DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF CHINESE PROVERBS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SUYU AND YANYU AND OTHER TYPES OF SHUYU

This paper is an attempt to lay out the distinctive features of Chinese proverbs. Because of the frequent inconsistency of applying Chinese terms that could stand for ‘proverbs’ (i.e. suyu and yanyu), it seems necessary to define them by juxtaposing them with other, apparently similar types of fixed expressions. The typological analysis in this paper shows that there are no particular valid reasons not to treat suyu as proverbs, and thus as synonymous to yanyu. Further, the paper outlines the variety of content of Chinese proverbs and provides some of their structural patterns, with special attention to the variation phenomenon. Finally, it centers upon the metaphoricity of proverbs, which is a crucial means, especially in studies of linguistic worldview.