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71Анализ форм изложения и синтаксической структуры пословиц
Лун Чжичао,
доцент, заместитель директора Школы иностранных языков Шэньянского политехнического университета. E-mail: [email protected]
Пословицы - это отражение социального и рабочего опыта людей. Люди могут накапливать свой практический опыт с помощью пословиц и в то же время распространять его с помощью пословиц. Они уникальны по форме и содержанию. «Пословицы содержат не научный факт, а народную мудрость» [1, р.187]. Без пословиц язык стал бы сухим и скучным, а их использование, напротив, «делает речь более яркой и добавляет силу в высказывание» [2, р.2]. Сравнительное изучение пословиц на разных языках будет очень необходимо, для лучшего понимания. Целью данной работы является проанализировать формы изложения и синтаксическую структуру пословиц китайского и других языков, чтобы прояснить особенности использования пословиц в различных обстоятельствах и контекстах.
Ключевые слова: язык, изложение и синтаксическая структура пословиц, синонимы, антонимы, синтаксис.
Исследование выполнение в рамках Проекта финансирования научных исследований Управления образования провинции Ляонин «Изучение использования академического вокабуляра в письменном английском языке у студентов вузов естественнонаучных и инженерных специальностей» № LG202017
Introduction
Proverbs are short popular sayings which have a moral or practical nature. The sayings must contain some kind of enduring wisdom so that they can be qualified as proverbs. Proverbs are like pearls in our language. As we all know, every country has many of its own proverbs. These proverbs can always reflect a people's living and living environment. From studying the proverbs, we can know something about a people's geography, history, social organization, social views and attitude. The knowledge of diction and sentence structure of proverbs will help people improve their spoken and writing skill.
I. The Dictation of Proverbs
The stuff of proverbs are those vivid and popular words close to daily life with strong national features. Its diction is mainly characterized by following aspects:
1. A large number of historical words, for example:
(1) Caesar's wife ought to be above suspicion.
(2) Homer sometimes nods.
(3) When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?
(4) Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang, the mastermind [3, p.129].
All the above proverbs employ historical words. They are "Zhuge Liang", "Caesar", "Homer", "Adam" and "Eve". Although what these words refer to has already disappeared in current life, the words are still widely used in their respective nations. These words may revive in people the historical events, thus getting them a deeper understanding of the proverbs. With these words, the proverbs are painted with a picture of antique style and impressed with a seal of their cultures. What is special for English proverbs is they keep many old English words. In example (3) "delved" is "dug" and "span" is "spun". This is special of English proverbs which makes them solemn and elegant.
2. A large number of colloquial words, for example:
(1) While the laymen watch only the fanfare, the professionals are keen to see the tricks of the trade. [4, p.52]
(2) If one were not planning to eat rice crust, one would not be circling around the cooking pan. [4, p.11]
(3) Riven breeks sit still.
All of the above proverbs have colloquial words in them. They are "fanfare", "rice crust" and "breeks". These colloquial words with strong air of locality and everyday life make the proverbs close to people and easy to read aloud.
3. A large number of synonyms and antonyms, for example:
(1) You never know how much it takes to keep a family going until you begin to manage its finances; you never understand parental love until you raise children yourself. [4, p.27]
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(2) Don't bear a heavy load with little strength; don't persuade others with weightless words.
(3) Better clumsy and honest than clever but cunning. [4, p.108]
(4) Go down the ladder when you marry a wife; go up when you choose a friend.
(5) He that falls today may rise tomorrow.
Proverbs (1), (2) both skillfully use synonyms:
"know" and "understand", "little" and "weightless", to avoid monotony and rigidity of language. In contrast, (3), (4), (5) use many antonyms as "clever but cunning" and "clumsy and honest", "go down" and "go up", "fall" and "rise" to reveal the contradiction of matters. Some proverbs are more brilliant with the use of both synonyms and antonyms at the same time.
4. Use of numbers, for example:
(1) It takes three years to pass the imperial examination at provincial level, but ten years at country level.
(2) The buyer has need of a hundred eyes; the seller has need but of one.
(3) A man requires six hours' sleep, a woman seven, a child eight and only a fool more.
(4) One year a nurse, and seven years the worse.
All the numbers in the above proverbs are definitely
not dull numbers, but rather artful diction. They make abstract things understandable, simple words impressive. (2) is a hyperbole with the use of numbers;
(3) uses numbers to for climax; numbers in (1) and
(4) form antitheses. Numbers in Chinese and English proverbs do not refer to the real number of things but they are imaginary numbers.
II. Sentence Structure of Proverbs
From sentence structure's point of view, there are simple sentences and compound sentences in both Chinese and English proverbs. Whether they are simple or compound sentences, any proverb is marked with brevity, compactness, balance and rhythm, which are decided by the nature of proverbs. There are some obvious similarities concerning sentence structure in proverbs.
