The Implicit Meaning of a Proverb and the Main Issues of Semantic Interpretations

Authors

  • Giorgi Jgharkava Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55804/TSU-ti-2/Jgharkava

Keywords:

proverbiology, Kartvelian languages, semantics, equivalence, implicit meaning

Abstract

A proverb is a culturally marked unit of the language system, the explanation of the meaning of which as well as the determination of different functional parameters cannot be done only on the surface level, and requires a systematic structural-semantic analysis of the proverb fund. Depending on the nature and purpose of the proverb, the specific prerequisites and historical context of its creation often play an essential role in decoding the content, neglecting which may obscure the implicit side of the proverb. Therefore, to fully understand the content of the proverb, it is necessary to refer to the situation of using the proverb, to get information about the stylistic and pragmatic characteristics of the proverb, to take into account the historical and etymological preconditions of its creation, etc., which, in turn, allows us to identify structurally changed and semantically reinterpreted proverbs (Rusieshvili 1999, 2005; Boeder 1991; Tumanishvili 2010; Pachulia 2015; Jgharkava 2024). The review of appropriate empirical material using the methods of descriptive, historical-comparative, contrastive and structural analysis in the paper showed that the original meaning of the proverb sometimes does not coincide with its current interpretation, which was also confirmed by our pilot experiment. Considering the scientific literature, the discussion of similar examples determines the relevance of the work and the value of the research results, which is noteworthy in several directions. Among them, from the point of view of establishing the equivalence of paremias and the complex qualification-classification of the proverbial fund during the learning and teaching of a second language.

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Published

2025-11-11

How to Cite

Jgharkava, G. (2025). The Implicit Meaning of a Proverb and the Main Issues of Semantic Interpretations. TSU-TI — THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES, 4, 69–73. https://doi.org/10.55804/TSU-ti-2/Jgharkava

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Articles