Demografinė situacija ir patarlės apie kalbą (sekant vienos diskusijos pėdsakais)
LTIstoriografinio pobūdžio straipsnyje pristatoma tarptautinė diskusija apie patarlėse reprezentuojamą kalbos / kalbėjimo sampratą. Ji prasidėjo XX a. septintojo ir aštuntojo dešimtmečių sandūroje, J. L. Fischeriui ir T. Yoshidai 1968 m. iškėlus originalią hipotezę, kad neigiamas požiūris į kalbą / kalbėjimą japonų patarlėse yra tiesiogiai susijęs su dideliu gyventojų tankumu Japonijoje. Jų straipsnis susilaukė plataus atgarsio. Periodiškai buvo publikuojami nauji tyrimai, kuriuose mokslininkai tikrino, ar pasitvirtins ši hipotezė skirtingose gyventojų tankumo atžvilgiu šalyse (Indijoje, Korėjoje, JAV, Nigerijoje). Aptariant įdomesnes publikacijas, didžiausias dėmesys sutelkiamas į metodikos svarbą tyrimui ir metodų tobulinimą, parodoma, kad svariausių rezultatų pasiekė mokslininkai, išdrįsę atsisakyti stereotipų ir pasukę nepramintu keliu. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Demogratinė situacija, patarlės, kalba, vienos diskusijos pėdsakais; Diskusija; Gyventojų tankumas; Hipotezė; Kalba; Kalbėjimas; Kultūrinis kontekstas; Modernioji kalbotyra; Patarlės; Cultural context; Demograpfic Situation, proverbs, speech, wake, one discussion; Density of population; Discussion; Hypothesis; Language; Modern linguistics; Population density; Proverbs; Speaking.
ENIn this survey article, an international scholarly discussion regarding the concept of language and speaking as represented in proverbs, taking place in the last decades of the 20th century, is introduced. The discussion was sparked off by an original hypothesis presented in 1968 in the Journal of American Folklore by J. L. Fischer and Teigo Yoshida and maintaining that negative attitude toward speech in Japanese proverbs was directly related to the high population density in Japan. Their article provoked a wide response. A string of new research works followed, the authors of which attempted to prove the hypothesis right or wrong in countries characterized by different population density, like India, Korea, USA, and Nigeria. In 1971, William McNeil, having investigated the Indian proverbs, cautiously formulated his conclusion that Fischer’s and Yoshida’s hypothesis concerning "demographic characteristics" might be correct. The results of investigation into Korean proverbs, published in 1985 by Ch’oe Chong-ho supported the hypothesis even further (asserting that proverbial attitude towards oral language was strictly normative, passive, and cautious, i.e. essentially negative); nevertheless, this author did not tie his findings to high population density in Korea, but rather to quite different things, like Confucian ideas and primacy of the written language in the traditional Korean culture. A couple of years later, Frank A. de Caro used statistic analysis to examine the American proverbs and concluded that the attitude toward speech in them was negative, thus the hypothesis in question was disproved in the United States.Still, this author did not regard himself as its denier; he claimed just having had specified the formulation instead: according to him, the demographic situation influenced the concept of speech in proverbs not directly, but via the cultural aspect, therefore folklore should not be examined apart from its cultural context. The study of Igbo proverbs by Damian U. Opata could be considered as a response to F. A. de Caro; here, proverbs were commented in detail against the background of traditional Igbo culture and interesting ethnographic data was submitted. An article by Neal Norrick presented an unexpected turn in the discussion. This author gave a second look to the American proverbs. Having discarded some stereotypes and adopted a new methodic, he was able to formulate a complicated, but unprejudiced and consistent view of language and speaking. Most interestingly, he established a correlation between "the folk linguistics of proverbs" with academic linguistics and modern linguistic theories. Along with the works mentioned above, the author of this article also surveys a study by the Moscow University professor Yuri Rozhdestvenski "Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases Regarding the Rules of Speaking" (published in 1978). This author could not have participated in the discussion because of the Iron Curtain existing at that time, which limited contacts with the free world, but his observations and insights nevertheless frequently coincided with those by N. Norrick (although both scholars pursued different goals and employed different methods). Proverbs about language and speech, though comprising a research subject exploited for several decades, still retain their attraction in the 21st century as well.The Bulgarian scholar Roumyana Petrova, a representative of the linguistic cultural studies, states that "in our modern age of rapid change, communication and globalization the problem of translatability of cultures acquires an ever growing importance; there is no doubt that value-oriented comparative proverb studies will give us a most reliable tool to answer the questions: Who we are? Who are the others? Can we communicate?". [From the publication]
