Analysis of the Translation and Interpretation of the Implicit

Meaning of Negation by Examples of Chechen Proverbs

Aina Abdulkhamidovna Musaeva

, Eliza Khizirovna Arsalieva

and Kheda Zaindievna Khazhmuradova

Chechen State University Named After A. A. Kadyrov University, Grozny, Russia

Chechen State Pedagogical University, Grozny, Russia

Keywords: Implicit, Negation, Proverbs, Interpretation.

Abstract: Proverbs have been considered as special patterns, displaying sometimes hidden meaning or suggesting

morality derived from a particular example. With the help of these paremic units, proverbs, convey feelings,

state of mind, or behavior. The article examines some ways of expressing implicit negation, as well as

methods of interpreting it using examples of Chechen proverbs. The main results of the study consist in

describing the mechanism of recognizing implicit meaning and identifying typical cases of implicit

negation, their translation and interpretation. The relevance of the study of this topic lies in the change and

diversity of approaches to conveying implicit disagreement, contradiction or refutation. The subject of the

study is the general meaning of the statements, which is formed taking into account the orientation to the

linguistic context. The aim of the article is to identify implicit (implicit) negation in various speech

manifestations of lexical units. Research methods: Chechen proverbs on the topic of research and ways of

translation into Russian and interpretation of implicit meaning.

1 INTRODUCTION

Recently, the study of linguistic negation has been

very popular among linguists. Detecting meaning,

the speaker includes consideration of both explicit

and implicit information. Denial is a central means

of conveying information in the communication

process. Charles Caleb Colton, an English writer and

collector, once stated, "knowledge is twofold and

consists not only in affirming what is true, but also

in denying what is false."

There are a number of measurement criteria by

which we can classify negative expressions into

groups. We distinguish between negation in asserted

meaning (explicit) and negation in unasserted

content (implicit). Explicit information, is

information that is explicitly expressed by lexical

units and grammatical forms. It is part of the surface

structural form.

The main role of implicit negation is also to

convey the negative meaning of an utterance. The

meaning of implicit-negative expressions in

proverbs is usually inferred from the context itself,

and thus we need to analyze the meaning of the

sentence before we can give an interpretation.

The issue of implicitness has been one of the

foundations of pragmatics, as evidenced by the

concepts of implicature, presumption, and the act of

indirect language, which have been at the center of

pragmatic questions for many years (Linguistic

Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1990).

Speaking of negation, we can highlight the fact

that any negative statement is a peculiar form of

reproducing reality in the performance of logical

connections between objects. Human thinking

cannot be realized without any logical operations of

negation, without verbal acts of objection, protest,

disagreement, and the establishment of differences

between objects. Based on this theory, it is possible

to assert that negation is the basis of one of the most

important categories of human cognition. S.D.

Katznelson writes that a description of any language

cannot be complete unless it reflects the implicit

categories of language and other elements of

"hidden" grammar (Katsnelson, 1972).

Interpretation of proverbs is constructed as

follows. When a proverb is uttered, the surface

meaning of the utterance is usually irrelevant to the

Musaeva, A., Arsalieva, E. and Khazhmuradova, K.

Analysis of the Translation and Interpretation of the Implicit Meaning of Negation by Examples of Chechen Proverbs.

DOI: 10.5220/0011602600003577

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Actual Issues of Linguistics, Linguodidactics and Intercultural Communication (TLLIC 2022), pages 73-76

ISBN: 978-989-758-655-2

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

situation or conversation at hand. However, thanks

to the presumption of optimal relevance, the

meaning of the proverb is not lost.

Potential meanings are potential implicatures that

may arise in context.

In fact, because the form is conventional

(conditional), like the idiom, the relevant meaning is

likely to be readily apparent to the listener in the

form of explication.

That is, saying the proverb will lead to the

explication, which is the underlying meaning of the

proverb.

Consider the following proverb:

Don't judge a book by its cover.

Relevance theory argues that communicative

utterances carry meaning through explicatures and

implicatures, which are related (but not identical) to

what is explicit and what is implied in the utterance

(Anikin, 1984).

This proverb is recognizable as a saying that

applies not only to books. Do not judge (something

or someone) by its appearance.

