Chinese Proverbs in American Verbal Culture

Ekaterina A Iakovleva,Olga V Nikolaeva

doi:10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1s1p284

Abstract

The paper deals with the question of Chinese proverb quotations in American mass and social media discourse. This is a specific aspect of a much broader issue of intercultural communication, that is how proverbs being both verbally and culturally unique enter entirely different society and eventually become the part of its verbal culture and communication. Despite significant research made in the field of language contacts, especially loanword phenomena, there are still apparently few works devoted to proverb borrowings. However, the evidence proves that foreign language proverbs freely and extensively circulate in many world languages. In this regard contemporary English, where their frequency as well as diversity has recently become remarkably conspicuous, deserves a special study. Numerous proverbs of other countries are not only quoted in the English-language communication, but also enter proverb corpora and dictionaries of English. It holds particularly true for the phenomenon of Chinese proverbs. The empirical data show that adoption of these set phrases by American English is becoming more and more common. It seems that the reasons for the integration of Chinese wisdom into American verbal culture lie in strengthening of China position on international scene as well as expansion of diplomatic contacts and ties. In this paper we address the question of what actually governs the ways of naturalization of Chinese sayings and proverbs in the American English. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1s1p284

Highlights

The end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century can be defined as the period of increased cross-cultural contacts and communication, which inevitably result in interaction and interpenetration of languages and cultures of contacting countries
The data analysis revealed that in American verbal communication Chinese proverbs were used in wide range of contexts, which varied from China-related topics to non-Chinese themes
More empirical data showed the predominance of that type of context, which comprised 59% of all analyzed examples, that was indicative for the processes of stable integration of Chinese proverbs into American verbal culture

Summary

Introduction

The end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century can be defined as the period of increased cross-cultural contacts and communication, which inevitably result in interaction and interpenetration of languages and cultures of contacting countries. Unprecedented scale of intercultural communication due to global migration, mass media, and ubiquitous access to the World Wide Web make entirely distant societies come into contact and let them take over nuggets of culture-loaded information and wisdom. One of the crucial aspects of intercultural communication is language contacts which habitually accompany culture interactions. The evidence proves that foreign language proverbs freely and extensively circulate in many world languages. In this regard contemporary English, where their frequency as well as diversity has recently become remarkably conspicuous, deserves a special study. Numerous proverbs of other countries are quoted in the English-language communication, and enter proverb corpora and dictionaries of English

Objectives

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Conclusion