Paremiological Aspects in the Construction of National Identity

Maria Aciobăniţei

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

SciVerse ScienceDirect PrOC6d ¡0

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 63 (2012) 276 - 282 —

The 4th Edition of the International Conference: Paradigms of the Ideological Discourse 2012

Paremiological Aspects in the Construction of National Identity

Aciobanitei Mariaa1

a PhD Candidate, "Dunarea de Jos " University, Str. Brandusei, nr. 13, Bl. E5, Ap. 15, Galati, 800470, Romania

Abstract

The current tendency of effacing borders between cultures is met with the counteraction of maintaining that which unifies and makes a nation unique: its culture, its heritage, its history, and last but not least, its language. Since translation has become the most important bridge between languages and cultures around the globe, the question is: how can translation ensure the preservation of identity, be it cultural or linguistic? Considering that which builds the identity of a nation, reference must necessarily be made to folklore as an essential part of its culture. On a more particular note, we speak of customs, traditions, riddles, jokes, proverbs and so on. The proverb stands out as a time-tested, impersonal expression, carrying the authority and wisdom of time, in the form of short sentences or phrases. They express the result of experience, containing a piece of advice or a lesson, in a concise and suggestive manner. As most of them are transmitted orally, they have a very traditional character. They discuss moral issues, bits of wisdom applicable to various life situations. The present paper aims at analysing the ways in which proverbs become an essential component in the construction of Romanian national identity.

Keywords: national identity;paremiology; proverb; translation

The discussion of identity in the age of globalization generated the sensible question asked by Morley and Robbins as early as 1995: "Is it at all possible, in global times, to regain a coherent and integral sense of identity?" [1]. In modern times, we witness a clash between the need to preserve identity and "the immediacy and intensity of global cultural confrontations". In fact, "the comforts of Tradition are fundamentally challenged by the imperative to forge a new self-interpretation based upon the responsibilities of cultural Translation" [2]. As a result, the current tendency of effacing borders between cultures is met with the counteraction of maintaining that which unifies and makes a nation unique: its culture, its heritage, its history, and last but not least, its language. Since translation has become the most important bridge between languages and cultures around the globe, the

Aciobänitei Maria. E-mail address: maria.aciobanitei@gmail.com

ELSEVIER

question is: how can translation ensure the preservation of identity, be it cultural or linguistic? The main focus of the paper is to analyze the paremiological dimension in the construction of Romanian national identity.

Identity has to do with belonging somewhere or to someone; about the things you have in common with some people and those that separate you from others. If nothing else, it gives one a sense of personal location, the essence of one's individuality. Moreover, it stands for relationships with others, which have become more and more confusing and multifaceted in the modern world we live in. Depending on what we focus on, we become 'identifiable'. The discrepancy lies in the factor we consider essential to our social persona as opposed to the factor considered by society itself. Identity is a key concept in the contemporary world.

When tackling the issue of identity, one immediately tries to answer the following question: Who am I? Establishing identity does not only have to do with one's characteristics, but also with the way in which those characteristics become evident in the relationship with others. People do not simply exist; they coexist, sharing their identity with the members of a particular social group, and do so actively and willingly. Therefore, depending on the role we play within the family, at our school/workplace, or our nationality, we say we are parents or siblings, students, office clerks or doctors, Romanian or Spanish. As such, we become identifiable with others, having certain features in common, like personality traits. In this respect, Kath Woodward states:

"...although as individuals we have to take up identities actively, those identities are necessarily the product of the society in which we live and our relationship with others. Identity provides a link between individuals and the world in which we live. [.] Identity involves the internal and the subjective, and the external" [3].

Because identity is characterized by such a variety of traits, translating, transmitting, transferring that which constitutes identity becomes all the more difficult. One can eventually find the accurate translation of a word, but how to preserve the richness of historical and cultural heritage that goes behind it? In Hall's words:

"cultural identity.is a matter of 'becoming' as well as of 'being'. It belongs to the future as much as to the past. It is not something which already exists, transcending place, time, history and culture. Cultural identities come from somewhere, have histories. But, like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation" [4].