The basic meaning is an explication of the

proverb because it is a conventionalized meaning in

the lexicon.

When one listens to a proverb, it is the

implication that is usually the most meaningful part

of what is being communicated. Even though there

are several more or less broad concepts of

phraseology, scholars agree that proverbs form a

special class among phraseological units.

2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the process of translation, proverbs considered as

phraseological units or, better said, independent

texts, undergo various kinds of reorganization,

transformation or modification.

As noted by prof. I.Yu. Aliroev: "In no other

genre (as in proverbs and sayings) is the diversity of

folk life reflected with such brevity, strength and

accuracy: truth and lies, joy and sorrow, victory and

defeat, wisdom and stupidity" (Aliroev, 2001)

Our article is a study in the field of cognitive

linguistics and examines implicit meaning with

negation in Chechen proverbs. The material in this

article may contribute to the problem of the

relationship between language and thought and may

be of some interest to linguists, psycholinguists,

specialists in logic and philosophy.

Proverbs and sayings most clearly illustrate the

image, life and geographical location, and the

history and tradition of a particular community

united by one culture (Baisultanov, 2007).

And the interpretation of proverbs has no basic

meaning as part of its model, and each of the points

of view presented gives context an important role in

the interpretation of proverbs.

A proverb has many uses, which is one of the

reasons why a particular proverb may remain in the

language for generations.

It is much more important for the listener to

understand the strong implicature conveyed in a

particular context.

The use of a wide range of translation techniques

such as structural-semantic transformations, content

transformations and in-depth transformations makes

it possible to translate the national colouring of

Chechen proverbs into Russian and to preserve their

national-language specificity.

The problem of our further research lies in

revealing the communicative and functional

characteristics of negative utterances and

constructions with "non-mainstream" implicit

(hidden, implicit, implicit) means of language,

combined with the expression of other functional-

semantic categories.

As domestic and foreign researchers write, the

laws governing the functioning of language means in

various spheres of communication cannot be

immutable, especially in such cases when we are

talking about semantic intertwining, the

interpenetrability of different functional styles, the

absence of clear boundaries in the stylistic coloring

of different units. All this affects the variability of

the principles of linguistic selection for the creation

of a particular text (Razinkina, 1989).

According to V.Yu. Gireeva, not a grammatical

principle is for proverbs and sayings are

differentiating, but interacting (Gireev, 1980).

The more widespread and generally accepted

definition of negation among linguists is that

proposed by A. M. Peshkovsky, which consists in

"expression through all possible linguistic means"

(Peshkovsky, 1956).

In accordance with the structure and semantic

specificity of negation, it is the representation of

cognition by the means of language that is peculiar

to us. And to the question, is there a language in the

world in which there are no forms of negation? We

answer that there is no language in which no form of

negation is found. This fact, according to V.A.

Plungian, predetermines the role of negation as one

of the components of the so-called "universal

grammar set" (Plungian, 2011).

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Proverbs are functionally limited by the

framework of a certain content structure. This is due

to the implicit nature of implicit negation, which

allows us to avoid direct negation or denial, which

can sometimes be offensive to the interlocutor.

Implicit negation makes the process of

communication "smoother," because with it, the

people involved in the communication indirectly

express denial or contradiction.

Implicit negative statements occur through a

number of words that do not actually carry negation

in their semantic meaning, but in some cases of

affirmative statements they may still contain

negative meaning expressing disagreement or

rejection, which do not actually express negation in

their meanings, but are evaluative lexical units and

may express a weak degree of reality or realization

of a feature of an event or fact (Table 1).

3 CONCLUSIONS

In natural language, there is a rich selection of ways

and means that we can use to classify explicit

negative statements.

If we express negation through implicit

privatives, then the meaning of the whole idea of the

manifestation of negation, occurs in the complete

absence of its formal expression.

Implicit negation is a method by which people

Table 1: Implicit opposition of different visions of objects and events of the world.

Example Translation Interpretation

1. Далла хууш дерг — нахана ца

хиъча ца долу

What God knows cannot be hidden

from people

The point of this example is that sooner or later

everything will be revealed, nothing will remain

secret.

