A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF ENGLISH PROVERB LITERATURE (1400 -2000): A Book ReviewProf. Wolfgang Mieder, University of Vermont, Vermont

During the forty years that I have occupied myself with a multitude of paremiographical and paremiological issues, I have collected and read ten thousand international publications on proverbs. They are all listed in the four volumes of my International Proverb Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography (1982, 1990, 1993, 2001) and in my annual bibliographies at the end of Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship. I have also collected hundreds of printed proverb collections in many languages of the world, making my international proverb archives here at the University of Vermont a research center for international studies.

I can then honestly state that my life's work has been to establish a comprehensive research center for paremiography and paremiology. Over the years, I have attempted to put together books and articles and survey the rich field of proverb studies on an international level, and I hope that I have served the community of proverb scholars well. As I get older, I take great delight in seeing how a number of scholars throughout the world are taking up the torch of proverb studies. Their excellent work is continuing my efforts, and there is no doubt that some of it is also going beyond my efforts. That's the way it should be, and it is a wonderful and rewarding feeling for me to know that the future of proverb studies is in very good hands. Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar belongs to a circle of young and eager proverb scholars who are doing excellent work in paremiography and paremiology, and I most certainly commend and applaud the most recent fruit of Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar's untiring labors. His comprehensive study entitled "A Bibliographical Review of English Proverb Literature (1400-2000): Evidence for Karmik Linguistic Theory" is a scholarly masterpiece! While it reviews some of the most important scholarship on English proverbs, it also offers incredibly significant suggestions for research that needs to be done if we want to make progress as international proverb scholars. Paremiographers and paremiologists throughout the world need to read this inclusive and rich study. It will lead to much needed new research, and there is no doubt that Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar's intriguing study will be instrumental in breaking new ground for the ever fascinating field of proverb studies.

Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar begins his enlightening survey with a concise review of proverb literature as presented in major bibliographies, concluding that much more work is needed in the areas of functional and formal linguistics, the definition of proverbs, the holistic interpretation of proverbs, and the actual formation of proverbs from a socio- and psycholinguistic point of view. Next he includes a solid review of major Anglo-American proverb collections, stating quite correctly that there is no guiding theory on how best to put together proverb collections that are to serve various proverbial genres

and purposes. Theoretical discussions on the language of the proverbs, their linguistic plane, the genre of the medium in which the proverbs appear, the history and variation in their actual use, etc. are very much needed.

This is followed by a short overview of major inclusive studies on the proverb in English, notably the books by Richard Chenevix Trench (1853), F. Edward Hulme (1902), Archer Taylor (1931), and Wolfgang Mieder (2004). But Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar is primarily a linguist, and it is thus not surprising that the rest of his review deals with the state of linguistic research regarding Anglo-American proverbs. Above all he points out that more detailed studies based on formal linguistics ar needed: a holistic analysis of the syntax of English proverbs is lacking, the motivation for the metaphors of proverbs needs more scrutiny, the socio-pragmatic choice of syntactic structures must be analyzed, and the nature of variation in individual proverbs should be looked at from a dispositional point of view. Additional lexical and semantic analysis is also necessary if we want to understand the dispositional motivation for creating, quoting, and varying proverbs in actual speech acts and other contexts.

The next section deals with functional linguistics, where Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar presents compelling arguments for more work on the sociolinguistic, pragmatic, rhetorical (discourse, speech act), and cultural/anthropological aspects in the actual use of proverbs as strategically placed communicative signs. All of this is followed by some shorter but significant sections on cognitive linguistics, the definition problems of the proverb, generic analysis of proverbs, the study of individual proverbs, proverbs in literary works, and the methodology of collecting proverbs. I have no problem with Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar's own and informed proverb definition: "A proverb is a culturally confirmed frozen text of a prototypical practice used as an illocution over a categorical action in a setting for a projected view of life", or in short, "A proverb is a culturally frozen prototypical text (or illocution". Of course, as has been the case with hundreds of earlier definitions, even this complex statement is but an approximation of what proverbs really are and what they can achieve due to their polyfunctionality, polysituativity, and polysemanticity.

The section on the taxonomy is of special interest, since it is here where Chilukuri coins a new term for proverb studies, i.e., PROVERBIOLOGY. His argument is well taken: "It is proposed that a three fold distinction be made to focus more attention on the applied science of proverbs. In such a view, paremiography deals with the general and specialized collection of proverbs; theoretical or pure paremiology with the pure science aspect of proverbs and applied paremiology with the applied science aspect of proverbs. Finally, the entire discipline can be called proverbiology." It remains to be seen whether the term "proverbiology" will in fact catch on, but I might actually begin using it.

It is in the last section on the ontogenesis of proverbs where Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar makes some of his most important points, arguing convincingly that the actual formation of a proverb presupposes a number of factors: 1.

cognitive ability for prototypicalization and interpretation of social action for prototypicalization, 2. ability to extend prototypicalization property to linguistic prototypicalization of social action, 3. knowledge of proverb formation, application, comprehension, 4. ability to form proverbs as they are through the property of linguistic creativity, 5. co-ordination of the individual-collective interplay of standardization of the proverb, and 6. application of the general principles of beauty (symmetry and imagery), order, logic, and expressivity. In his detailed comments, Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar has much to say about causality and structuration of proverbs, standardization and application of proverbs, variation and adaptation of proverbs, as well as transmission and preservation of proverbs. In sum, "the formation, application, comprehension, retention, transmission, variation, adaptation, and preservation of proverbs is a multidimensional process that has to be holistically but not fragmentarily described for a clear-cut understanding of what proverbs are, why they are created, how, when, and where they are used." And finally, there is the absolutely convincing and correct statement that "there is a need for a new unified theory to account for the formal, functional, and cognitive linguistic properties of proverbs and that advaitha siddhanta (Chilukuri: add English translation!] can offer the basis for such a theory."

Bravo and thank you, Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar, for having provided proverb scholars with a concise and yet comprehensive review of English proverb literature, including a very useful list of significant references. Of course, this is much more than a review, since the study also includes ideas and directions for future scholarship. Many research desiderata are listed and explained, and I can well imagine that this study will bring about significant new studies that will lead us into exciting areas of "proverbiology". Once this study has been published, it will become required reading for my students, and I would suggest that all "proverbiologists" pay close attention to its insights and suggestions. Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar's ground-breaking analysis will without doubt bring about a giant leap forward in international proverb scholarship!

Wolfgang Mieder