The Origins and the Rhetorical Function of English Proverbs谚语来源及其修辞功能.doc

ContentsAbstractIIIntroduction11. The Origins of English Proverbs21.1 Introduction of Proverbs21.2 Popular Proverbs41.3 Learned Proverbs61.3.1 Literary Classics61.3.1.1 The Bible71.3.1.2 Shakespeares Works71.3.1.3 Other Literary Books81.3.1.4 Fable and Nursery Rhyme81.3.2 Religious Literatures92. Rhetorical Function of English Proverbs112.1 Contrast122.2 Repetition132.3 Rhyme142.4 Coparison153. Major Uses of English Proverbs183.1 To Persuade193.2 To Spread Experiences19Conclusion21Works Cited22英语谚语的来源及修辞功能摘要：作为一种普遍的语言现象，谚语承载了一个民族的智慧和文化，并在跨文化过程中起到相当重要的作用。本文对英语谚语的起源及其修辞功能进行了探讨。本文第一部分是介绍英语谚语的来源，它主要来源于民间口语，文学作品及宗教文献等。第二部分则是对英语谚语修辞功能的介绍。英语谚语丰富多彩，应用了大量的修辞格。因而第三部分是介绍英语谚语的用法。本文期望通过对英语谚语的研究可以对跨文化交流起到指导和促进的作用，引导人们采取正确的态度对待生活。关键词：英语谚语；来源；修辞功能；修辞格The Origins and the Rhetorical Function of English ProverbsAbstract: As a common language phenomenon, proverbs serve as a language carrier of humans wisdom and cultures. They play an important role in cross-cultural communication. This thesis will discuss origins and the rhetorical function of English proverbs. Firstly, it introduces the origins of English proverbs. They originated from folk oral, literary works and religious literatures. Secondly, it focuses on the rhetorical function of English proverbs which are pretty rich and colorful. Thirdly, it describes the use of English proverbs. This thesis is intended to guide and promote cross cultural communication through its study of English proverbs and to help to adopt a proper attitude towards life. Key words: English proverbs; origins; rhetorical function; rhetorical devicesIntroduction As a common linguistic phenomenon, English proverbs play an important role in our daily life. “The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs”, Francis Bacon once said. So it is necessary to discuss English proverbs. At the mean time, when China has opened up to outside world, people need to understand each other better in cross-culture communication. Whats more, people can gather experience from English proverbs. A study on origins of proverbs may throw on light on that matter. In China, most scholars pay more attention to idioms. They dont discuss proverbs in detail, thus materials of proverbs shorted seriously. Although, there are so many articles discussed proverbs. Generally speaking, the articles just concern one aspect of proverbs. Therefore, put the origins and rhetorical function of proverbs as a title which will improve the understanding of students and help them grasp more information of proverbs. Only knowing their background, you will know how to use them. English proverbs accompanied by the appearance of the text, gradually entering into a written literature, in the process of transmission stream. The “learned proverbs” in the ancient books and records can be traced back to folklore of the proverbs, some have not test, but the initiation in folk oral or extracted from ordinary arguments which is an indisputable fact. English proverbs mostly originate from folk oral, from literal works, historical events as well. They have a long history whose new ideas, to be constantly enriched and developed. After thoroughly tempered, they became simple, vivid and meaningful. Finally, they become philosophical essence of English language. But the extraordinary charm of English proverbs lied in the rhetorical use. This thesis will explore the origins of English proverbs and rhetorical function of English proverbs, so as to deepen peoples understanding of English proverbs, to reveal the human production, life history, value and meaning beyond time and space.1. The Origins of English Proverbs1.1 Introduction of ProverbsProverbs are the expressions in a language developed in the populaces physical life and widely accepted and used among a community of people. They are, in essence, the outcome of cultural growth and ethnical evolution. As a specialized form of language, proverbs will naturally reflect its culture even more profoundly and intensely than all other kinds of words. As proverbs are typically localized in a culture, learning proverbs well in a language will undoubtedly involve knowledge of its culture. Using a proverb is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of the language. Only those who are very good at speaking that language can adequately and to the point use expressions in their speech. Accordingly, it should be noted that learning proverbs presents a host of difficulties to English learners, primarily because they dont know the culture and history behind the proverbs. Thats why they often fail to use proverbs incongruous with the situation.Proverbs are used in both spoken and written English, and often appear in famous books and daily life; they are frequently used by laboring people. They find proverbs easy to understand and memorize. So people can utilize them in every