A linguistic analysis of Jordanian proverbs; a syntactic, semantic and contextual study

This dissertation is a linguistic analysis of proverbs in Jordanian Arabic. The study is panoramic since it covered different linguistic aspects in proverbs. The dissertation discussed four aspects in proverbs: syntactic, stylistic, semantic, and pragmatic.; The syntactic part focused on the syntactic structures of proverbs. The study shows that proverbs have limited syntactic formulae. Moreover, the dissertation provides evidence that some syntactic structures are purely proverbial due to being borrowed from Standard Arabic as in the case of man relative clauses; due to being the norm in proverbs while they are the exception in JA as in the case of headless relative clauses; or due to their relative frequency in proverbs and their absence in JA as in the case of vocatives. Moreover, the study proves that structural deviations are the most frequent deviations in proverbs whereas morphological and phonological deviations are minimal and they are motivated by rhyme.; In addition, the dissertation investigated the internal structure of proverbs which reflects how proverbs are uttered. The study proves that proverbs in general are uttered as if they contain two divisions. The binary structure of proverbs can be considered as one definitional characteristic of proverbs. Furthermore, it enhances understanding and predictability.; Closely connected to syntax and semantics is negation. I claim that the negation exhibited in proverbs is categorical negation that involves all the individuals in a category. The marker of this type of negation is the deletion of the negation suffix -f. In this sense, I regarded categorical negation as one means of achieving genericity in proverbs. I also considered categorical negation as another definitional feature of proverbs.; Under semantics, the dissertation studied genericity in proverbs. I claimed that genericity in proverbs is of three types: syntactic genericity which is manifested in structures that yield a generic meaning including, headless relative clauses, vocatives, categorical negation, and generic tense; semantic resulting from the non-negotiable themes encoded in proverbs as well as metaphoricity; and lexical which is exhibited in the use of generic gender and the avoidance of proper names.; Finally, under discourse, the dissertation handled the contextual use of proverbs. The study provides evidence through real life recordings that proverbs are generally projected towards the end of a topic to provide support for one's argument. I found that proverbs are projected without a discourse marker that may signal the type of the upcoming statement. The study has also found that proverbs are used to serve general primary functions witnessed in every conversational situation including: supporting a previous argument, social solidarity, and authenticity. However, context-dependent functions are also witnessed including: mocking and urging to cease arguing.