(The meaning of this example is that sooner or

later everything will be revealed)

2. Довха худар даа а дац aттa It's not easy to eat hot porridge, either. This example expresses the unreality of

accomplishing an event without any effort.

3. Барзах кхийринчу 1уьнан жа

ца дебна

The shepherd, who was afraid of the

wolf, had no flock to multiply.

The point of this example is the impossibility of

doing something without taking the risk of trying

it.

4. Б1аьргана гинарг тешаме ду,

лергана хезначул

What the eye sees is truer than what

the ear hears.

This example speaks of the implicit negative

meaning that there is no truth in what one hears

until one sees and is convinced of it for oneself.

(Russian equivalent - better to see once than to

hear a hundred times).

5. Ненан оьг1азло ло санна ю:

дуккха а дог1а, амма сиха деша

A mother's resentment is like the snow

that goes on long, but melts quickly.

This example refers to the mother's inability to

hold a grudge against her child for long; that is,

the mother's grudge passes quickly, as does the

melting snow.

6. Хаза йо1 тиша коч йоьхча а,

товш хуьлу.

Beautiful girl and in an old dress is

good.

The point of this example is that it is not the

clothes that make a person beautiful (Russian

equivalent - beauty cannot be spoiled by

anything).

7. Кхеравелча хиндерг, кхера ца

велча а хир ду

What's destined to come true whether

you're afraid or not.

This example tells us that we should not fear any

action, because everything is already decided, and

fear or fearlessness have no effect on the outcome

of an action. Like - What must be must be.

8. Нанас берана тохале, шен

куьга к1ела г1айба буьллу

Before hitting the child, the mother

puts a pillow under his palm.

This example denies hurting her child, even if the

mother does hit her child (i.e., the mother cannot

hurt her child enough for the child to suffer).

9. Да левинчо нана а юхку He who deceives his father will sell his

mothe

Talk about betrayal, about meanness, about the

inability to be faithful or loyal to anyone.

9. Да-нана цалеринарг наха а ца

лерина

Whoever disrespected his parents

disrespected people.

The possibility of being recognized is denied,

while he himself did not recognize the most

related people (i.e., the person humiliated

himself).

11. Ненан дов до1а Mother's scolding – prayer. The negative attitude of the mother towards her

child is denied, but rather, on the contrary, it

protects from the bad.

12. К1елахь г1ура йоцуш, 1ам

т1ехь ша бийр бац.

Without permafrost at the bottom, the

lake will not be covered in ice.

This example expresses the meaning that nothing

happens without a reason.

(Russian equivalent: There is no smoke without

fire).

Analysis of the Translation and Interpretation of the Implicit Meaning of Negation by Examples of Chechen Proverbs

can convey their opinions when they disagree or do

not fully agree with their interlocutor, but without

directly voicing their disagreement or rejection. It

can be considered as a process by which

compromise is achieved while avoiding dispute,

aggression, and disagreement (Musaeva, 2012).

A number of the above examples show that in

proverbs implicit negation differs in its composition

as a whole from traditional negation. In particular, it

is generated by the base in its structure of semantic

negation.

So, having analyzed the material, we argue that

there is no need for direct markers of negativity to

express implicit negation. However, implicit

information is part of the meaning intended to be

understood by the interlocutor.

REFERENCES

Razinkina, N. M., 1989. Functional Stylistics. p. 177.

Peshkovsky, A. M., 1956. Russian Syntax in Scientific

Illumination. p. 144.

Plungian, V. A., 2011. Introduction to Grammatical

Semantics: Grammatical Values and Grammatical

Systems of the World's Languages. p. 183.

Linguistic Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1990. p. 682.

Katsnelson, S. D., 1972. Typology of Language and

Speech Thinking. p. 213.

Musaeva, A. A., 2012. Semantics and functions of

negation in English-language publicist discourse.

Dissertation of Candidate of Philological Sciences. p.

170.

Gireev, V., 1980. Structural and semantic features of

Vainakh proverbs and sayings. The Vainakh

synthsyntax questions.

Baisultanov, D., 2007. Chechen proverbs and sayings of

idiomatic nature in the Chechen language.

Aliroev, I., 2001. The Chechen Language.

Anikin, V. P., 1984. The Old Russian Proverbs and

Sayings.

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