Considering that which builds the identity of a nation, reference must necessarily be made to folklore as an essential part of its culture. On a more particular note, we speak of customs, traditions, riddles, jokes, proverbs and so on. The proverb stands out as a time-tested, impersonal expression, carrying the authority and wisdom of time, in the form of short sentences or phrases. They express the result of experience, containing a piece of advice or a lesson, in a concise and suggestive manner. As most of them are transmitted orally, they have a very traditional character. They discuss moral issues, bits of wisdom applicable to various life situations.

Aside from structure and meaning, cultural historians, folklorists and paremiologists have also studied the origin and history of proverbs. They have discovered not only when certain proverbs first appeared, but also what they meant in different historical periods, because proverbs reflect the attitudes or worldview of various social classes at different periods. Another aspect that scholars are interested in deals with proverbs that belong to a particular group or that can be grouped under a theme (for instance, gender issues). All in all, what is really important for people today is that a proverb is recognized and understood, so that it can be said it has accomplished its purpose in conversation.

Whenever one thinks of proverbs, one almost always thinks back to tradition and folklore, to folk tales, stories, jokes etc. More often than not, this is because today we tend to believe that proverbs are no longer used in every day conversation and that the only place where they can still be found is literature. Headlines make use of proverbs or proverbial phrases and even when they do not, their structure is still very much influenced by proverbs. The purpose is to attract attention and trigger emotional response. Even in the absence of an actual proverb, these utterances retain (part of) the evaluative force of a proverb, even if they invert or make humorous

use of its content. One of the many functions of proverbs is the capacity to recognize individuals as being part of the same group. Relationships between people develop on account of inside jokes, clichés, allusions, quotes etc, and - why not? - proverbs. Norrick provides an example to describe this type of situation: 'A speaker can signal his membership to in and identification with the local village community by drawing on its stock of (dialect) proverbs' [5].

One of the most important characteristics of folklore is that it provides enjoyment and entertainment. Whether it is tales, jokes, anecdotes or proverbs, people usually tell them in their free time, as a form of relaxation, aimed at pleasing an audience. In Thompson's view, folklore is used in order to reduce the overwhelming ennui in people's lives [6]. The second attribute of folklore has to do with the capacity of validating culture. As Dundes points out, folklore draws authority by "justifying its rituals and institutions to those who perform and observe them" [7]. Malinowski (in Dundes, 1965) insists on this aspect by providing the example of myths, which serve as "warrant, a charter, and often even a practical guide" to magic, ceremony, ritual and social structure. This can also apply to other genres of folklore as well, such as proverbs, riddles or tales. The third aspect related to folklore is that it is didactic, intended for the new generations. In Dundes's opinion, folktales, fables and proverbs are an instrument used to teach general principles and warn against misconduct, "to warn the dissatisfied or over-ambitious individual to be content with his lot, to accept the world as it is and thus to conform to the accepted patterns" [8]. Last but not least, folklore has the ability to uphold the strength and constancy of culture, guaranteeing an attitude of conformity toward cultural norms and conventions by playing a significant part in educating the younger generations.

Having no intention of reproducing here one of the numerous definitions of the proverb, I have considered it necessary to start from some of their essential characteristics: the proverb identifies with a concised linguistic pattern, with stable syntactic structure, easily inventorized, and polysemantic lexis, highly metaphorical, which express the wisdom of ancestral life experiences. The complete understanding of a proverb can only be achieved through interdisciplinary analysis, which includes elements of various disciplines: folklore, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, sociology, logic, history.

