Linguistic And Cultural Features Of Wenzhou Proverbs

Every human language has proverbs. They are inexhaustible and ubiquitous. Proverbs are the crystallization of wisdom and the accumulation of experience of people in daily life. Deeply rooted in the higher linguistic structure and cultural background, proverbs can indicate the features of language and culture of a nation.The Chinese language is rich in dialects. Almost every dialect has its own proverbs, so does Wenzhou. Wenzhou proverbs are concise and comprehensive, both in form and meaning. Wenzhou proverbs are of vivid images and widely selected from all aspects of life and labor of Wenzhounese. Moreover, they are greatly associated with Wenzhou culture and they deliver all sorts of cultural knowledge, folk customs and social experience.The current approach to Wenzhou proverbs is driven by collection or comparison with proverbs in mandarin Chinese, which fails to acknowledge the integral links between Wenzhou proverbs and its culture. After a literature review about the studies on proverbs and Wenzhou proverbs, the author puts forth a new point of view and tries to integrate Wenzhou proverbs and Wenzhou culture in this study by using the theory of linguistic structure, sociolinguistics and cultural linguistics, language and folkway as frameworks. Therefore, this thesis is carried out from two general aspects: the linguistic features and the cultural characteristics of Wenzhou proverbs.Firstly, Wenzhou proverbs are parts of language phenomena, Wenzhou dialect in particular. In respect of linguistics, the author examines the phonological features, grammar, surface and deep meanings of semantics, and the application of rhetoric devices in Wenzhou proverbs. Secondly, Wenzhou proverbs are the products of Wenzhounese ideas and thoughts. This thesis makes a preliminary analysis of Wenzhou proverbs and its culture to make a better understanding.By analyzing, results show that there are some similarities and differences of Wenzhou proverbs in Wenzhou dialect pronunciation version and mandarin Chinese pronunciation version, especially the ping-ze tones, rhymes and the figures of speech all that make proverbs more melodious in Wenzhou dialect version than in mandarin Chinese. In the meantime, Wenzhou proverbs convey their culture like folk customs by combining some special words, phrases and expressions in local social life, for example,“娘舅最大,狗污最臭”(Maternal uncle has a higher status in a whole family while dog waste is a blight.) and "入港随湾,入方随俗”(Do in Rome as the Romans do.). Besides, in spites of social customs in Wenzhou, the thesis also makes an attempt to probe into Wenzhou proverbs with their agricultural culture, marine culture and business culture, as well as the so-called Wenzhou spirits behind.In brief, this thesis intends to reveal Wenzhou proverbs as linguistic knowledge, cultural and spiritual knowledge embedded in Wenzhou people’s life.