Филологические науки/ 3. Теоретические и методологические проблемы исследования языка

Soldatkina T.A.

Mari State University, Yoshkar-Ola

Paremiological Units of Negative Assessment in Contrastive Concepts “Poverty/Wealth”

The present research reveals general processes in the formation and perception of paremiological units in the concepts “Poverty/Wealth” in English and French. Alikeness and difference in anthropocentric environment perception typical for representatives of the above mentioned cultures have been stated. 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 notionn, they contain the experience of generations, state and evaluate people’s properties and events, prescribe a certain pattern of behavior.

Paremiological units that express negative evaluation in the logical opposition of the concepts “Poverty/Wealth” are under the scrutiny in the article. Being prosperous from the economic point of view is assessed using such criteria as the possession or lack of property, tangible assets (money), which allow people to be generally classified as poor or rich. The English, the French and the Russian are confident that the complete lack of livelihood is the worst burden. People who are constantly in need for money, and therefore can hardly make two ends meet are classified as the destitute.

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 brightly 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.

Thus, the concept “poverty” 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.

In the compared languages, paremiae verbalizing the state of poverty contain a negative connotation, which coincides with the traditional moral values of the society.

The concepts “poverty” and “wealth” are the key ones of the universal sphere of concepts in the English, the French, and the Russian languages.

The English, the French and the Russian are unanimous in their opinions that fortune, which gives a person the opportunity to enrich, is rather capricious, so in English: fortune is fickle; in French: fortune et vent varient souvent; in Russian: удача и ветер переменчивы, как дети.

Those who enriched all over sudden are rebuked in the paremiae, as in English: honours change manners; in French: il n’est orgueil que du pauvre enrichi; in Russian: залез в богатство – зaбыл и братство; никто не чванится так, как разбогатевший нищий.

It is believed that wealth can’t be earned in an honest way, so in English: muck and monеу go together; in French: ce qui abonde ne nuit pas; in Russian: трудом праведным не наживешь палат каменных.

The group of paremiae selected during this research proves hat wealth is not the key to happiness, so in English: great fortunе is a great slavery; nightingales will not sing in a cage; in French: la (plus) belle cage ne nourrit pas l’oiseau; des chaînes d’or sont toujours des chaîne. In Russian: бoльше денег – больше хлопот; хорошо птичке в золотой клетке, а того лучше на зеленой ветке.

The paremiae under the study allow us to conclude that paremiological units with negative assessment of the inheritance as a component of wealth predominate in the French language. The French believe that only a fool would do the heir of his doctor: c’est folie de faire de son médecin son héritier. Moreover, no one can impose an inheritance against the will: n’est héritier qui ne veut.

The pragmatic features of the paremiae with the concept “wealth” are revealed through the fact of unwise reliance on someone else’s property. Thus, in English: he goes long barefоot that waits for dead man’s shoes. In French: il ne faut pas compter sur les souliers d’un mort pour se mettre en route; si ce n’était le si et le mais nous serions tous riches à jamais. In Russian: кабы не кабы да не но, были бы мы богаты давно.

Thus the present article includes that the English nation is generally rational, preferring wealth and values. While the French and the Russian mentality is able to show a negative attitude to wealth as the material goods. 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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