JoLIE 10:1/2017

 

Back to issue page

 

Abstract in English:

 

A PORTUGUESE-FRENCH LEXICO-SEMANTIC, MORPHO-SYNTACTIC AND PRAGMATIC STUDY OF PROVERBS AND FIXED EXPRESSIONS IN CONTEXT

 

 

Minh Ha Lo-Cicero

University of Madeira, Portugal

 

 

 

Abstract

 

Proverbs and idiomatic expressions are particular micro genres and they express their linguistic and cultural features. Obstacles represent big challenges to translators. Proverbs possess their stylistic, semantic, morphological and syntactic characteristics which are well defined.

(1) A ver se isto vai servir para alguma coisa que valha a pena, Tantas vezes foi o cântaro à fonte, que por fim lá deixou ficar a asa, [...]. (Ensaio sobre a Lucidez, Saramago, p. 48)

Espérons que ça servira à quelque chose, Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin son anse se casse, […]. (La Lucidité, traduction de Leibrich, p. 53)

[…] Do you think it’ll turn out to have been worth all the bother, The pitcher goes so often to the well that, in the end, it leaves its handle there, […]. (Seeing, translation by Jull Costa, p.38)

Bilingual proverbs almost coincide word for word. Fonte means À l’eau (to the water source).Que por fim lá deixou ficar a asa. is translated literally till the end, it leaves its handle there/qu’à la fin l’anse y était restée. The deixis lá (y) indicates the enunciative situation: l’eau à la source/a fonte. It underlies that ‘the handle is broken / l’anse est cassée’. In Portuguese, there exists its correspondence as well: «Tantas vezes vai lá o cantarinho à fonte até que quebra (qu’elle se casse/till it breaks)».

To insert this proverb in the narrative, the linguistic calculation seems to be easy. In Portuguese and in French, it is in the position of parenthesis – ‘incidence’.

(2) […] gostem dela ou não gostem, é pão pão, queijo queijo, [...]. (p. 64)

[…] que ça vous plaise ou non, j’appelle un chat un chat […]. (p. 70).

([…] whether you like it or not, is to call a spade a spade […]) (Seeing, p. 53)The example (2) illustrates the same concept: Portuguese uses the support of food whereas French uses the support of animal.

The bilingual canonical proverbs are:

Pão pão, queijo queijo (bread bread, cheese cheese): a nominal construction

Il faut appeler un chat un chat.: a complex sentence.

The use of the impersonal formis the common denominator.

Contextualised, the Portuguese proverb needs the verb é/est, whereas in French, it is in the1st singular person deixis: j’appelle un chat un chat.

There is a close semantic link between narrative or discourse and the proverb or the idiomatic expression. In these examples, one observes their special grammatical position in parenthesis or in parenthetical clause; it is not a coincidence as their role, as a syntactic unit, is to interrupt a larger unit (Oxford, Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, (2014, 3rd Edition). Enunciators use them to comment by means of evaluative or emotional modalities.

Elliptic proverbial style, words’ sonority, morphology and syntax in Portuguese and in French correspond: pão pão, queijo queijo/un chat un chat.

The contrastive analysis of proverbs and idiomatic expressions in context Portuguese/French in the novel “Ensaio sobre a Lucidez de Saramago /Seeing” will highlight the phraseology wealth between languages and cultures, symbols of civilizational identity. It also reveals the complexity of the translation operation from one language to another. It is a question of not distorting the meaning of the original Portuguese text; translating it into the target language requires the same language conditions in French. Lexis, semantics, morpho-syntax and pragmatics of proverb and idiomatic or set expression are essential in this study.

 

Key-words: Translation; Portuguese/French; Contrastive analysis; Proverbs/Idiomatic Expressions; Context.

 

 

Original title:

 

ÉTUDE CONTRASTIVE LEXICO-SÉMANTIQUE, MORPHOSYNTAXIQUE, ET PRAGMATIQUE,

PORTUGAIS « FRANÇAIS DU PROVERBE ET DE L’EXPRESSION FIGÉE EN CONTEXTE

 

 

References

 

Hornby, A.S. (2000). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (6th Edition). Edited by S. Wehmeier, & M. Ashby (Phonetics Editor). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Claver Zouogbo J.-P. (2009). Le proverbe entre langues et cultures. Une étude de linguistique confrontative allemand/français/bété. Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang.

