Variability of proverbs and sayings (on the example of Lezghin material)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the variability of Lezghi folk proverbs and sayings. We consider the features of the phenomenon of variability in the aphoristic genre of Lezghins. Particular attention is paid to cases of variation and interchange, since variability is one of the main conditions for the existence of folklore works. The purpose of the work is to indicate and designate not only similarities, but also differences in the corpus of proverbial variants, which will allow us to first systematically and typologically describe the variability of the aphoristic genre. The paremiological fund of Lezghins presents traditional versions of proverbs and sayings. One of the main distinguishing features of proverbs, along with tradition, is variability and variability. It is noted that the variability of a number of proverbs can be correlated with the semantics of words and the types of their transformation. It is proved that the variants preserve the compositional-semantic integrity of the verbal unit. To establish structural patterns in specific variants, it is necessary to have a theoretically substantiated idea of the variation processes. It is possible to build a typology of variability only if one has a large corpus of factual material. The material of the study was proverbs and sayings from dictionaries and folklore collections. Considered more 15 000 proverbs were examined, from which the corresponding samples were extracted by the method of continuous sampling. We divided proverbs and sayings into separate groups based on their logical structure. We have analyzed the following forms of proverbial transformation: contamination and rethinking of the informative part, as well as reduction (reduction, truncation) and expansion (strengthening) of the constituent part. The proposed analysis can be considered as a statement of the problem that requires further more thorough development.