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The World View at the Reflection of Russian and English Paroemias

Baskakova Anna

ORCID: 0000-0003-0141-198X

Teacher, Department of Russian Language, The Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

123001, Russia, Moscow, Bolshaya Sadovaya str., 14

anna-vlz@mail.ru

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8698.2022.12.39383

EDN:

UQTJAI

Received:

12-12-2022


Published:

30-12-2022


Abstract: The article is dedicated to a research and signification of particularities of Russian and English world view through a prism of paroemiac units. The subject of the study is paroemias in Russian and English languages, reflecting the intellection of two comparative cultures. The goal of the work consists in disclosure of functional abilities of paroemias for understanding the way of thinking of Russian and English informants. At the process of paroemias’ analysis there were used several methods of linguistic research: comparative – historical, the method of opposition, distributive analysis and also psycholinguistic methods of the research. It is effectual to consider the results of the study as determination of the fact, that a world view, expressed at the language by functionating separate paroemaic structures, allows to disclose main national features of different nations in a more detailed way. As the sphere of usage of the results, first of all, can be observed a pedagogical work, when at the process of analysis, study and practical usage of paroemias at the speech the learners recognize the relation between language and thinking, that reflects their perception of a world afterwards. Secondly, the understanding of Russian and English paroemias’ meaning helps the establishment of cultural and language connections between different national groups, indicative of the realization of the cultural communication. The novelty of this study is that there was made the first trial to deduce the process of monitoring the perception of paroemias by Russian and English language speakers from the moment of their initial analysis at level of their acquaintance with a research material (reading, translation and understanding of the meaning) to the moment of perception of their influence on thinking (how paroemias reflect the world view of a concrete nation). The conclusions made from work point to the fact, that the determinant to the search of similarities and comparatives between Russian and English paroemias is at the existence of a particular problematics connected with cultural values, reflected at the compared languages.


Keywords:

world view, paroemias, family relations, Russian langugage, English langugage, cultural values, intercultural communication, mentality, translation, interpretation

This article is automatically translated.

Learning any language is a process that requires a comprehensive approach in mastering the material. It is connected not only with the analysis of the theoretical language base, including lexical and grammatical components, but also with practical. Thus, a person facing the problem of mastering a certain foreign language must understand not only the principle of its functioning in speech, but also be aware of the peculiarities of its use by a certain ethnic group that has its own historical, geographical and cultural features. Therefore, the analysis of any language material implies considering it in two vectors — linguistic and culturological.The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the fact that the use of Russian proverbs and sayings, in principle, contributes to the improvement of the language among its native speakers: they make it more mobile and lively, and the study of them by foreign students helps to develop, mainly, the communicative function.

In turn, English paroemias, which have a clear semantic and stylistic - functional orientation, differ in the brevity of form and the colorfulness of content, which, on the one hand, complicates their transfer into Russian, but on the other hand, makes the process of comparing these linguistic cultures more interesting.

Having assessed the scale of the research on this topic, it should be noted that such Russian and English scientists working in the field of folklore as V. P. Zhukov, S. G. Berezhan, A.V. Kunin, A. I. Smirnitsky, E. A. Dobryneva, A. D. Reichstein, A. Taylor, O. A. Toymetova, etc. paid attention to the study of paremias.

So, proverbs and sayings, which first appeared in the language in ancient times, are the expression of people's opinions: behind each paremiological unit is the authority of the generations who created them. Characteristic features contributed to the fact that proverbs and sayings became persistent and necessary in everyday life and speech [2, p. 98].

Russian Russian proverbs As a researcher in the field of English phraseology, O. A. Toymetova in her scientific work "Ways of translating proverbs and sayings from English into Russian", analyzed the features of the translation of English proverbs into Russian. Russian Russian translation According to her opinion, the tasks of a professional translator engaged in the translation of English and Russian paroemias include not only understanding the meaning of the translated material, but also possessing the phraseological richness of the Russian language [9, p. 31].

In the process of studying the paremiological base of any language, a person not only forms his linguistic competence, but also learns about the culture of the people, thereby developing his spiritual component.Russian Russian and English proverbs, for example, by conducting a comparative analysis of the literal translation of Russian and English proverbs, it is possible to find many factors that unite Russian and English mentalities, since the language is a reflection of the lifestyle of a particular national group.

