Proverb is as proverb does: A preliminary analysis of a survey on the use of hungarian proverbs and anti-proverbs

Vargha, Katalin and Litovkina, Anna T. (2007) Proverb is as proverb does: A preliminary analysis of a survey on the use of hungarian proverbs and anti-proverbs. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 52 (1). pp. 135-155. ISSN 1216-9803

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Abstract

In this study we analyze the results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted in Hungary in 2004–2005, with the goal of exploring some popular views of the proverb and anti-proverb and their functions in contemporary Hungarian society. Using data collected from 298 subjects, we focus on three major questions. First, our aim was to establish the lists of the proverbs most frequently used nowadays, as well as the ones most popular for variation. Our second goal was to discover our subjects’ thoughts about the use of proverbs and anti-proverbs, as well as about their views of the people who use them. And, last but not least, our third task was to compare what people say about their own usage of proverbs and anti-proverbs to what they think about the ways in which other people use these expressions.The complex analysis of the results of the survey can illumine interesting aspects; for example, the correlation between the subject’s gender and age and the use of proverbs and anti-proverbs. We also have to deal with the contradictions of folk concepts concerning this topic: there is a significant contrast between the ways in which subjects describe their own habits and the ways in which they talk about other people’s use of proverbs and anti-proverbs.

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