Theme of Love and Marriage in English, Russian and Latvian Proverbs

Olga Petkeviča „Theme of Love and Marriage in English, Russian and Latvian Proverbs”. Bachelor paper.
Scientific Adviser: Marina Maslova, Maģ. filol. lekt.
The paper contains 73 pages, two tables.
22 bibliography sources were used to make a research and to write the paper.
The aim of the research is to collect and analyse proverbs on love and marriage in three languages and determine the peculiarities of each culture expressed in these proverbs.
The methods or research and data collection: study and analysis of popular and scientific literature on the topic, comparison of collected material, comparative analysis of literature sources, collection of material from the sources in different languages.
The outline of the paper: the paper contains four chapters, in which the author describes the linguistic phenomenon of proverb from popular and scientific points of view; defines the difference of proverbs from sayings; makes an insight to the history of proverbs; considers various classification systems of phraseological units and defends proverbs’ belonging to this class; studies the characteristic features of proverbs as phraseologisms, on which the practical part of the paper is based on; presents the collected proverbs on the theme of love and marriage in English, Russian and Latvian languages and performs a comparative analysis of them; draws out the conclusions about differences and similarities between these proverbs and the attitude to love and marriage by the three nations in general.
As the result of the research the author collected and studied proverbs on love and marriage in three different languages and, basing on the analysis on the earlier worked up criteria, drew conclusions about differences and similarities between the proverbs as well as between the perceptions of concepts of love and marriage by the three peoples.
The theme of the present paper is “Theme of Love and Marriage in English, Russian and Latvian Proverbs”. The are several reasons for writing this paper. First of all, the world of proverbs as such is very polyhedral and perceptional. It is always worth studying, because from it we can receive the ancient wisdom, the advice from our ancestors.
Secondly, the author of the paper has questioned if proverbs are the same in the neighbouring countries, and, for some extent, already mixed cultures. In modern Latvia, English, Russian and Latvian languages co-exist and are more or less widely used. It is always noteworthy to examine if in the mix of cultures national identity is preserved, and to what extent. Proverbs have been chosen by the author of this paper as a declaration of cultural identity, because most of them originate from the past and apparently carry with them the purest identity of this or that language.
Thirdly, the theme of love and marriage has been chosen for the present research, as, in the opinion of paper’s author, this could be one of the topics, expressed through proverbs, which may reveal the true unique peculiarities of each of the three cultures. The attitude to love, marriage and common household can probably differ among the three nations, which is to be proved by examining the proverbs on the selected topic in English, Russian and Latvian languages. Therefore, the aim of the paper is:
To collect and analyse proverbs on love and marriage in three languages and determine the peculiarities of each culture expressed in these proverbs.
The objectives:
Study and analysis of literature on proverbs, their place among other linguistic phenomena and their characteristic features
Collection and comparative analysis of proverbs corresponding to the studied topic in three languages
Declaration of peculiarities in attitude to love and marriage characteristic to each studied language, as expressed in proverbs
The research question:
How the three nations are different and/or similar in their perception of love and marriage, as expressed in proverbs?
The hypothesis:
Though being relatively close, The English, Russian and Latvian nations differ considerably in their perception of love and marriage, which can be seen from the proverbs of these peoples.
The methods of research:
The study and analysis of popular and scientific literature on the topic
Comparison of collected material
The methods of data collection:
Comparative analysis of literature sources
Collection of material from the sources in different languages
The present research is based on the study and analysis of 22 bibliography sources, the essential ones being:
Kunin, A. (1986) The Course of Modern English Language Phraseology.
Antrushina, G. (1985) English Lexicology.
Mitina, I. (2006) English proverbs and Sayings and Their Russian Equivalents.
Bukovskaya, M. (1990) A Dictionary of English Proverbs in Modern Use.
The paper contains four chapters. The first chapter focuses on the notion of proverb, as understood on the common and scientific levels. The origin of proverbs and their difference from sayings are also considered. The second chapter gives an insight into phraseology and systems of classification of phraseological units (PUs). The third chapter focuses on proverbs as PUs and shows their distinctive features. The last chapter carries out a comparative analysis of proverbs on the studied topic in three different languages. The differences and the similarities between English, Russian and Latvian proverbs on the selected theme are also shown in the fourth chapter.…