Paroemias should be understood as proverbs, sayings and aphorisms. Linguistic aphorisms dating back to folklore are called proverbs and sayings [5, 11]. According to E. M. Vereshchagin and V. G. Kostomarov, language aphorisms are called sayings, which are characterized by special brevity and, as a rule, have only a literal plan. Proverbs exist in the form of stable, complete phrases, and sayings allow for variation in their composition and do not always express a complete judgment. Sayings are a bridge, a transition from phraseological units to proverbs [1, p. 163].

Paremias, originating from the Greek "proverb", "proverb", "parable", are stable phraseological units, which, in turn, represent an integral sentence of didactic content [7].

The paremias reflect the richness of the historical experience of the people, their ideas about work, life, and family, which together constitute a cultural layer in the structural characteristics of a certain ethnic group.

Following from the above, proverbs and sayings, which are an integral part of folklore in Russian and English cultures, serve as a source of information about the life, way of thinking and character of the people who represent them. The uniqueness of the paremias consists in their diversity and being, as it were, outside of time space, having the character of constancy: no matter what time the people lived, proverbs and sayings are always an actual means to describe certain phenomena of existence. It should be noted that proverbs and stable expressions are different linguistic phenomena: using a stable expression, it becomes possible to include it in any sentence or utterance, combine it with neutral vocabulary, but when using proverbs in speech, we are more limited.

Thus, having the character of accuracy and brevity, as well as being used mainly in oral speech, it is considered possible to assert that paremias in each individual language appeared long before the appearance of writing. Being attributes of folk culture, they reflected the life of the people to which they belonged. This genre of oral folk art exists in many languages, and English and Russian are no exception.

Investigating the question of the influence of paroemias on the perception of the world picture, it is advisable to pay attention to the moment associated with the process of translating paroemias from one language to another. Paremiology, being a branch of phraseology, explores the structural and semantic type of these units. Russian Russian proverbs and sayings, passing into the Russian language, were fixed in their original form, or a proverb similar to English in its content appeared in the Russian language. In this regard, quite often there was a problem consisting in the exact translation of paremiological units [3, p. 128].

Proverbs have their own specific tasks: 1) warn: Whenchildrenstandquiet, theyhavedonesomeharm. If the children are quiet, it means they have done something (my italics are A. B.); 2) summarize the experience of the people: As the old cock crows, so does the young. — The apple doesn't fall far from the apple tree (my italics are A. B.); 3) they ridicule: Toomanycooksspoilthebroth.Seven nannies have a child without an eye (my italics are A. B.); 4) evaluate the appearance: Agoodwifemakesagoodhusband. A good wife and a bad husband will do well (my italics are A. B.); 5) they instruct: Don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. — Do not wake up famously while it is quiet (my italics are A. B.); 6) they teach wisdom: Who chatters to you, will chatter of you.Who gossips with you, he will gossip and gossip about you (my italics — A. B.); 7) encourage reasoning: Liars should have good memories. — Liars need a good memory (my italics are A. B.).

  Speaking about the features of translation, it should be noted that a large number of proverbs and sayings are translated into Russian without difficulty: Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard. Each hut has its own rattles; each family has its own skeleton in the closet. There is no smoke without fire. — There is no smoke without fire. Appetite comes with eating. — Appetite comes during meals (my italics are A. B.). The literal translation coincides with the Russian proverb.

But there is also a group of English proverbs, which, on the contrary, have nothing in common with the Russian versions, although sometimes it is possible to understand the intention of a particular parody.

So, according to the peculiarities of translation, paroemias can be divided into the following categories:

1. paroemias that are completely translated identically from one language to another, that is, the English version of the proverb, in this case, fully corresponds to Russian;

2. paroemias that are partially identically translated into another language, that is, the English version is somewhat different from Russian;

3. paroemias that are completely different in translation from one language to another, that is, in this case, the English version does not correspond to Russian.

As proof of the above theses, it is necessary to consider examples of paremiological units with the meaning of kinship in the Russian and English languages, most often used in the speech of both linguistic cultures.

Table 1

Little children, little sorrow, big children, big sorrow.

Small children — small troubles, big children — big troubles.

Like father, like son.

Like a father, like a son.

Man is the head of the family; woman is the neck that turns the head. 

A man is a head, and a woman is a neck

A saint abroad and a devil at home.

In people — an angel, not a wife; at home with her husband — Satan.

Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye.

Choose your wife not with your eyes, but with your ears.

Like mother, like daughter.

Like a mother, so is a daughter.

All are good lasses, but whence come bad wives?

All girls are good, but where do bad wives come from?

A good wife makes a good husband.

