Національна Академія Мистецтв України Інститут культурології

These implicit opportunities of transformation are inherent to any epigrammatic enunciation as far as it presupposes the broader text where it must be inserted as a particle of generitive speech register. Inferences are implied with each epigram as the source for evolving such broader textual entity. For example a proverb “a stranger’s harm brings no wits” <чужая беда не дает ума> can give the conclusions “*wits can be brought only with one’s own harm” as well as the generalization “*the outer perturbations are not essential for the accumulation of inner experience”. One can say of the image of somebody estranged and alien that comes as something indifferent for cognition and therefore the stress upon one’s personal experience is implied. Another case of the proverb “pain looks for physician” <боль врача ищет> implies the possible inversion “*without pain there’s no need for physician” and the generalization “*a damage needs correction”. On of the admissible interpretations is here that the effect (pe4rsonified as a physician) presupposes the existence of the respective cause. The statement “Rome wasn’t built in a day” implies the reasoning “*although ‘the eternal city exists as an autonomous unit it was created gradually and not at once”. The proverb “an old sparrow won’t be cheated with chaff” correlates to the Chinese “unfinished sentence” “a sparrow has noticed chaff – it rejoices in vain” [Прядохин, 2007, № 408]. The inference can be “*if a sparrow is experienced it will discern chaff from grain”. Such inferential transformations are implied with any epigrammatic enunciation and therefore they provide conditions for textual growth. Besides, it is to be born in mind that the verbal forms are here as if “brought into oblivion” as is the case in poetry. One passes in epigrams from words to images.

Such inferential opportunities inherent to proverbial locutions entail still further consequences. Each phrase that has been turned into an aphorism resembles equally an incantation (due to the suggestive power as in the cited E. Zola’s quotation) and in the same time it radically opposes to it due to the meaningfulness preventing any purely suggestive unconscious inspiration. Endowed with rich derivative sense such phrase opposes to those used for chat marked with the effect of garrulity or loquacity (pleonasm). In this respect the plainest word under special conditions can be reconceived in new interpretations and become hapax legomenon or loci raritati – “rare things” as opposed to trivial common truths. Idiomatic locutions (both tropes and terms resulting from interpretative derivation) presume the split of locutions into topoi and hapaxes (that partly intersect with informational redundancy and randomization though do not fully coincide with them). This fact in itself presumes paradoxical consequences of the transformation of a plain colloquial collocation into an unusual potential catchword whereas the designation of something wonderful becomes an expected commonplace as “a habitual miracle” (exemplified in particular in the “vitae” of saints).

As far as reproducibility is the most evident property of code, proverbs appertain to code as the reproducible textual units. Due to such union of reproducibility and transformability proverbs have been aptly called by N. Barley “portable paradigms” [Барли, 1984, 133]. Transformability as the aspect of interpretative potential presumes the disclosure of implications & inferences concealed in reproducible proverbial utterance. In this respect its relationship to reproducibility is comparable to that of paradox vs. tautology. The repetitions impart to a proverb the properties of tautology whereas its exploration as a problem entailing necessary inferential implications discloses its paradoxical verve. It is not some invariant identity that is to be reproduced but the very procedure of textual compression & expansion with the subsequent interpretative efforts that are repeated anew. It can be demonstrated with the use of proverb in a bound text where it is for the sake of conclusion that one cites it. A proverb becomes n argument in discussion as a quotation of an incognito and as such it becomes a problem needing comments and interpretation. For instance, the German proverb <ein finster Blick kommt finster zurück> presupposes the opportunity of the use of transformed locution <*zurückkommender finster Blick> as the designation of the implied result. The disclosure of implications is inherently present in proverbial transformability and reproducibility.

It is to warn before the simplifying explanation of proverbial reproducibility from the viewpoint of the so called formulaic theory developed by A. Lord. According to his statement it was the oral transmission that demanded the use of commonplaces as a mnemonic device, and just due to the “folklore tradition dying off”, that the presence of such formulae were being reduced till their evanescence in the “literature tradition” [Лорд, 1994, 147-152]. Meanwhile such a statement would be fully refuted with the evidences of paremiology. Proverbs do not belong to folklore only. Vice versa they are often the products of literature assimilated in folklore and disseminated there. They occupy the borderline position between literature and folklore, and as such a marginal element they are to be ascribed neither to oral nor to written tradition only. It ensues from this that oral and mnemonic factors play but a secondary role while determining the stability of tropes and the formation of idioms, the proverbs being special kind of idiomatic expressions. The very existence of proverbs is the refutation of A. Lord’s formulaic theory of folklore. It is known that he connected the so called “problem of transitory texts” in the adoption of folklore in literature and vice versa in the oral assimilation of literature with “the decay of oral tradition”; it was substantiated with the seeming and supposed lack of formulae within “the ready tradition of literature” (quoted after the Russian translation) [Лорд, 1994, 147-148, 152].

