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455PROVERBS AND ITS FUNCTIONS Umarova M.U.
Umarova Maftunabonu Umidjanovna - Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AS INTEGRATED COURSE № 1, UZBEK STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: in order to find an adequate definition for proverbs and shed light on proverbial phenomena in general, it is essential to take a closer look at the terms phraseology (the study of phrases) and phraseologism.
Keywords: phraseology, language, teaching, proverbs, linguistics.
Phraseology is a branch of linguistics which deals with all kinds of formulaic language and phrasal collocations (a regular combination of words). It is therefore undoubtedly a wide-ranging term. Thus the scholarly term phraseology serves as an umbrella or generic term for sayings, proverbs, idiomatic expressions, set phrases, truisms, aphoristic quotations, and other metaphorical phrases and such like. And yet, the scholarly literature holds conflicting views on how the above-mentioned terms may be defined and classified. For our purposes it is, nevertheless, important to note that proverbs in general are considered to be special phraseological units.
In this context, it is essential to point out that research on proverbs has not only been carried out within phraseology, but also in other scholarly branches. Thus in the field of paremiology (paremia = proverb), the scholarly field that deals with proverbs, much research has been conducted over the centuries. Moreover, in comparison to phraseology, paremiology has a far longer tradition. Paremiology mainly deals with collecting and classifying proverbs as well as tracing the nature and origin of individual proverbs and investigating their socio-historical significance (cf. Burger 2003, p. 101). Thus "paremiologists usually look at proverbs from a more inclusive point of view as they draw on such fields as anthropology, art, communication, culture, folklore, history, literature, philology, psychology, religion, and sociology" [1].
Literature on phraseology as well as paremiology suggests that throughout history numerous attempts have been made by scholars around the globe to grasp and define a proverb as such. And yet, it has proved that a comprehensive characterization which may incorporate all noteworthy aspects of proverbial phenomena cannot be verbalized. Mieder, who has published numerous distinguished books on proverbs, describes the reason for a lack of an all-encompassing definition of proverbs as follows:
"The reason for not being able to formulate a universal proverb definition lies primarily in the central ingredient that must be part of any proverb definition - traditionality. The term "traditionality" includes both aspects of age and currency that a statement must have to be considered a proverb. But while we can describe the structure, style, form, and so on, of proverbs in great detail, we cannot determine whether a statement has a certain age or currency among the population by the text itself. It will always take external research work to establish the traditionality of a text, and this means that even the most precise definition attempt will always be incomplete"
Considering the above-mentioned difficulties in formulating an all-embracing broad definition a selection of some widespread and concise definitions of proverbs will be presented below. In this context key characteristic features of proverbs that help distinguish them from other phraseological units will also be given.
Selected Definitions
On the basis of studies, in which selected groups of "nonspecialists", but also the general public who have been asked to state their view on how a proverb may be defined, presents the following, commonly quoted definitions:
„A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation" [1].
"A proverb is a short sentence of wisdom".
According to Norrik's findings (1985) the following definition is applicable (at least for the Anglo-American culture): "The proverb is a traditional, conversational, didactic genre with general meaning, a potential free conversational turn, preferably with figurative meaning" [2].
The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Proverbs (1998) postulates in its introductory remarks the following definition: "A proverb is a traditional saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short and pithy manner" [4]. In an attempt to categorize proverbs in three main groups, the above-mentioned authors stated a single definition: "Proverbs fall readily into three main categories. Those of the first type take the form of abstract statements expressing general truths, such as Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Proverbs of the second type, which include many of the more colourful examples, use specific observations from everyday experience to make a point which is general; for instance, You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink and Don't put all your eggs in one basket. The third type of proverb comprises sayings from particular areas of traditional wisdom and folklore. In this category are found, for example, the health proverbs.
After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile. In addition, there are traditional country proverbs which relate to husbandry, the seasons, and the weather, such as "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning and When the wind is in the east, 'tis neither good for man nor beast" [3].
Characteristic Elements of Proverbs
For a statement to gain proverbial status and be perceived as a recognized proverb it needs to exhibit certain characteristic features and fulfill a set of formal criteria, some of which are elucidated below.
A proverb is always articulated as a complete and comprehensive grammatically accurate statement.
