Concepts of Labour and Conduct in proverbs: a comparative study

Abstract

Languages change with time. As a result, new structures appear, and new approaches are developed in them. Language is a link in decoding forms of cognition between the past and the present – and the role of proverbs here is really significant. In every language, proverbs carry the color of the era. They are directly related to folk traditions and help to preserve history, culture, and the mentality of society. Phraseological units such as proverbs differ across cultures, although similar forms can sometimes be found in various sociocultural contexts. Likewise, the system of conduct rules is expected to be different from society to society, since the values of people of each individual national group are determined by their traditions and culture. The present article is based on a comparative analysis of proverbs in the Russian, Ukrainian and Hungarian languages. Proverbs that describe labor principles and rules of conduct in everyday social life were selected from (bilingual) dictionaries and the Internet resources with the aim of identifying the main similarities and differences between Russian, Ukrainian and Hungarian societies. A few proverbs regarding leisure time and friendly relations were also analyzed as linking subtopics to the concepts of labor and conduct. Some proverbs containing an animal-element that are used to describe humans’ behavior also appear in the present work. The study shows that the national and cultural components of proverbs depict physical activity and other realities of communities, but proverbs might have their own national coloring and moral content. In our study, proverbs are viewed as statements that are often rhymed, usually have two parts, and express a complete thought. The present paper is of practical importance as the research results can be applied for theoretical courses in comparative linguistics, especially in courses on the study of proverbs.