This study is grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that integrates paremiology, cognitive linguistics, semantic theory, and pragmatics to examine proverbs related to the concept of mind. Paremiology views proverbs as fixed folkloric expressions that encode collective wisdom, moral values, and cultural experience in a concise linguistic form (Mieder, 2004). Within this framework, proverbs are not merely ornamental language units but function as cultural texts that reflect shared social cognition and worldview.
From a cognitive linguistic perspective, the concept of “mind” in proverbs is understood as a culturally constructed abstraction that is often conceptualized through metaphor and embodied experience. Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory provides a key lens for explaining how abstract mental processes—such as thinking, reasoning, and judgment—are mapped onto concrete domains, allowing speakers to understand cognition through culturally familiar imagery. Proverbs thus act as cognitive models that shape and transmit collective understandings of intelligence, wisdom, and rational behavior.
In addition, semantic and lexical theories are employed to analyze how meaning is constructed through word choice, metaphor, and evaluative language in mind-related proverbs. Semantic analysis helps reveal how mental attributes are positively or negatively evaluated, while lexical analysis identifies key vocabulary associated with intellect, wisdom, or folly (Cruse, 2011). These linguistic choices reflect social norms regarding acceptable and unacceptable cognitive behavior.
.webp)