A good wife makes a good husband.

 

Table 2

There's one good wife in the country and every man thinks he has her.

Everyone has their own sweetheart — the most beautiful. Every husband has a nicer wife.

The tailor's wife is the worst clad.

The shoemaker's wife is shod the worst of all.

If the husband be not at home, there is nobody.

Without a husband, a wife is always an orphan.

He that lets his wife go to every feast and his horse drink at every water, shall neither have good wife nor good horse.

The husband gave his wife the will — not to be kind.

An obedient wife commands her husband.

The wife does not beat her husband, but leads under her own temper.

A great dowry is a bed full of brambles.

Zhenya's good is a stake in the throat.

In the husband wisdom, in the wife gentleness.

The husband is the head, the wife is the soul.

The first wife is matrimony, the second company, the third heresy.

The first wife is from God, the second from man, the third from the devil.

Who has a fair wife, needs more than two eyes.

A good—looking wife is an extra dryness.

The wife is the key of the house.

The house is the mistress.

A good wife makes a good husband.

A good wife and a bad husband will do well.

All are good lasses, but whence come bad wives?

A good wife and a bad husband will do well.

 

Table 3Every mother thinks her own gosling a swan.

Every mother considers her gosling a swan.

The child, though crooked, and the father — mother is a miracle

Call me cousin but cousin me not.

You can call me your kin, but don't really be related to me.

I also have brothers, but not my own, strangers.

Choose your wife on Saturday, not on Sunday.

Choose a wife on Saturday, not on Sunday.

Choose a wife not in a round dance, but in the garden

Every Jack must have his Jill.

Every Jack should have his own Jill.

Every bride will be born for her groom.

Many a good father has but a bad son.

Many good fathers have a bad son.

The family is not without a freak.

Marry in haste and repent at leisure.

Getting married in a hurry, you will pay at your leisure.

He married in a hurry and for a long time.

Blood is thicker than water.

Blood is thicker than water.

The voice of blood cannot be silenced.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Good acquaintance breeds disrespect.

You see less often, you love more.

The abundance of money ruins youth.

Excess money ruins youth.

The wealth of parents is a spoilage to children.

Wedlock is a padlock.

Marriage is a padlock.

As the crown is put on, so is the end of the will.

 

After examining 30 variants of proverbs on the topic of kinship, the following ratio of English and Russian translation variants was found [4, 6, 8, 10]:

1. The English version fully corresponds to the Russian — 8 proverbs. See Table 1.

2. The English version is slightly different from the Russian — 12 proverbs. See Table 2.

           3. The English version does not correspond to the Russian — 10 proverbs. See Table 3.

It is important to take into account the fact that in every language there are phrases and expressions that should not be interpreted literally, even if the meaning of each individual lexeme is clear and the grammatical construction is obvious, the meaning of such an expression remains unclear to understand, that is, attempts to translate proverbs and sayings verbatim can lead to unexpected, often meaningless results..

Thanks to the analysis of the above-mentioned paroemias with the meaning of kinship, it was possible to identify some features of their translation in Russian and English. Namely: the most common words were "wife" and "husband" — "wife" and "husband". The word "mother" — "mother" — is not often used in comparison with the word "wife" — "wife". A certain frequency of use of the word "son" — "son" was also traced: Like father, like son; Many a good father has but a bad son (my italics are A. B.). The frequency of use of these lexemes is due to the choice of the subject of paroemias.

In addition, the fact of the presence of a variety of verbs in the composition of the paroemias was discovered. Among the most frequently used are the verb "to be" in English: The wife is the key of the house; Blood is thicker than water; the verb "to have": Who has a fair wife, needs more than two eyes; There's one good wife in the country and every man thinks he has her (my italics are A. B.).

Russian Russian and Russian paroemias The essence of the above is that a comparative analysis of English and Russian paroemias indicates the existing commonality between their meanings, and, accordingly, between the perception by native speakers of Russian and English of the phenomenon of kinship in particular, and the understanding of the way of thinking in general, which, in turn, contributes to a better understanding and rapprochement between representatives of Russian and English English linguocultures. But there are also differences: on the one hand, the paroemias summarize the experience of the people, warn people, give information, but on the other hand, assessing the scale of perception of the world through the analysis of paroemias, it becomes clear that the English nation is more practical compared to the Russian, which, at times complicating the interpretation of proverbs, transforms them into more metaphorical and expressive.