Instead of oral mnemonic peculiarities and folklore traditions one would prefer to say about verbal experimentation & examination that disclose different opportunities within the proverbial field. The general textual demand of lexical compatibility presumes at least two opportunities: those of coherence and of complementation. It is the last one that corresponds to the folklore improvisatory way of textual generation whereas coherence arises from the experimentation & examination procedures of literature. In this regard the artistic criterion of perfection arises as opposed to poetic tolerability of folklore. Each editorial version is then to be regarded as one of the links in an infinite chain of “rehearsals” directed to the perfection’s ideal in opposite to folklore that doesn’t know any kind of rehearsal or exercitation. Complementation wins priority in the interpretative field of verbal stuff of “oral” culture and attests the prevalence of inherent textual variability as the immanent property of “oral” word. In its turn such variability with complementary consequences corresponds to the eclectic coexistence of heterogeneous elements and their reciprocal adaptation as the result of adoption (assimilation) of extraneous elements in a language’s system (as the eclectic contamination in folklore). Such adaptational & adoptive capacity determines the demarcation line that discerns the realm of phraseology from other terrains of language where the phenomena of diffusion (as assimilation and other migratory processes) are much more restricted. In particular phraseology becomes the zone of experimental license in language where innovations can prevail over conservation. Adoption then turns into opposite with promoting the transformation of inventions into traditions. These capacities of proverbial corpus can be attested with its enrichment at the expense of catchwords becoming reproducible locutions. Due to such experimental opportunities proverbs (as well as epic formulae) stand nearer to literature than to incantation’s mantras, and it gives reasons for the adoptive capacities of folklore.

Therefore in opposite to ritualistic formulae one could say of a kind of proverbial meditative lyrics. Epigrammatic genus of proverbs and the similar texts does not only display the lyrical features as opposed to epics. It demonstrates also the initial developmental point of poetry vs. prose as the words do here retreat in the background and lose their significance in regard to images. Allegorical nature of epigrammatic locutions (as opposed to the “scheme” of epic narration’s informative register in its Kantian meaning) presumes the priority of derivation for semantic load. When an epic prosaic text can be described within the terms of the above discussed Schelling’s “scheme”, the generitive register would correspond to the category of “allegory”. As it is put down in §39 of Schelling’s “The Philosophy of Art”, allegory must be conceived as a scheme’s inversion⁵⁹¹. Meanwhile proverbs are justly regarded as a kind of allegorical genus. This attitude can be exemplified with such sample as <загадка, разгадка, да в ней семь верст правды> (a riddle, a solution, and there are seven miles of truth within). It is implied that each proverbial epigram presumes further interpretation so that the mark of inverted commas would become here applicable for designating such locutions as the reflection’s objects.

The idea of multiplied semantic transition has been elaborated especially in the baroque poetics where there appear the whole chains of semantic shifts. For instance such is the definition of allegory as “the speech where the words designate something other and the contents do as well”, so that it goes about double semantic shift that can still be multiplied [Довгалевський, 313-314]. The allegories represented in proverbial locutions become a condensation of derivative processes due to the above-described multiplied semantic transitions. Instead of primary nomination with its direct meaning the derivation of figurative meaning gains here priority. Proverbs (together with riddles as their peculiar part and parables as the summary of the contents of the last) are traditionally defined as the special case of allegories and symbols, and this circumstance is substantiated with the minimalism of their structure. One can say here about the multi-gradual process of derivation (as a counterpart to the already cited Ye. Krotevich’s “multi-gradual dependencies” in words’ combinations) where the formation of transferred meaning of tropes, in its turn, represents and continues the diachronic development of the meaning of lexical stuff. For instance, in the proverb “those seeking will always find” the notion of searchers becomes the designation of all striving and paying efforts on the basis of participation, the searches being an outer form of efforts, and so the idea of finding does. The next semantic shift unites both elements of this metonymy and reveals the idea of aiming at a goal as those possibly reaching such a goal. This next step (on the rule of pars pro toto as a kind of synecdoche) enables creating a new notion of seeking-and-finding ones. Thus a multiplied trope emerges demanding special attention and gradual analysis that would reveal separate semantic shifts. At the same time the sense of the entire utterance is not reducible to such shifts creating an indivisible image. Such a multiplication of semantic transitional steps means that each lexical unit of the utterance is endowed with numerous references to the notional stuff of that idiolect of the language where the proverb performs its functions. For example, the proverb “keep your mouth shut and your eyes open” renders the concept of the “holes” of human face that can be shut or open making thus a hunt to the old archaic tradition of human somatic construction. The proverbial utterance involves a bulk of other lexical units thus creating a whole referential net of its environment. This referential net turns out to become very peculiar for each language bearing witness of the diachronic steps of the language’s history accompanying the formation of the proverb.

