Abstract
Proverbs are a type of idiomatic expressions that are commonly used in everyday spoken language. They concisely and figuratively summarize everyday experiences and common observations (Borowska, 2014, p. 22). The use of proverbs often gives rise to interesting pragmatic processes, including, most notably, recontextualization. Recontextualization is intimately connected to two distinctive features of proverbs, namely, traditionality, and self-containedness. Pragmatically, the meanings and functions of the love proverbs, the focus of this paper, are not totally fixed because the conventionalized meanings and functions associated with these proverbs should be modulated in light of the new context of use. This study will examine 50 proverbs of love (25 in each language) from a pragmatic perspective. The analytical framework employed in the analysis will draw on the concept of implicature and the distinction between utterance-type implicature and utterance-token implicature. In this part, the study will draw on Culpeper and Haugh’s (2014) neo-Gricean model. At a higher contextual level, the analysis will follow Linell’s (1998) conceptualization of recontextualization's pragmatic process. The analysis showed that upon using a proverb in a new context, the proverb could go through a recontextualization process that might serve two pragmatic functions: illocution shift and foregrounding of didactic content.
Highlights
1 Proverbs are part of everyday spoken language, which concisely and figuratively summarize everyday experiences and common observations (Borowska, 2014, p. 22)
The analysis showed that upon using a proverb in a new context, the proverb could go through a recontextualization process that might serve two pragmatic functions: illocution shift and foregrounding of didactic content
This pragmatic enrichment facilitates the interpretation of speaker’s intention
Summary
Proverbs of love are types of proverbs often used to show the reality of love as experienced by people and give people advice on how to deal with love. Context is a basic factor in understanding and interpreting an utterance It may consist of: (i) “preceding and following utterances and/or expressions” (‘cotext’), (ii) “the immediate physical situation”, (iii) “the wider situation, including social and power relations”, and (iv) “knowledge presumed shared between speaker and hearer” Sara: “The course of true love never did run smooth” In such an interaction, Sara’s use of the proverb redefines the context by using a speech act conventionally associated with a specific context, i.e., the Shakespearean play. The analysis will employ the distinction between utterance-type implicature and utterance-token implicature to illustrate the difference between the two types of speech act In this respect, the study will draw on Culpeper and Haugh’s (2014) model representing a recent development of neo-Gricean theory of implicature, which is mainly based on Grice (1975). The analysis will show how recognising these contextualized speech acts can be attained through the move from the utterance-type implicature to utterance-token implicature triggered by these proverbs in context
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