Proverbs represent an extremely diverse and sophisticated cultural material, which raises many problems of classification. In Romanian paremiography, the method of thematic classification has been initiated by I.A. Zanne, who established a system of eight categories, divided into subordinate groups which reduce the degree of generalization. For instance, the category physical nature is further subdivided into groups such as year, seasons, days, holidays, time, metals, rocks, plants etc. Such classifications are useful, but, since they are formed of key words, they do not comprise the connotative value of some of the terms contained within the proverb and, consequently, they demonstrate the impossibility of obtaining a title-word of general value. As such, we can observe some legitimate questions which can appear. For instance: in what category can we place the proverb Buturuga mica rastoarna carul mare (Little strokes fell great oaks), as it is obvious that neither buturuga nor car are used here literally? Or, can the proverb Unde dai unde crapá (He struck at Tib, but down fell Tom) be placed in the category of human action? [9]. While taking notice of the difficulty of creating a thematic classification of proverbs, G. Muntean noted the risk of such an undertaking, in the sense that any proverb can be infinitely divided into an endless number of themes. [10]. Given the theoretical approach suggested by P. Ruxandoiu2 for the analysis of proverbs (basically based on terms such as microcontext, macrocontext, genetic context, generic context [11], C. Negreanu starts from the concept and the network of elements which delineate it. The author believes that proverbs related to the same concept are included within the frame of ethno-field, which in this case is identifiable with conceptual field (an identity which is only valid in the case of proverbs).

P. Ruxandoiu starts from the Riffaterre's methodological distinction between microcontext (the interior organization of the proverb, in which the particular meaning of a word depends on the meaning of the other words in the structure, identifiable with the proverb itself) and macrocontext (the case in which the proverb is applied in a given verbal discourse); next to these two types of contexts (linguistic and situational), Ruxandoiu introduces the genetic context (initial determination of sense maintained or not within the collective conscience, but whose explanation depends on wholly and profoundly comprehending of the message), the generic context respectively (non-verbal, which selects and closes the range of possible macrotexts and determines the significant value of the proverb).

[12]. The diversity of the analysis of field is revealed by the attempt to delineate it through determinants such as linguistic, lexical, semantic, associated with the conceptual field; these fields represent ways of classifying words within a language, words which express a system of ideas, and which is the main objective of vocabulary segmentation [13]. The first descriptions of the field (done by German linguists in the first half of the 20th century), targeted conceptual fields: a conceptual framework is drawn of a certain domain, characteristic of a particular society, as revealed by linguistic, ethnographic, anthropologic data, based on which one can establish a concept area covered by a single word or a group of words. Lexical fields designate areas within a conceptual field which is structured into various lexical fields, part of a scene in the history of language [14].

In the case of Romanian proverbs, there are numerous ethno-fields, which on the whole express the national specificity of the Romanian people. Ethno-fields do not exist in isolation, independent, but are linked in an intricate relationship of interdependence, offering information and complex descriptions on a moral, psychological, anthropologic, social, mythical, economical, esthetic, cultural, philosophic, logical level altogether. According to Negreanu, some of the most representative ethno-fields of local paremiology are the fields of truth, honesty, knowledge, dignity, education, fauna, birds (the symbolism of birds and animals), irony, wisdom, friendship, fate, time [15]. Let us focus, for instance, on two complex ethno-fields: social hierarchy and colours.

The fundamental social vision within Romanian folklore is based on the traditional rural society, which is conservatory, socially stratified, antagonistically disposed and with numerous segregation areas; as such, social hierarchy represents a well sketched concept within the framework of Romanian paremiology. This ethno-field includes a large number of proverbs (approx. 500 proverbs), as the conceptual field is extremely broad and diverse [16].

