A Proverb in Mind : The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 320 pages
• Published by: Lawrence Erlbaum
• Edition: 1st Edition June 1, 1997
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0805802312
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0805802313
• Book Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

Product Review


Honeck has reviewed what we know about proverbs and, just as importantly, as he did almost twenty years ago, he has given us a roadmap for further explorations in figurative language.
—American Journal of Psychology

This book is very much needed. It is well argued and researched and will introduce scholars and students of the proverb to the fascinating discoveries which cognitive scientists have achieved regarding proverbs. Professor Honeck makes the complex theories of language and cognition accessible to readers from many fields and various backgrounds in a readable, understandable, and enjoyable style. The book is a joy to read, finding a perfect balance between scholarly and readable language.
—Wolfgang Mieder
University of Vermont

Product Description
SEE SHORT BLURB FOR ALTERNATE COPY A complex, intriguing, and important verbal entity, the proverb has been the subject of a vast number of opinions, studies, and analyses. To accommodate the assorted possible audiences, this volume outlines seven views of the proverb -- personal, formal, religious, literary, practical, cultural, and cognitive. Because the author's goal is to provide a scientific understanding of proverb comprehension and production, he draws largely on scholarship stemming from the formal, cultural, and cognitive views.

The only book about proverbs that is written from the standpoint of cognitive science, cognitive psychology, and experimentalism, this text provides a larger, more interdisciplinary perspective on the proverb. It also gives a theoretically more integrated approach to proverb cognition. The conceptual base theory of proverb comprehension is extended via the "cognitive ideals hypothesis" so that the theory now addresses issues regarding the creation, production, and pragmatics of proverbs. This hypothesis also has strong implications for a taxonomy of proverbs, proverb comprehension, universal vs. culture-specific aspects of proverbs, and some structural aspects of proverbs.

In general, the book extends the challenge of proverb cognition by using much of what cognitive science has to offer. In so doing, the proverb is compared to other forms of figurative language, which is then discussed within the greater rubric of intelligence and the inclination for using indirect modes of communication. Child developmental and brain substrates are also discussed.


Reader Reviews
I am ultimately pleased and honoured by the chance to be the very first reviewer of "A Proverb in Mind" by Professor Richard P. Honeck at Amazon, and ultimately surprised to be its very first reviewer in the year 2000 as the book was published already in 1997 and as it is, to my mind, one of the best books ever written about proverbs, a kind of quintessence of the author's earlier works on proverbs. The language Honeck uses in his book is "clear and simple as the truth" and its thematic scope is exhaustively wide, embracing tropes, structure, communicative and social context of proverbs, as well as their cognitive, psychological and other aspects. The book is in its essence and approach definitely cognitivistic, but Honeck dares to deflect the generally accepted cognitivist orthodoxy wherever he regards it reasonable. The cited material covers a wide selection of works from various disciplines, and what is especially amusing for me as a paremiologist - Honeck does not neglect or ignore the "usual" paremiology, as American cognitivists generally do, and cites calmly not only Wolfgang Mieder, but also B.J. Whiting, Matti Kuusi, Grigori Permjakov, Peter Grzybek, and what is particularly noteworthy, even me :-) I think "A Proverb in Mind" is a creatively stimulating opus for both paremiologists and cognitivists, a magnificent schoolbook for university students, and an excellent deep, but understandable reading for whoever interested in proverbs.