On the Expression of Some Paroemic Concept in Arabic Orally Transmitted Foklore: (With comparative Analysis with Georgian Parallels)

(With comparative Analysis with Georgian Parallels)

Abstract

Arab author Abu’ Ubaid Al-Harawi (philologist, lawyer, theologian, born in 770) said: “Arabic proverbs are one branch of Arabic philosophy and wisdom”, whereas according to the evaluation of the Arab people, “A proverb never lies” [əl-másal ma jekzob ’abadan]- يكذب أبدًا   المثل ما

Proverbs are significant “social documents”, which represent the stereotyped communicative units expressing the world outlook of nations. The process of human thought over the centuries, gaining insight in the deep regularities of the universe and conclusions are concentrated in them. By means of them the essential in the class of phenomena – the approved wisdom is evaluated and represented in a generalized way. Exactly due to the generalized meaning, proverbs can turn into the parameters of the mentality of a given language collective, into the formulas expressing the norms seen from their point of view and “established” by them. On this basis, they are used as argued evidence for explaining diverse life situations and bringing to light pragmatic “strategic” instructions.

Proverbs are a multidimensional topic. The aim of the present study is, on the basis of examples  obtained from the Arabic stock of proverbs, to interpret on the theoretical level one conceptual model – “It is necessary to appreciate the valuable”, in particular, to demonstrate how this generalized concept is expressed in Arabic orally transmitted folklore, upon what experience the Arabs rest in this case, what “construction material” (G.Permiakov) they choose as the image and on the basis of it what kind of imaginary-logical relations are recorded. At the same time, as a result of comparative analysis of Georgian conceptual parallels, respective similarities and differences are observable from this viewpoint.

The analysis of the examples represented in the given corpus has shown that the similar generalized meaning underlies each proverb, by means of which they practically are united within a single concept (“It is necessary to appreciate the valuable”), within a single semantic model. However, it has become clear as a result of the analysis that the conceptual colouring of each proverb (the alternation of the intonation field at the time of performance) and the parameters of the generalized extent are practically different. That is, at the time of realization in a context each proverb reveals the potential of being placed in a different situational “niche”; against this background, they are considered not as synonyms but as quasi-synonyms (partial conceptual parallels).

The Arabic-language material is based on the urban vernaculars of the Syrian dialect, mainly – those of Damascus, Aleppo and their outskirts. Each example is recorded and translated from the Arabic primary source, directly from Syrian informants. The Arabic text is accompanied the Latin transcription (showing the phonetic differences of the Syrian dialect in relation to Classical Arabic), the word for word translation and relevant Georgian equivalents.