day communication, they know their meaning and feel where it is appropriate to use proverbs. Undoubtedly, the correct usage of English proverbs is finesse, which makes the language of the speaker more vivid and exciting. Whats more, they have important function in peoples life. What is a proverb? Although some people have difficulties in cited proverbs in their daily life, the matter of defining a proverb is problematic. In the 15th century, Michael Apostolius of Byzantium wrote: “A proverb is a statement which conceals the clear in the unclear, or which through concrete images indicates intellectual concepts, or which makes clear the truth in furtive fashion”. These early attempts could not provide the overall elements for a comprehensive definition. Part of the difficulties in defining the proverb is that proverbs dont form a categorized genre, since their form, origins, content, purpose, structure, application, and a range of other aspects are so varied, that it is not easy to find such single entity as a proverb. But some scholars have been trying to modify the definitions. The following are definitions of a proverb found in some dictionaries: Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines it as a short saying in common use that striking expresses some obvious truth or familiar experience. And The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gives this definition，”A proverb is a brief familiar maxim of folk wisdom, usually compressed in form, often involving a bold image and frequently a jingle that catches the memory.” “A proverb is a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice” was found in Oxford Dictionary of English. In short, proverbs are short sayings of folk wisdom and well-known facts or truths, expressed succinctly and in a way that makes them easy to remember. These facts and truths often expound the profound truths from the simple matters in daily life. From a linguistic view, a proverb is phonological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and semiotic entity. It is used with brevity, fixed and metaphorical form, philosophical tone and ease of quotation. To be exact, proverbs, most outstanding part of a language, represent the unique characteristics and cultural features of a nation. In form, they are mostly, if not completely, presented by sentences that cannot be substituted randomly. In scope of usage, they are employed by the grass roots in their daily oral communication, but at the same time various literary forms help them to be handed down through generations. Know the definition and origin of proverbs is very important. In former passages, we know about the definition. The main origins of proverbs can divide into two parts, three aspects. The two parts refer to popular proverbs and learned proverbs. The three aspects are that popular proverbs originated from folk oral, while learned proverbs originated from literary classics and religious literatures. 1.2 Popular ProverbsProverb is a fixed statement that is popular among the masses, with simple popular words reflected the deep truth. The vast majority of English proverbs originated from the community and the summary of peoples living experience, so it condensed the wisdom of the masses. There are a large number of English proverbs on the agricultural production, meteorology, fishery, animal husbandry, hunting sayings, such as weather proverbs, festivals proverbs, farming tips, usually referred to as “popular proverbs”. At the meantime, popular proverbs usually originated from folk oral, collected the experience of farmers and showed the wisdom of people. They not only contained scientific truth, but also included living philosophic theory. Owing to the short sentences and easy to understand, they often used in daily life, become the popular expressed method. Folk oral is produced by laboring people in their life. When they worked together, they need short, simple words and sentences to express thoughts that were related to peoples jobs and labor. So they might find those words or patterns that people know well to convey vivid information and create vivid and vigorous metaphor. Folk oral in proverbs usually changed as weather proverbs, festivals proverbs, farming tips or related to other fields in peoples daily life. 1. Proverbs about weather“Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather.” The statement, often made by Englishmen to describe the peculiar climatic conditions of their country, is both revealing and true. In no country other than Britain, it has been said, one can experience four seasons in the course of a single day! Day may break as a balmy spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and the rain may be down. At middy conditions may be really wintry with the temperature down by about eight degrees or more centigrade. And then, in the late afternoon the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer. According