On a lexical level, there is specialized terminology here. On the one hand, there is an indication of social class: A fi chiabur cu trei cama§i (To be well-off and only have three shirts: a formula achieved through a stylistic superlative pointing to greed and avarice); Dreptatea e cum o fac domnii (Justice is in the hand of the lords), Opinca e talpa tarii (The country rests on a peasant's shoe: opinca = metonymical expression for peasant), Dtie mocanul ce e gofranul? (The boor knows nothing of safflower), Vai de boierul ce se roaga mojicului (Woe on the gentleman pleading with the churl), De la vladicapana la opinca (From bishop to boor), Noi boiernasi vechi cotcara^i (New gentlemen, old knaves). Some proverbs sanction nepotism, favoritism, the preferential access to institutions (the terminology generally includes names of relatives, names of social, military or ecclesiastic functions): A fi ca nepotul mitropolitului intre oi (Like the bishop's nephew amongst the sheep); Am un frate cat un domn un cumnat cat un imparat (My borther a lord, my brother-in-law an emperor); A sta dupa spatele lui Dumnezeu (Sitting behind God); A-i agterne un pod de argint (Laying a silver bridge ahead). [17]3. In Romanian popular culture, there are two people who enjoy a privileged social status - the priest and the godfather: Popa are mana de luat nu de dat (The bishop's hand only knows how to take); Popapana §i-npridvor cata sa aiba izvor (The bishop needs the stream running at the doorstep); Na^ul boteaza, na^ul cuteaza (Godfather christens, godfather dares). Analyzing proverbs related to priests, I. Adam reveals the perception and the popular mentality referring to this person: burta de popa (a priest's belly) - the syntagm banters the abdominal plumpness, an outcome of laziness, which is almost mandatory in the description of the servants of God; the expression also refers to someone who eats and drinks a lot. A-$i gasi popa (to catch a tartar) -indicates the peasant's gradual accommodation with the members of the clergy, whose laziness he does not bother to condemn anymore, as the priest, a knowledgeable man, is proposed as a role model for the community, who cannot be deceived [18]. Expressions such as a-§i gasi na§ul/stapanul, used in a variety of situations, reveal the authority the godfathers have on their godchildren4 [19].

The bridge (which can be of copper, silver, gold, iron, crystal or diamond) is a passage way between worlds, according to Talos. The metaphor "silver bridge", based on a fairy-tale symbol, is reversed on a semantic level by changing the connotation, hereby being included in the structure of socially observant proverb.

4 This authority, well delineated in popular perception, is based on old, long extinguished customs, such as the conjugal services performed instead of an impotent groom (usually without the knowledge of the bride or the entire village) by a different man, who later would become the child's godfather (Dumistracel, 1997)

Proverbs pertaining to this etho-field also define other social aspects, such as promotion, climbing the social ladder while being unworthy of it: Azi mladita de tufan, maine coada de ciocan (A small pebble now, a great rock tomorrow); S-a suit scroafa-n copac (He's grown too big for his boots); decline, going down the same social ladder: Ajunge din vladica popa (From bishop to parson); Ajunge din cal magar §i catar din armasar (From horse to ass and from mule to stallion), A avea bogatiile lui Por imparat (To have the riches of emperor Por5) [20]; social imposture, infatuation: Tiganul cand s-a vazut imparat intai pe tata-sau l-a spanzurat (When a knave is in a plum-tree, he has neither friend nor kin); social inequality: Rade ciob de oala sparta (Pot calling the kettle black); influence, power: A fi alfa omega (To be alpha and omega), A fi sfantul zilei (To be the hero of the day), A fi tare ca cetatea (To be hard as a rock); the hierarchy within the traditional Romanian family (of patriarchal type): Barbatul este stalpul casei (Every man is the master of his domain); inferior positions in society: Afi a cincea roata la caruta (To be a fifth wheel); afi sluga la un magar (to be the servant of a mule). Also, social strata are indicated (urban as opposed to rural): Decat coda§ la ora§/ mai bine in satul taufrunta§ (Better be the first in a village than second in Rome).

The most frequent and efficient way of indicating a high status in society is given by the presence of the horse. This animal plays a significant role in universal conscience and mythology6. The importance of the horse is revealed by the large number of expressions and proverbs it appears in. The psychology of the rider is different of the one who walks on foot, in the sense that it involves a feeling of pride, of superiority [21]: Cel calare nu crede celui pe jos (The master gives no credence to the slave); Cine n-are cal sa urcepejos la deal (Who hath no horse may ride on a staff). The social hierarchy is indicated through animal metaphors: Cand e bolnav leul, iepurii ii sar in spinare (Hares may pull dead lions by the beard); Cand pisica nu-i acasa, §oarecii joaca pe masa (When the cat's away, the mice will play); Pegtele cel mare inghite pe cel mic (Big fish eat little fish); Coco^ul §i sub covata tot canta (The cock will sing under the trough); Porcului sa nu-i pui belciug de aur in nas (Honey is not for the ass's mouth).

