პირის დეიქსისით გამოხატული რეფერენციულობა ქართველურ ენათა ანდაზებში

Abstract

It is widely known that the paremic fund fully reveals the culture and mentality of a nation. Therefore, it is a pressing task to carry out a specifically linguistic study of proverbs as objects of interdisciplinary research. Besides, proverbs reflect the immanent nature and word�building capacities of a given language. A proverb is created by a single person, which is sometimes concrete and sometimes general; therefore, concerning distribution and interrelation of persons, a proverb reveals interesting and peculiar features. Out of the linguistic peculiarities of proverbs, mention should be made of person deixis and related pragmatic aspects. The given paper focuses on the category of reference and the principles of functional distribution of the first and second persons in Georgian, Megrelian, Laz and Svan proverbs. Proverbs are of special interest concerning reference, as they are general referential units containing a generalized conclusion, wisdom, which is least based on the context and the objects that form part of it. The use of the diverse methods of research (historical-comparative, substitution etc.) and analysis of corresponding empirical material have proved that, in certain cases, first and second persons are used instead of the third person in Georgian, Megrelian, Laz and Svan proverbs. Such referentially neutralized difference in the grammatical deixis in proverbs is related to certain pragmatic contexts, namely: i. The concept of the speaker is generalized in proverbs in case of both – singular and plural numbers. The pragmatic content of the first person in paremic units does not fall within the semantics of the grammatical I person i.e. the speaker; ii. The concept of the speaker in proverbs is generalized to such an extent that it is used to denote the feelings, emotions and experience of any person and not just the speaker. Therefore, the first person plays a far more significant role in the proverb, making its content more convincing. The speaker’s argumentation is based on his/her own experience, providing advice and thus establishing a direct link with the hearer; iii. In the proverbs, the second person is also frequently generalized and far from being concrete. The addressee, represented by the pronoun šen (you) is not a concrete person, but people in general. Besides, as compared to the first person, the second person is far more productive, because, in proverbs, the II person is the immediate object of address.