Филологические науки/ 3. Теоретические и методологические проблемы исследования языка

Soldatkina T.A.

Mari State University, Yoshkar-Ola

Classification of Paremiological Units

in the Concetps of Adversity

The present research reveals general classification of paremiological units in the concepts of adversity in English and French. The Russian language is the meta-language of the article. Paremiological articles from English and French dictionaries have been analysed. The choice of the dictionaries as lexicographic sources is proved by their practical value for the English and French paremiology. We treat paremiological units as universally recognized folk truth, passed from mouth to mouth in the form of brief, complete, rhythmical sentences with didactic sense which can function independently. Regardless implied notion, they contain the experience of generations, state and evaluate people’s properties and events, prescribe a certain pattern of behavior.

Classification of paremiological units that express negative evaluation in the concepts of adversity is under the scrutiny in the article. According to M.Webster, adversity is defined as “a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune”. We treat “adversity” as a state of misfortune or affliction as well as a stroke of ill fortune either a calamitous event. Thus suffering from adversity in this article is assessed using such criterion as the lack of property and tangible assets (money), which allows people to be generally classified as poor.

The attitude to other people's property is reflected in the following thematic classification of paremiological units expressing a negative assessment in the compared languages.

1. The threat of property loss due to a third party’s interference or a nomadic way of life. Thus, in the English language: a rolling stone gathers no moss – тот добра не наживет, кому на месте не сидится; in the French language: pierre qui roule n'amasse pas (de) mousse – кто много странствует, добра не наживает. French paremiae predict great problems for those who own the property as they constantly need to fight for it: qui terre a guerre a – кто с землей, тот с войной.

2. The necessity to prove property’s appeal, e.g. in French: bonne est la poule qu'un autre nourrit – в чужих руках всегда ломоть велик.

3. Dramatically negative attitude of representatives of the regarded cultures to embezzlement, e.g. in the English language: ill-gotten gains never prosper – чужое добро впрок не идет; e.g. in French: le bien mal ne profite jamais – неправедная нажива – не разжива, in Russian: что пришло ахом, то ушло прахом.

4. The negative consequences in case of embezzlement, e.g. in the English language: the camel going to seek horns lost his ears – за чужим погонишься – свое потеряешь, in French: l'avarice perd tout en voulant trop gagner - алчешь чужого, потеряешь свое.

Thus, none of the representatives of the cultures under investigation profits of embezzlement. It is strongly recommended in paremiae not to pursue another's property, because of the obvious possibility of losing one’s own.

Considering the concepts of adversity, it should be noted that all material things have their value and are sold for money. Thus, the economic formula “commodity-money” is applicable in linguistics. Moreover, people who are constantly in need for money, and therefore can hardly make two ends meet are classified as the destitute. The English, the French and the Russian are confident that the complete lack of livelihood is the worst burden.

Moral-value component of the concept “poverty”, belonging to social categories, allows us to define structural and hierarchical relationships that are formed according to the principle of axiological marking by means of framing analysis.

The English, the French and the Russian are unanimous in the opinion that poverty cannot be included in the category of human vices. This idea is verbalized in the English paroemia of French origin: poverty is no skin (or a vice).While the French make a remark: la pauvreté n’est pas vice (mais c’est une espèce de ladrerie, chacun la fuit). The thought that poverty is not a disgrace is justified in the following English proverb: poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is. The Russian variant is: бедность не порок, а большое свинство.

However, shame for unfair profits is experienced by the English more strongly than being ashamed of the precarious financial situation: a сlean fast is better than a dirty breakfast; in Russian – лучше бедность да честность, чем прибыль дa стыд.

Poverty is seen as fatal: a beggar’s purse is bottomless; in Russian – суму нищего ничем не наполнишь. The French believe that who was born poor, does not get rid of the scrip: au gueux (или au pauvre) la besace.

The state of the extreme poverty is reflected in all linguistic cultures. The English say: a beggar can never be bankrupt. The Russian equivalent states that as the beggar has nothing to lose he is not afraid of robbery: нищему нечего терять; нищий не боится даже разбоя. Thus, the French believe that the poor are got used to be hungry: assez jeûne qui pauvrement vit. According to the Russian proverb you even can’t take a shirt off a beggar: с нищего нечего взять, даже рубашки с него не снимешь.

Availability or lack of relatives and friends for the French and the Russian is determined by financial stability: pauvreté n’a point de parenté; les malheureux n’ont point de parents/d’amis. In Russian: привяжется сума – откажется родня; богаты – так здравствуйте, а убоги – так прощайте. More pragmatic British believe that poverty kills even such feeling as love: when povertyу comes in at the door, love flies out of the window.

The poor are responsible for everything, so, most likely, those who cannot pay off the jail will be punished, as, in English: the poor man pays for all. In French: le gibet n’est fait que pour les malheureux; in Russian: виселицы лишь для бедняков.

The data collected for this study demonstrated that, the ethics of the French and the Russian is more robust. The French and the Russian believe that it is better to panhandle than to rob: il vaut mieux tendre la main que le cou; лучше просить ради Христа, чем отнять из-за куста. The English proverb runs: adversity (misery or poverty) makes strange bedfellows.

Adversity is not just the cause for poor health (in English: bare walls make giddy hоusewives; in Russian: от голых стен у хозяйки голова болит), but it also launches the instincts of self-protection by means of looking for ways out of the given dilemma. Thus, in English: he must needs go whom the devil drives (needs must when the devil drives); in French: la faim chasse le loup hors de bois; in Russian: нужда да голод прогонят на холод.

The worst aspect of poverty is that poverty breeds strife and breaks the law, in Russian: нужда закона не знает, через закон шагает.

To summon up, the present article includes that alikeness and difference in anthropocentric environment perception typical for representatives of the above mentioned cultures have been stated. In the compared languages, paremiae verbalizing the state of adversity contain a negative connotation, which coincides with the traditional moral values of the society.

Thus, none of the representatives of the cultures under investigation profits of embezzlement. It is strongly recommended in paremiae not to pursue another's property, because of the obvious possibility of losing one’s own.

As for the concept “poverty”, it is objectivized through the paremiae, which can be grouped under four topics: 1. poverty as a moral and material condition of the person; 2. characteristics of poverty; 3. category of entities of the subjects characterized as the poor; 4. lexical units, reflecting the public’s attitude to the state of poverty and the actions of the miserable.

It has been also revealed that the general understanding of the selected concept differs in a number of features in the English, the French and the Russian cultures.

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