National and cultural component in the proper Belarusian proverbs

Abstract

The determination of the volume and composition of the national component in the Belarusian proverbial fund is an urgent problem of modern Belarusian linguistics.The purpose of the study is to identify the national and cultural component in the proper Belarusian proverbs (which cannot be found in other languages).The methodology of the study is based on the understanding of the proverb as a national unit (specific for a given language) and as a foreign unit (common for a given language and other languages), as well as on the distinction of proverbs of neutral and labeled components in terms of a nationally lingual (specific for a given language) and of a national and cultural aspect (reflecting the facts of this culture).The study showed that, without exception, all Belarusian proverbs are nationally distinctive at the same time in accordance with one element of their structure (a unique model of proverbs) and one element of their content (national prototype of the proverb), which together represent the proverb as a separate linguistic symbol.Indicators of the nationally lingual marking of the proper Belarusian proverbs include (except for unique proverb models) lexical and phraseological units of the proper Belarusian origin in the proverbs (respectively, about 16 % and about 3 %).Indicators of national and cultural marking of Belarusian proverbs include (with the exception of national prototype proverbs), firstly, non-equivalents (in relation to the Russian language), lexical units in proverbs (about 3 %) and, secondly, lexical realities in proverbs (about 20 %), thirdly, national concepts expressed in the verbal components of proverbs (about 11 %), and fourthly, national images conveyed in the verbal components of proverbs (about 44 %). Only about 3 % of Belarusian proverbs do not have nationally marked components.