1. Balance of Syntax
Proverbs, especially Chinese proverbs, usually attach great importance to syntactic symmetry, sometimes even at the expense of brevity. For example, in the proverb "Cook the meal according to the number of people; cut the garment according to the figure." Similar examples are "Doing things according to the plan can avoid detours" and "Only when the helmsman stay calm can the passenger feel secure."
2. Variation of Syntax
Although proverbs stress symmetry, it doesn't necessarily mean all the proverbs with two halves are in antithesis and parallelism. Actually, proverbs are full of those marked with the alteration of intact and "broken" sentences. Repetition of the same pattern is not always true of proverbs. For example, "White ° is easy to become black, while black is not easy to " become white", "After three setbacks you would know g the complexity of the world", "You eat and eat, but you ^ do not drink to fill you", "Agree, for the law is costly". In I the above examples, the number of words in the two
parts is not equal, and structures are not same, either. The combination of long and short sentences makes proverbs more impressive, varied, and more flexible in expressing meanings.
3. Highly contracted sentences
One of the most common features of Chinese and English proverbs is to express as much thought as possible with as few words as possible. Some proverbs, continually polished during the process of being handed down, have become so contracted that they would be redundant with one more word. There are mainly three ways of contraction.
First, former and latter parts are tightly linked together without a pause between. This is particularly true of Chinese proverbs. For example, it is easy to climb up the mountain but difficult to climb down. Don't take off your shoes until you come to the river bank.
Second, some parts of a sentence are omitted. For example, "Out of water can the mud on the legs be seen", "Marry in haste and repent at leisure", "Jack of all trades, and master of none". What are omitted are the function words that can be reasonably left out without any misunderstanding of the meaning. Some English proverbs leave out some parts that cannot be omitted according to the grammatical rules. For example, "Who holds the purse rules the house" omits the antecedent of attributive clause. This is a sentence structure of old English. Many English proverbs retain this structure, which makes language elegant and lucid.
Third, parataxis of nouns and phrasal nouns is used, which makes highly contracted sentences. These proverbs usually omit the predicate with a phonetic pause between or without. This kind of compression makes English and Chinese proverbs more succinct, terser with poetic charm. They have similar functions in proverbs of the two languages:
It can be used to Praise something or somebody. Although the verbs to the effect of praise are omitted in the following proverbs, their intention to praise is self-evident. For example, "An old physician and a young lawyer."
It can also be used to satirize something or somebody. Many ironic proverbs are simply the juxtaposition of the targets or irony; although there is no derogatory term in those proverbs, their derogatory meanings are more than clear. For example, "Great cry and little wool", "Much boast, small roast".
Furthermore, it can be used to Record geographic characteristics, local specialty social customs and places of interest. For example, "The moats of Nanjing and the land of Beijing", "Lemster bread and Weabley Ale". Both China and England have their own geography, historical sites, social customs and legends, especially China, with vast territory and famous mountains and long rivers everywhere. From ancient times, people of both countries began to briefly conclude their social customs, describe the majestic scenery to express their love for their country and hometown. In doing so, they like to use some nouns and phrasal nouns to enumerate these customs. What is recorded in the proverbs "Lemester bread
and Weabley Ale" are famous English products in Lemster and Weabley. These brief straightforward and rhythmic sentences not only are the representation of scenery and products but also show the affection for one's country between the lines.
There are also some similar examples, "Oxford knives, and London wives"; "Dunmow bacon and Don caster daggers, Monmouth caps and Lemster wool, Derby ale and London beer."
Other proverbs record some experience, lessons and knowledge or mottos of somebody or some professions. For example, "Small profits and quick returns". This is a commercial motto. The proverb doesn't become obscure and hard to understand because of compression; instead, artistic effect of implicitly is achieved.
Conclusion
Proverbs add to people's knowledge of the language, but it is by no means easy for them to master the proverbial aspect of a language. In the study of proverbs, people often come across some difficulties. The analysis of the diction and sentence structure of proverbs can help people in different countries to have a deeper understanding of other countries' customs, people's habit, and in turn improve the language ability.
ANALYSIS OF THE DICTION AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE OF PROVERBS
Long Zhichao
Shenyang Ligong University
Proverbs are the summary of common people's social and working experience. People can accumulate their practical experience by the way of proverbs and meanwhile disperse it through proverbs. They are ingenious in form and idea. "Proverbs contain folk wisdom rather than scientific accuracy" [1, p.187]. Without proverbs, our languages will become dull and dry, however, "proper use of them will make our language more vivid and as a result, they can add to the strength of our language" [2, p.2]. A comparative study of the proverbs in different languages will be very necessary to provide people with a better understanding of them. This paper aims to analyze the diction and sentence structure of proverbs both in Chinese and in other languages, so as to make people understand how to use proverbs appropriately in different circumstances and context.
Keywords: language, diction and sentence structure of proverbs, synonyms, antonyms, Syntax
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