfunctionisascribedorattributedwithinagivenculture.aswolfgangmiederandalandundesmentionedintheirbook:

thewisdomofmany:

essaysonproverb（1994）,manyyearslater,mathildehain,inherempiricalfolkloristic-sociologicalinvestigationoftheproverb,showedthatwithouttheunderstandingofexperienceandmorale,youcannotgrasptheessenceoftheproverb.hainenteredanewfieldbywrote:

theessentialthingaboutaproverbisitsmeaning,andbythisistobeunderstoodnotmerelyabaldandliteraltranslationintotheaccustomedtongue,norevenafreeversionofwhatthewordsareintendedtoconvey.themeaningofaproverbismadeclearonlywhen,sidebysidewiththetranslation,isgivenafullaccountoftheaccompanyingsocialsituation,thereasonforitsuse,itseffect,anditssignificanceinspeech.withthefurtherdevelopmentofstudyonproverbs,scholarsbeganpayingattentiontotheheuristicfunctionwiththeproverbs.aspreviouslystated,oneshouldtakeculturebackgroundintoconsiderationwhileunderstandingthemeaningofproverbs.identically,theproverbplaysavitalroleofcomprehendingcultureimplicationthroughitsheuristicfunction.thedescriptionofproverbmeaningis,aswasstatedabove,notpossiblewithoutreferencetocontextualfactors.yet,itseemsmostreasonable,aspeterseitel（1969,1972）argues,totakeintoconsiderationtheimportanceofcontextonlyasapotential,orvirtualfactor,andtoabstractforheuristicpurposesfromallcontextualelements（suchasnumber,age,gender,socialstatusoftheinvolvedpersons,etc.）,andtooutlinetheethicframeofproverbuse.theheuristicmodelofproverbusedevelopedbyseitelisbasedonthecentralassumptionthatthesituationinwhichaproverbisactuallyused（theinteractionsituation）isnotidenticalwiththesituationinherentintheproverbtextitself（theproverbsituation）,andthatbothofthemarenotorneednotbeidenticalwiththesituationtheproverbrefersto.thus,whenutteringaproverb,thespeakerassertsthattherelationshipbetweenthethingsintheproverbsituationisanalogoustotherelationshipbetweentheentitiesinthecontextsituation（seitel,1972）.therefore,thedistinctionofthedifferenttypesofsituationinvolvedinproverbuseofchineseandwesterncanbesummarizedinthefollowingschema:

moralnorms,reputation,friendship,relief,andmoney.thus,inasemanticlevel,onecaneasilyunderstandaproverbofanyculturewithouteverhavinghearditbefore.itpresupposes（inadditiontolanguageknowledge,ofcourse）atleasttheknowledgeofallrelevantassociationsandconnotations,andalsoperhapssomeknowledgeaboutusageadequatetotherelevantsituations（baevskij,1970）.withthecombinationofsemanticstudyandcultureimplication,onecaneasilyunderstandthemeaningofproverbs,andtheproverbcanbringusenlightenmentofdailylife.thatiswhyproverbsarecrystallizationofanationswisdom.whenresearchoncultureimplicationthroughsemanticstudiesdevelopsatthisstage,therehappenedaresearchwhichwasputtingthecartbeforethehorse.underthestudyofthereasonthatdifferentsituationcreatesdifferentmeaningofproverbs,onecan,retrospectively,subsumeallactuallyrealizedmeaningsofaproverbunderthemodeladvancedbypermyakov（1979）.hisfundamentalachievementistoprovidedaframeworkabletodescribethesepossibleproverbsituationsinaconsistentsystem.however,someonequestionedhisidea.thequestionofhowproverbs,orproverbsituations,aremodeledbydifferentculturesraisestheworriso