Norme et transgression dans les proverbes

Abstract

It’s generally admitted that proverbs point out a general rule, a current standard shared by a linguistic community. This community may be limited or spread, real or virtual, but in any case, the invoked rule appears to be law-like. Then, when a person uses a proverb to describe a particular situation, she indicates that this case is within the scope of the standard, that it verifies the underlying rule (Like father, like son, There
is no rose without a thorn…). However, another group of proverbs − certainly less frequent and more rarely studied − indicate exactly the opposite: they underline a transgression with regard to the standard (Don’t put the cart before the horse, You can’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs…). In these cases, the actions don’t take place in the right order, or the aimed person is not the good person for the action. By breaking the general rule, these proverbs (a) recognize its existence, which means for us an indirect way of validating it and (b) evoke at the same time another rule. In this work, these two strategies of validation are explained.