Three Models for the Meaning of "Rolling Stone" Proverb

96 The following is an excerpt from my dissertation The Narrativization of Kazakh Proverbs: College Students’ Language Ideologies Concerning ‘Community’. This section shows three different ways to map the meaning of the proverb A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss. Building on the Basic Blending Model As we saw in Chapter 4, the basic blending model consists of the following three types of components (Fauconnier and Turner 2002, 46-48): 1. Input spaces: these show which categories of things are being brought together; 2. Generic space: this shows the relationship between the categories; 3. Blend: this shows the development of story that includes the blended categories and the elaboration of this relationship. I add what Turner has termed the “abstract story” to this model. According to Turner, the abstract story is what guides the application of the given proverb to a variety of situations (Turner 1996, 6). Although Turner discusses the idea of abstract story, he does not develop a mapping system to diagram its significance. For the sake of consistency, we will refer to that abstract story using the term from proverb research, base meaning. For the initial discussion of proverb mapping I use the English proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” I am doing this for three reasons: (1) Because the multiple meanings of the selected proverb have been researched and documented; (2) To help 97 ensure understandability for my primarily English-speaking readers; (3) Because the next section will use this same proverb to explore how it is worked into a larger story. We will only consider the proverb and its meaning at this point. After this section I will present a model with the blend. FIGURE 8 A ROLLING STONE: NEGATIVE This first diagram is based on Sacket’s article concerning the “rolling stone” proverb. He points out the aspects of the proverb which don’t fit a stone in nature: 98 “rolling constantly” and “gathering” (Sackett 1964, 149-150). In the map above I have underlined “rolling” as a description of the stone that does not fit our picture (that is schema1) of a stone. Sackettt briefly explores how the proverb being considered is made up of concepts from two different domains, namely “nature” and “people”. There are contrasting “families” of concepts which are brought together and which provide some of the key material in the proverb. Sackett provides non-metaphorical summary of the proverb that is the same as the base meaning. Based on Sackett’s discussion I developed the proverb diagram above. I matched up concepts in the two inputs. The lines between terms simply show there is a relationship. Then I summarized what the two inputs shared in common and put this in the “generic space”. Finally, I formulated the generic space, the key relationship between the inputs is “movement versus accumulation”. At this point, I have added the proverb as the “protoblend” and added Turner’s abstract story (the base meaning) to the diagram.2 I would like to present the maps for the other two meanings of the proverb “A Rolling Stone Gathers no Moss”. Figures 9 and 10 are based on Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s research (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1981). Between Figure 9 and 10 there is just one change made to one of the input spaces. Yet the minor change reflects a significant difference in perspective. “not gathering” is changed into “freedom (from gathering)” and with this change the generic space changes dramatically. Whereas in the first model there was “Movement versus accumulation” 1 A schema is a framework for understanding that describes what individual things are and do. 2 I should comment on the choice of geometric shapes. The circles are concepts and conceptual constructs. In contrast, the square is a normative statement. Proverbs are rhetorical tools that state general principles, but are applied to specific situations. Since they are rhetorical tools, they are used to persuade others and to present possibilities, rather than to be evaluated for truth-values as in the case of propositions. Proverbs are brought into play in order to convince others to follow a norm (Bartlotti 2000, 333-334). In discussing pedagogical discourse among the Mexicanos, Charles Briggs presents how the elders exhort younger hearers to “… internalize these values and reflect them in their behavior” (Briggs 1988, 93). Although proverbs may be connected with stories or even come across as a truncated story, they are not stories in and of themselves. 99 now there is “Movement is Freedom.” “Wandering” has not changed, but the perspective on the results of wandering has. FIGURE 9 ROLLING STONE AND FREEDOM 100 FIGURE 10 A ROLLING STONE: POSITIVE 2 The more noticeable change happens in the third conceptual model. Here a third input space is added. From the domain of machines come inputs of “operating” “machine” and “efficiency”. The addition of this particular input spaces brings with it the 101 metaphor that Lakoff and Turner have described as PEOPLE ARE MACHINES (Lakoff 1989, 132). With this change the generic space becomes “Constant Movement is Efficiency”. Here I have moved beyond Lakoff and Turner’s goal of uncovering key cultural metaphors and am using their terminology to compare and contrast different conceptual mappings.