Book Review The Function of Proverbs in Discourse: The Case of a Mexican Transnational Social Network

The Function of Proverbs in Discourse: The Case of a Mexican Transnational Social Network. Elías Domínguez Barajas. ed. Joshua A. Fishman. New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 2010. 189 pp. ERIK AASLAND Fuller Graduate School of Intercultural Studies Elías Domínguez Barajas’ book is one of the few works by a ethnolinguist concerning proverbs. In addition to textual, interdiscursive, and speech community issues, he explores educational-societal matters. According to the author, educators’ thoughtful application of discursive techniques favored by ethnolinguistic minorities, in this case proverbs for Latinos, can help ensure the academic and professional success of members of these same groups. Proverbs are a nearly universal genre using culturally-specific metaphors. Often proverb research monographs describe proverb use in one location, whether a country, region, or city. Domínguez Barajas instead delves into proverb implementation in discourse among one extended family in their two locations of residence, the farming village of Janácuaro, Mexico and Chicago, U.S.A. Research concerning proverbs has been carried out by various disciplines with no individual field able to claim exclusive rights to the endeavor. Key disciplines in the research of proverbs have included anthropology, cognitive science, folklore, and psychology. Those who have attempted to limit the purview to one primary discipline have been left with a stilted presentation of proverbs. In contrast, Domínguez Barajas affirms and demonstrates a robust interdisciplinary approach to contextual proverb analysis. Topics addressed in the book such as migration, footing, language ideology, and innovation will be familiar to anthropologists. Although the author does not address these topics with these specific anthropological terms, these matters are at the core of his inquiry. Where a contemporary anthropologist would likely look to Asif Agha, Domínguez Barajas takes counsel from the likes of Roman Jakobson. Still, the topics he considers are vital to cotemporary linguistic anthropology and its shared efforts with related fields, as described in a recent article by Francis Cody (“Linguistic Anthropology at the End of the Naughts: A Review of 2009” American Anthropologist, 2010:200-207). Building on the work of Jakobson, the author posits three primary functions for proverbs: supporting arguments, teaching the younger generation, and enhancing rapport. There is substantial proverb research addressing the first two functions, but little on the matter of supporting group identity. The author attributes a wide range of sub-functions under “enhancing rapport”: overcoming generational gaps (p. 15), reinforcing shared values (p. 17), and expressing solidarity (p. 67). Domínguez Barajas describes the significance of proverb implementation in providing a place for discourse, effectively (re)creating “the social and cultural landscape of its place of origin” (p. 165) whether implemented in that place or a foreign land. Domínguez Barajas begins with an overview and discussion of the transnational network being investigated. He then focuses for two chapters on proverb meaning and use as part of discourse. Here he both affirms the approach of ethnography of speech and more recent explorations concerning intertextuality. Next, he presents two chapters on the cognitive processes involved in understanding and applying proverbs. His two points are: 1. that intelligence is based on both inborn capacity and learned linguistic competence; 2.that proverbs involve high order mental processes similar to those utilized in effective written communication. This section is followed by the author’s argument for changes needed in the educational system to harness the strength of discursive practices of ethnolinguistic minority groups. Next, he considers matters of rhetoric and proverbs, offering a summary of his “socio-cognitive discourse analysis” approach (p. 147) of how meaning is negotiated by means of proverbs. Finally, he wraps up the book in the epilogue, revisiting the educational-societal issues. In terms of both proverb research and cognitive science, the book is excellent, providing an accurate overview of each discipline’s strengths. His implementation of these same resources to analyze proverb contextualization in specific sections of discourse is also top shelf. A distinctive feature of his research is the resolution of structured dichotomies, abilities or disciplines that are assumed to be oppositional. Two specific topics stand out, the “orality literacy gap” (pp. 108-109) and perceived incompatibility between anthropology and cognitive science. Matters of orality and literacy as well as cognition and culture are paired in praxis, but often treated as dichotomous in research. For example, North American scholars have often considered oral tradition, such as proverbs, to be less advanced