The field of paremiology is traditionally an interdisciplinary one starting with folklore, paremiology, language, literature, history, and other fields, their mutual influence being a peculiar and highly valued feature for all. This book is linguistic in nature, offering a number of aspects of contemporary languages and their proverbs studied, though mostly on lexical, semantic and pragmatic aspects, based on language corpora findings, subsequently leading to proverb minima. Apart from selected proverb data excerpted from tens of languages, there is an effort to arrive at a system of proverbs having a wider orientation based on the goal set to map proverbs in a language in a systematic and reliable way, showing proverbs and their use in large, multimilion language corpora. Next to its academic goals covering proverb theory of use and system, the book may be used by lexicocographers, monolingual and comparative, and language teachers in their textbook compilation.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

This handbook introduces key elements of the philological research area called paremiology (the study of proverbs). It presents the main subject area as well as the current status of paremiological research. The basic notions, among others, include defining proverbs, main proverb features, origin, collecting and categorization of proverbs. Each chapter is written by a leading scholar-specialist in their area of proverbial research. Since the book represents a measured balance between the popular and scientific approach, it is recommended to a wide readership including experienced and budding scholars, students of linguistics, as well as other professionals interested in the study of proverbs.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, University of Rostock, language: English, abstract: “Such expressions are termed idioms, defined as groups of words with set meanings that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts” (Heidi Anders 1995, 17). Idioms have a semantic productivity which means ‘die wendungsinternen Bedeutungen einzelner Idiom-Konstituenten werden beim Konstruieren der Äußerung produktiv eingesetzt’ and a discourse productivity: the possibility to interpret the constituents of an idiom as autonomous, semantically ambivalent entities (Dobrovols’kij 1997, 22). An idiom can also be seen as a lexical unit, which formally consists of several words, but semantically be a whole and will be treated and saved like words. (Dobrovols’kij 1997, 51) There is a great variety within idioms of their degree of flexibility anyhow an idiom is a lexical unit. Everybody intuitively can realize an idiom as an idiom because of different characteristics, e.g. several combinations and different intension. All fixed word-complexes are reproducible. Idioms are an open class, in the core there are the more idiomaticised idioms and in the periphery they are less idiomatic. But if the hearer does not know an idiom, it is no idiom. Idioms differ in relation to proverbs mainly in semiotic-semantic parameters. Proverbs have a discursive autonomy and are quoted as ‘texts’, idioms instead are reproduced as lexical units. Another difference is that proverbs verbalize ‘general truth’ and fall back on shared knowledge of the people. An idiom comes into existence if one uses a phrase or sentence about a common situation or object in a figurative manner. The phrase has to be especially to the point, expressive or pictographic. This new expression will be consolidated and lexicalised and after that it will be taken into normal speech. Most idioms are stylistically neutral, but they can also be on a stylisticly lower or higher level. Archaic, literary, foreign and formal words belong to the higher level, whereas colloquial, jargon, slang and vulgar words belong to the lower level. Especially the lower level is highly idiomaticised. The usage of idioms plays a role in the social positioning of conversational partners and to consolidate a social hierarchy. An idiom is more informative than its simple lexical counterpart.

This book presents cross-linguistic and cross-cultural investigations of word meaning from different domains of the lexicon - concrete, abstract, physical, sensory, emotional, and social. The words they consider are complex, culturally important, and basic, in a range of languages that includes English, Russian, Polish, French, Warlpiri and Malay.

This handbook introduces key elements of the philological research area called paremiology (the study of proverbs). It presents the main subject area as well as the current status of paremiological research. The basic notions, among others, include defining proverbs, main proverb features, origin, collecting and categorization of proverbs. Each chapter is written by a leading scholar-specialist in their area of proverbial research. Since the book represents a measured balance between the popular and scientific approach, it is recommended to a wide readership including experienced and budding scholars, students of linguistics, as well as other professionals interested in the study of proverbs.