This definition needs correction and reconsideration from the modern viewpoint. Actually what is here called allegory turns to be symbol. In particular it is to refer to the multileveled structure of symbolic contents described by A.F. Losev⁵⁹². Meanwhile the multiplication of semantic transitions is peculiar for allegories as well, and it is just allegory and not symbol that proverbial locutions belong to: a symbol presumes something mysterious and infinite⁵⁹³ while proverbs presuppose explicit interpretation and finite contents. That is why the traditional approach to proverbs as allegories remains preferable. To exemplify allegorical approach let the proverb <«багатство в домовину не забереш»> (one can’t take own riches in the coffin) be cited. Here ‘coffin’ is the metonymy of non-existence; ‘to take in a coffin’ looks like a metaphor of the posthumous existence and possession so that the whole is to be comprehended as <«*багатство не перебуватиме в стані власності після смерті»> (riches won’t continue to be somebody’s property after his or her death). Besides, being taken as a proverb this enunciation is to be reconceived so that “riches” becomes a synecdoche of “wealth” and ‘to take into coffin’ refers to the vanity of wealth’s accumulation. Thus each lexical unit is here reconceived proverb such multiplication is to be found in the semantic development of the adage <попасть в переплет> where one traces the transition ‘a wattle (a fence) – a net of fishermen – a dirty hostel for fishermen’ [Мокиенко, 1980, 141].

Allegorical representations of textual compressions (and plots in particular) belong to a broadly comprehended class of epigrams. Such approach promotes a generic problem coming into play, namely that of lyrical elements within epic text. In particular epigrammatic locutions are to be regarded as those of lyrics⁵⁹⁴. Such epigrammatic allegorical textual satellites are essentially lyrical as the vehicles of abstractions. Epic narration can be said to be accompanied with the satellite (epiphenomenon) of lyrical meditation represented with digressions of generitive register. In particular a corpus of proverbs can be regarded as an anthology of meditative lyrics and in this respect as the medium of codification. In this respect the formation of lyrical digressions within epics can be said to become its inherent codification as the formation of metatext of “inner anthology”. Each idiom can be said to bring something lyrical into an epic narration. Therefore the initial textual duality can be reconsidered as the generic duality arising between epics & lyrics that coexist from the very beginning. Textual segments being segregated as epigrams, they acquire an outlook of the elements of a code as newly created conventions. This effect of segregation entails special conditions for epigrammatic comprehensibility. Actually each epigram must be deciphered adequately with view to the conventions generated within this lyrical code. Subsequently it goes about the formation of alternative code within a language as a kind of idiolect. If epic narration follows the existent common language’s code, lyrical digressions and epigrams of proverbial kind presuppose the production of alternative code’s conventions.

One can say of the prevalence of derivative over direct meanings where the phenomenon of semantic condensation arises. Therefore one can discern the two main properties of proverbial enunciations, those of derivative interpretative opportunities with the effect of such condensation and of textual compression as the folding capacities of representing extended textual entities and referring to them. Condensation & compression in its turn can be conceived as different sides of informative package. One can say here of the already mentioned “encapsulation” of textual units within a code. The property of extremely “economized” package becomes then the distinctive feature of proverbial genus. In this respect one can say of proverbial or epigrammatic minimalism as the quality of “packed” utterances. It is due to the derivational “condensed state” of verbal substance and “informative package” (“encapsulation”) that proverbial text is peculiar for multi-gradual process of the formation of transferred meaning of tropes that accumulates and continues the diachronic development of the meaning of lexical stuff in condensed form.

Semantic condensation in proverbs correlates with what has been defined as “epidigmatic” way of textual formation (in difference to paradigm) where inner form turns out to arise from a locution’s actual usages analogous to isoglosses taken between textual corpuses (instead of dialects)⁵⁹⁵. Then the repetition itself within such different corpuses entails the phenomenon equal to homonymous dissociation where the meanings of the repeated locution are reconceived and endure steady differentiation producing semantic derivations. Such approach to transformability entails its representation as interpretability with respective verification of proverbial comprehensibility through literal translations (“