- Proverbs are not ad hoc pieces of language, but are pre-formulated and pre-fabricated generalized statements. They are therefore unalterable in their style and structure. As such, they neither need to be adapted to a given textual context nor do they require a specific textual surrounding to be fully comprehensible.
- Proverbs feature through a high name recognition, whereas the origin or the founder of a proverb is rarely ever known.
- Due to their simple sentence structure and metaphorical language, in which rhetorical figures such as alliterations, rhythm, rhyme, etc. frequently occur, proverbs are fairly easy to memorize and easily retrievable from memory.
- Against the background that many traditional proverbs draw upon a collective human experience or traditional wisdom they are often considered to be prescriptive as well as didactic reflecting some sort of moral teaching.
- Proverbs can, apart from containing diverse levels of idiomacity, "exhibit a kind of semantic indefiniteness because of their hetero situationality, poly-functionality, and poly-semanticity"
Some of the above-mentioned attributes can be admittedly applied to other phrasal or metaphorical units, such as truisms (irrefutable, always true sentences), too. However, those phrasal units differ from proverbs in so far that they do not communicate any recognizable deeper insight, but are mostly trivial and insignificant set phrases [1].
Moreover, in comparison to proverbs, such set phrases are less moralising and didactic and feature common human experiences in a colloquially expressed language. Against this background, they are excessively trivial and banal to qualify as a proverb in the traditional sense. Finally, it needs to be mentioned that aphorisms and suchlike, which have evolved from familiar proverbs, do not seem suitable or applicable for our purpose. Thus, only proverbs taken from renowned proverb collections or journals will found the basis of the project in question.
References
1. Baraja Elias Domínguez. "The function of proverbs in discourse. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton",
2010.
2. Owen S. Adams. "Proverbial Phrases from California", Western Folklore. Vol. 8. № 2. Apr., 1949.
3. Simpson John, Speake Jennifer. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press; Subsequent edition. September 17, 1992.
4. A. Philosophical Thesis "The Absolute Reality". 10 July, 2004.
LEARNER NEEDS ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Khikmatova M.A.
Khikmatova Mokhira Akmalovna - Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AS INTEGRATED COURSE № 1, UZBEKISTAN STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the article discusses benefits of needs analysis and its function in designing syllabus as well as curriculum. The author of the article demonstrates the process of conducting needs analysis.
Keywords: needs analysis, curriculum, questionnaire, triangulation approach language proficiency, learning style.
Introduction
Needs analysis is a way of identifying the learner's purpose, demand, expectation and motivation in language learning. According to Brindley (1984) and Kayl (2008) collecting learners' objectives, attitude and expectations are very essential to design a good curriculum [1], [5].
Nowadays English is getting very popular in our country and more and more people are learning it. Students are learning the language on various purposes at variety of educational centers. The investigation took place in one of these education centers and conducted in the General English class. In order to conduct needs analysis some students learning General English were selected. The main purposes of the analysis were to identify participants' needs and their level of proficiency and the skills they need to improve.
Learner Profile
The group involves eight students: 4 male and 4 female students who are at the age between 18 and 20. The participants are learning the language with variety of purposes: to take IELTS and CEFR exams, to be able to speak in English fluently, to pass the entrance exams to University and etc. The learners tend to be Pre-Intermediate level, nevertheless some of them are higher level and others seem to be lower pre-intermediate. But anyway, all of the students are eager to learn the language and motivated enough to achieve good results in the process of learning.
One student who has lower level proficiency was chosen from the group so that we could conduct the needs analysis. The main reason of selecting this learner was to determine why the learner comes across with difficulties in acquiring the language. The learner is 20 years old boy who has been learning the language for three months. The participant has some difficulties in writing and reading comprehension, because these two skills connected to each other and they affect negatively one another. Moreover, he faces several difficulties in learning process comparing with other students whose level is a bit higher than his.
Methodology
In order to conduct needs analysis, triangulation approach was utilized to collect the data from different sources. Questionnaire and test that identifies learners' background knowledge were used during the investigation. Firstly, questionnaire was given to participants in order to analyze their attitude to language learning and their needs. Then test was distributed to examine the language proficiency of participants.