and have less potential than written communication, and on this basis have treated proverbs as an inferior form of communication. Domínguez Barajas, who has overcome structured dichotomies in both personal and academic life, demonstrates how these research paradoxes can be treated as complementary. This approach to resolving structured dichotomies is key in his effective use of paremiology (proverb research), anthropology, cognitive science, and sociology. What has been the basis of the dichotomizing perspective of anthropology and cognitive science? Domínguez Barajas is responding to Richard Honeck’s book in which he argued that anthropology’s adherence to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis makes it incompatible with cognitivist efforts to look at universally present cognitive capacities (A Proverbs in Mind: the Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997). Alessandro Duranti has argued that such a perspective confuses contemporary linguistic anthropology with research carried out before the early 1960’s (“An Historical Perspective on Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology”, Teaching Anthropology: Society for Anthropology in Community College Notes, 2000: 20-24) Thanks to Oona Schmid for recommending this article.. Thus the author shows how anthropology and cognitive science are crucial complements in researching proverbs. The author bases much of his anthropological approach on the ethnography of speaking approach. The seminal article by E. Ojo Arewa and Alan Dundes on the ethnography of speaking proverbs was written in the early 1960's (“Proverbs and the Ethnography of Speaking Proverbs”, American Anthropologist, 1964:70-85). One might ask how Domínguez Barajas advances proverb research beyond this point. Whereas Arewa and Dundes present proverbs as principally "they speak", didactic implementation of the ancestors' wisdom, the author concentrates on the function of proverbs to affirm and build group unity. While not losing sight of the importance of the didactic "they" element in proverb use, the emphasis is clearly on "we speak", thus presenting a new perspective to complement earlier research rather than seeking to dichotomize. Research that emphasizes “they speak” concentrates on the traditional aspects of proverbs and risks disregarding individual agency. In focusing on the use of proverbs to support and enhance group unity, Domínguez Barajas shifts the emphasis to the emergent use of proverbs, which is commonly referred to as “currency” in proverb scholarship. The author’s discussion of specific proverb usage in context stresses the creative and contextualizing process of using traditional speech. Let’s consider one proverb that the author analyzes. Martha and her husband, members of the family with whom the research took place, are discussing a situation in which Martha publicly rebuked her son-in-law for marital infidelity (p. 76). Martha’s husband asserts that the rebuke should not have been public. Martha offers the following proverb in her defense: “Cuando el santo necesita la vela, hay que prendérsela” [When the saint needs the candle, one must light it]. On the one hand, Martha has tradition speak on her behalf to support her actions. The authority of tradition deflects her husband’s criticism. On the other hand, she uses proverb’s capacity to generalize to suggest a new norm. Her creative use of a traditional saying calls into question the tradition of female reticence in the face of male immorality. Despite the book’s significance in advancing proverb research and demonstrating how anthropology can complement cognitive science in proverb discourse analysis, the book has two weaknesses. The author vacillates in defining the primary thesis, once stating that it is primarily about contextual analysis of proverbs (p. 147) and otherwise positing educational-societal issues as paramount (p. 4, 21). However, the key weakness of the book, which the author mentions in his delimitations (p. 21), is the mismatch between the population under consideration in discussions of educational concerns, which is youth, and the cultural consultants from which the data was collected, which were adults. However, Domínguez Barajas sets the stage for further ethnographic work, specifically exploration of Latino adolescents’ use of proverbs. Here, perhaps an investigation along the lines of Amy Shuman’s book on stories told by youth would be helpful (Storytelling Rights: The Uses of Oral and Written Texts by Adolescents, Cambridge University Press, 2006). On the basis of this new research, he could revisit his argument concerning the societal benefit of educators encouraging minority linguistic community members to use their preferred styles and genres of self-expression. This book will be of interest to anthropologists, folklorists, proverb scholars, cognitive scientists, and those in education. Fuller Graduate School of Intercultural Studies 135 N. Oakland Ave. Pasadena, CA 91182 erikstan@hotmail.com