Many proverbs are formed according to a binary structure, based on antonymic couplets. For instance, oppositions such as mare-mic (big-small), bogat-sarac (rich-poor), stapan-sluga (master-servant), sus-jos (up-down), appear in several proverbs: Cei mari pe cei mici picioarele le $terg (The lords will walk over slaves); Bogatul a gre^it saracul ii cere iertaciune (The poor man will ask forgiveness for the rich man's mistake); Stapan nu poti ajunge, dar sluga intotdeauna (You may not become a master, but you can always become a slave).

The ethno-field of colours includes a smaller number of proverbs [22]. It is based on the symbolism expressed through colours7 (with predominant social connotations), quite predominant in Romanian folklore [23]. The main opposition is that of black and white, signifying in turn the antithesis: Inpamantul negru se facepainea alba (White bread in black earth), Dracul alb manancap-al negru (One devil drives out another); extreme anger: A-i fi negru inaintea ochilor (To see red); saving up: Bani albi pentru zile negre (Keep something for a rainy day); uncertainty: Ba e alba, ba e neagra (Fish or cut bail). Some proverbs have rasist connotations: Dupa ce e neagra o mai cheama Neaga (She's black and called Blacky) - in popular culture, neaga is a very mean, obstinate person; as such, the physical defect, being black, combines with the moral one); Pe arap, cat de mult il vei spala, tot

5 The proverb suggests the sudden loss of a high social status by ignoring some fundamental rules and principles. The legend says Emperor Por intentionally did not invite the priests to his daughter's wedding. The priests punished him through fasting and prayer. When the guests sat down to eat, clouds of locusts invaded the table, the guests felt sick and died and the wedding turned into a huge funeral.

6 Kernbach states that making the horse into a sacred symbol can be explained by the fundamental revolution it cause after being domesticated in the military, economic, agricultural life (1989:97). Romanian folklore presents the solidarity between horse and rider: in fairy-tales, the horse can only be ridden by its master, serving as confidant and adviser during hard times; in riddles, the horse and its rider are one: Pe drum merge si se grabeste/unde incet, unde mai iute/ urechi patru si ochi patru/iara unghii douazeci sipatru. (Adam, 2007: 58-59). Some proverbs express this intrinsic psychological connection: Calu-Igandul omului — the horse is the man's thought, some legends show that God created the horse so that the man can turn his thoughts into action faster (Talos, 2001: 27).

7 From this type of connotations, having a broader social character, we can pinpoint those characteristic of colours: black associates with sadness, death, mourning; green = general connotation, signifying strength, vigour.

negru va ramonea (A crow is never the whiter for washing herself often: in the same popular register, arap means Arab, a man with dark skin and hair; sometimes it is also used as a nickname for gipsies8) [24].

Romanian proverbs based on other colours are rare, but very suggestive. The colour green appears in some constructions (e.g. a avea inima verde - to be young at heart; cal verde §i grec cuminte nu s-a vazut/You'll never see a green horse and an honest Greek - denoting something impossible, unreal). The proverb Cine la amor nu crede, n-ar mai calca iarba verde (He who does not believe in love shouldn't walk the earth) is actually a curse, as green, a very strong dendrologic symbol, represents the colour of fresh vegetation, of nature. [25] The colour red appears in proverbs such as Banul ro§u nu sepierde repede (Hard earned money are not easily spent).

The moment the term folklore was created, by the union of two significant notions - folk and lore - a decisive distinction was established between the traditional, mainly oral tradition of the popular, uncultivated walks of life on the one side, and the evolved, canonical culture of the aristocratic elites, the bourgeoisie on the other hand. The delimitation was made between two types of culture, different in structure, content and historical background. On a terminological level, we now speak of elitist, aristocratic culture and popular culture.