to these experiences, there are some weather proverbs. For example, “It never rains but pours”, it implies that when troubles come they come together. We can understand the real meaning of these proverbs from a short story. “What a day its been,” sighed Mrs. Wood. “First I burnt out the kettle, then the electricity fused, then Mrs. Mopp didnt arrive, then the butcher didnt deliver the meat in time for lunch, then the doctor called and said Tommys got measles. It was one thing after another. They say it never rains but it pours.” Other proverbs like these: Evening red and morning grey are the signs of a fine day. A red sky at night is the shepherds delight. Rain from the east; wet two days at the least. These proverbs reflected Meteorological sense, such as thermal cycling, sunset, the morning mist and so on which are the understanding of ancestors who have accumulated experience in the formation of long-term weather awareness. 2. Proverbs about home In ancient times, production tools were backward, living conditions were poor, they always faced death and disease which brought by snakes and wild beasts. In addition, the bad traffic, the water-resisting hills, and the limited activities, so peoples “home” concept is very strong. Facing the harsh nature, they are only in the “home” where to get solace and find a sense of security. The following proverb is a few “home” or a reflection of their ancestral homelands. Such as: East or west, home is best. There is no place like home. Better at home than a mile away from it. Every one seeks his own house. Above proverbs show that no matter how humble it may be, home is the place where one feels happiest.3. Proverbs about fishing and huntingIn addition to heavy labor in agricultural production, people also hunted or fished to make up their life, experience in this area is also reflected in English proverbs. Such as: A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. If a hunter has shot one bird, he should be satisfied with that and not go off looking for the ones that flew away. People use such proverb to mean that it is better to accept something small than to reject it and hope to get more later on. Another example, if you run after two hares, you will catch neither. Dont try to do two things at once. Concentrate on one or the other. Early humans are weak, whether farming or hunting, are sent out to groups, group-based collaboration, and some English proverbs are reflected in the collective wisdom of life together. Such as: So many heads so many wits. Many hands make light work. These proverbs mean that the more people there are to carry out a task, the less each has to do, and the more quickly is the work finished. 4. Proverbs about moral and moneyFrom folk proverbs, in addition to peoples experience in production and labor, it also reflected their experience of the social struggle and notions of moral, right and wrong. Such as: There is a black sheep in every flock. This implies that there is a scoundrel in every family who is a disgrace to his parents and relatives. These proverbs are a summary of people in the real-life struggle.As the human primitive accumulation reached a certain level, materials were rich, the population increased, communication became frequently, carrying out physical exchange which has become an inevitable and indispensable. The first exchange is barter exchange, and then gradually developed into the use of coins. As money is important and scarce. People have a strong desire to possess, and then have a unique feeling and understanding. In English proverbs, with regard to a lot of money, it is the deep reflection of peoples concept of money. Such as: Money makes the mare go. Money governs the world. Money is the key that opens all doors. These proverbs reflect the concept of money worship.Folk Proverbs based on experience, which are the microcosm of peoples life and production, also the accumulation and summary of their experience, revealing their knowledge and understanding of the objective world, showing their psychological demands and prays.1.3 Learned ProverbsThe main origins of proverbs can divide into two parts, three aspects. The two parts refer to popular proverbs and learned proverbs. The three aspects are that popular proverbs originated from folk oral, while learned proverbs originated from literary classics and religious literatures. Next part is about learned proverbs.1.3.1 Literary Classics English proverbs, along with the literal words, began to appear in various literary works. Parts of English proverbs come from the written literature, mainly from Greek and Roman myths, fables, Shakespeares plays and a number of famous works. These “learned proverbs” originated from literary classics which formed and refined on the basis of folk proverbs, while others are unique, with distinct cultural flavor, stylistics characteristics and the r