Thus, paremias contribute to understanding the mentality and revealing the cultural aspect of a certain nation through the language of which it is a native speaker.

References
1. Vereshchagin, E. M., Kostomarov, V. G. (1976). Language and culture. Lingual regional geography at teaching Russian as foreign. Moscow: Russian language.
2. Zhukov, V. P. (2000). Semantics of phraseological phrases. Tutorial for students of pedagogical institutes with a specialty “Russian language and literature”. Moscow: Education.
3. Kosova, M. V., Bezgodkova, O. N. (2020). Transition of English proverbs and adages as a way of development of communicative function of the language. Socio-humanitarian sciences at informational society: perspectives and potential: digest oà scientific works by material of International scientific – practical conference on 24th of December, 2020 g. Belgorod: the agency of perspective scientific researches, 127-131.
4. Dal', V. I. (1957). Proverbs of Russian people. Moscow: Belles-lettres.
5. Rakovskii, M. (1969). Proverbs, adages and wise thoughts. Dushanbe: Irfon.
6. Kuz'min, S. S., Shadrin, N. L. (1996). Russian – English dictionary of proverbs and adages. Saint Petersburg: MIK/Lan'.
7. Savenkova, L. B. (2003). Proverb, adage and paroemia as the terms of philology. Thoughts of Russian paroemias: digest of materials, part 1. Moscow: Education.
8. Khazan, A. A. (2001). Dictionary of English proverbs and phraseological expressions. Smolensk: Rurich.
9. Toimetova, O. A. (2016). Ways of translation od proverbs and adages from English to Russian. Young scientist, 7,5 (111.5), 31-32.
10. Raidut, R., Uittsing, K. (1997). Explanatory dictionary of English proverbs. Russia, Saint Petersburg: Lan'.
11. Felitsina, V. P., Prokhorov, U. E. (1979). Russian proverbs, adages and bywords. Lingua – regional geographical dictionary. Institute of Russian language of A. S. Pushkin. Under edit of Vereshchagin, E. M., Kostomarov, V. P. Moscow: Russian language.

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The article "The world Picture in the mirror of Russian and English parodies" submitted for consideration, proposed for publication in the journal "Litera", is undoubtedly relevant, due to the growing interest in studying the formation of the world picture as a reflection of the essence of language. In recent decades, the scientific interest of researchers has been directed to the study of concepts that form the vision of different peoples. The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the fact that the use of Russian proverbs and sayings, in principle, contributes to the improvement of the language among its native speakers: they make it more mobile and lively, and the study of them by foreign students helps to develop, to a large extent, the communicative function. The material based on the comparison of Russian and English languages is of particular interest in this article. It should be noted that there is a relatively small number of studies on this topic in Russian linguistics. In addition, the comparative analysis of lexical units included in the composition of the paroemias in Russian and English is updated due to the importance of identifying the origins of the formation of the axiological structure of the studied linguistic cultures. The article is innovative, one of the first in Russian linguistics devoted to the study of such topics. The author illustrates the classification with language examples. However, the scope and principles of sampling the linguistic material on which the study is based are unclear. The author does not specify the sample size and its principles. How large is the text corpus and from what sources was it obtained? Or was the language material borrowed from the research of other authors? Structurally, we note that this work was done professionally, in compliance with the basic canons of scientific research. The research was carried out in line with modern scientific approaches, the work consists of an introduction containing a statement of the problem, mention of the main researchers of this topic, the main part, traditionally beginning with a review of theoretical sources and scientific directions, research and final, which presents the conclusions obtained by the author. The disadvantages include the lack of clearly defined tasks in the introductory part, the ambiguity of the methodology and the course of the study. The bibliography of the article contains 11 sources, among which works are presented exclusively in Russian, which artificially limits the research. We consider it important to reflect the point of view of foreign researchers on this problem. Unfortunately, the article does not contain references to fundamental works such as monographs, PhD and doctoral dissertations. In general, it should be noted that the article is written in a simple, understandable language for the reader. Typos, spelling and syntactic errors, inaccuracies in the text of the work were not found. The work is innovative, representing the author's vision of solving the issue under consideration and may have a logical continuation in further research. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of using its results in the teaching of university courses on lexicology and lexicography of the Russian and English languages and their comparison, as well as courses on interdisciplinary research on the relationship between language and society. The article will undoubtedly be useful to a wide range of people, philologists, undergraduates and graduate students of specialized universities. The article "The picture of the world in the mirror of Russian and English parodies" can be recommended for publication in a scientific journal.