Folklore represents artistic creation, be it musical, literary, kinetic, behavioural or ceremonial. Proverbs remain one of the most important sub-genres of folklore, mostly because they encapsulate the essence of national identity. They do not represent theoretical knowledge, based on a strictly logical way of thinking; they reflect the world of tangible, particular things, with the purpose of revealing a wider significance, a characteristic or a necessary rapport between things. As such, proverbs act as small literary works. Taking into consideration the perspective of translating this type of folklore, it quickly becomes obvious that it is a particularly difficult task; at times, even impossible. Theoreticians have discussed the issue of untranslatability many times over the years and while their opinions diverge, there is one conclusion most of them can agree upon: culture specific elements that have no correspondent in a target language cannot be translated; and even if they can be, by paraphrase or explicitation, there is still loss in meaning, because the richness of language cannot be fully rendered for a foreign reader. It is all the more difficult to translate culturally embedded expressions such as proverbs, as they are filled with cultural realities seldom encountered elsewhere. The underlying truth, however, is that proverbs, like other sub-genres of folklore, lay at the foundation of Romanian popular culture and we can firmly state that they are markers of national identity.

References:

[1] Morley, David and Kevin Robins (1995). Spaces of Identity. Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries, New York: Routledge, 122.

[2] Ibid: 122.

[3]Woodward, Kath (2004). Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity, London and New York: Routledge, 7

[4] Hall, Stuart (1992). The Question of Cultural Identity. In: Hall, David Held, Anthony McGrew, eds, Modernity and Its Futures. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 274-316.

[5] Norrick, Neal (1985). How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 25.

[6]Thompson, Stith (1951). The Folktale, New York: Dryden Press, 3.

[7]Dundes, Alan (1965). The Sudy of Folklore, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 292.

[8]Ibid: 296.

[9] Tabarcea, Cezar (1982). Poeticaproverbului, Bucurejti: Editura Minerva, 63.

[10] Muntean, George (1966). Apa trece, pietrele ramin - proverbe románegti, Bucurejti: Editura pentru literatura, Biblioteca pentru toti, 373.

[11] Ruxandoiu, apud Negreanu 1983: 37-38l; Tabarcea 1982: 112-113.

[12] Negreanu, Constantin (1983). Structuraproverbelor románe^ti, Bucurejti: Editura §tiintifica 51 Enciclopédica, 39.

[13] Bidu-Vranceanu, Angela, Cristina Calaraju et al. (2005). Dictionar de gtiinte ale limbii, Bucurejti: Editura Nemira,101.

[14] Ibid: 101-102.

[15] Negreanu, 1983:9.

[16] Muntean, 1966: 400-402.

[17] Talo?, Ion (2001). Gandirea magico-religioasa la romani. Dictionar, Bucurejti: Editura Enciclopédica, 120.

[18] Adam, loan (2007). Povestea vorbelor. O istorie secreta a limbii romane, Pitejti: Editura Paralela 45, 156-158.

8 The proverb is probably a variant of the expression a inalbi un arab (to whiten an Arab), created by the Greek philosopher Zenon, which came to us indirectly through Cicero and Plutarch, referring an attempt doomed to fail.

[19] Dumisträcel, Stelian(1997). Expresii româneçti, Iaçi: Institutul European, 150.

[20] Talos, 2001:120.

[21] Adam, 2007: 59.

[22] Muntean, 1966: 385.

[23] DSL, 2005: 133-134.

[24] Berg, I. (1968). Dictionarde cuvinte, expresii, citate célébré, Bucureçti: EdituraÇtiintificâ, 26.

[25] Adam, 2007: 182-184.

Paremiological Aspects in the Construction of National Identity Academic research paper on "Law"

Abstract of research paper on Law, author of scientific article — Maria Aciobăniţei

Similar topics of scientific paper in Law , author of scholarly article — Maria Aciobăniţei

Academic research paper on topic "Paremiological Aspects in the Construction of National Identity"