Phraseology and motivation. Prototypical and iconic aspects of German and Balkan phraseologisms

Abstract

The main aim of the present paper is to compare flora and fauna phraseologisms
in German, originating from the North European linguistic
and cultural domain, with those from the Balkan region and to test
them in view of their motivational structure. To this effect, the Iconicity
Hypothesis by Charles Sanders Peirce and the Theory of Prototypes by
Eleanor Rosch are taken into account. The ultimate objective is to enquire
the purpose behind the motivation and to attempt the following
questions: a. Why is it so, that in German and in the North European
linguistic and cultural domain, der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm
(the apple does not fall far from the tree), while in the (South) Balkan
languages- ‘the pear falls under the tree‘ - (e.g. крушата под круша
паѓа (Macedonian), крушка пада под крушку (South Serbian),
dardha nёn dardhё bie (Albanian))? b. What is the reason for the fact
that in German we have the phrase eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen
Sommer (one swallow does not make summer), while in the Balkan
linguistic and cultural domain - ‘a swallow does not make spring‘,
(e.g. една ластовичка не прави пролет (Macedonian), jedna lasta
ne čini proljeće (Croatian), једна ласта не чини пролеће (Serbian))?
We based our hypothesis on the belief that the formation of
motivated phraseological structures is shaped by universal iconic and
culturally bounded prototypical aspects, e. g. climate, flora and fauna,
lifestyle etc. The findings clearly demonstrate that the contrastive analyses
of German and Balkan phraseologisms allow us to gain insight
into the iconic perspectivation and culturally bounded prototypicalisation
of phraseologisms.