 

Cortès de Lacerda, R., Cortès de Lacerda, H. da R., & Santos Abreu dos, E. (2000). Dictionário de Provérbios Francês Português Inglês, Provérbios franceses definidos por Didier Lamaison. Lisboa: CONTEXTO.

 

Cunha, C., & Cintra, L. (2002). Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo. Lisboa, Viseu: Edições João da Costa.

 

Dubois, J. et al. (1973). Dictionnaire de linguistique. Paris: Larousse.

 

Expression:Motus et bouche cousue. Retrieved August 2017, from http://www. expressio.fr /expressions/motus-et-bouche-cousue.php

 

Instituto de Lexicologia e Lexicografia da Academia Das Ciências de Lisboa, com o apoio do Ministério da Educação e do Instituto Camões e da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (2001). Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea Volume I, A – F, Volume II,G – Z, Verbo.

 

García Yelo, M. (2009). Sources parémiologiques françaises et espagnoles face à la traduction. In M. Quitout, & J.S. Muñoz (Eds.) Traductologie, proverbes et figements (pp. 81-98). Paris: L’Harmattan.

 

Greenbaum, S. (2000). The Oxford Reference Grammar. USA: Edmund Weiner.

 

Kouadio Y. (2008). Le problème du fonctionnement du proverbe dans la communication. Langues et Littératures, Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Sénégal, N°12. 77-87. Retrieved July 2017, from http://www.msions-africaines.net/les-proverbes-leur-contexte-dutilisation-leur-fonction-dans-la-societe/

 

Le Monde.fr. Citations par Dico. Retrieved September 2017, from http://dicocitations.lemonde.fr/proverbesdumonde.php

 

Matthews, P.H. (2014). Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

 

Montreynaud, F., Pierron, A., & Suzzoni, F. (2006). Dictionnaire de proverbes et dictons. Paris: Collection les usuels.

 

Riegel, M., Pellat, J.-C., & Rioul, R. (1994, Édition mise à jour 2016). Grammaire méthodique du français. Paris: Quadridge manuels, PUF.

 

Teyssier, P. (1984). Manuel de langue portugaise, Portugal – Brésil. Paris: Éditions Klincksieck.

 

Salles, A. (2010). La virgule de Saramago. Consulté le 30 juillet 2017 http:// www.lemonde.fr /disparitions/article/2010/06/18/la-virgule-de-jose-saramago 1375262_3382.html

 

Santos, A.N. (2000). Novos Dicionários de Expressões Idiomáticas, Português. Lisboa: Edições João Sá Costa.

 

Saramago, J. (2004). Ensaio sobre a Lucidez. Lisboa: José Saramago e Editorial, S.A Lisboa Caminho. O campo de palavra.

 

Saramago, J. (2004). Ensaio sobre a Lucidez, Prix Nobel de la littérature.(La lucidité translated from Geneviève Leibrich, 2006).Paris 6ème:Editions du Seuil.

 

Saramago, J. (2004). Ensaio sobre a Lucidez, Prix Nobel de la littérature. (Seeing, translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, 2007). London: Vintage books.

 

Silvano Galli, SMA. (17 January 2012). Recueil de proverbes tem-kotokili (Togo). Les proverbes : leur contexte d’utilisation, leur fonction dans la société. Regard sur l’Afrique. Retrieved 10 September 2017, from http://www.msionsafricaines.net/les-proverbes-leur-contexte-dutilisation-leur-fonction-dans-la-societe/

 

 

How to cite this article: Lo-Cicero, M. H. (2017). Étude contrastive lexico-sémantique, morphosyntaxique, et pragmatique, Portugais « français du proverbe et de l’expression figée en contexte. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 10(1), 121-138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2017.10.1.8

 

 

For details on subscription, go to: http://jolie.uab.ro/index.php?pagina=-&id=19&l=en