ENGLISH PROVERBS AND APHORISMS AS PAREMIOLOGICAL UNITS: COGNITIVE, PRAGMATIC, AND DISCURSIVE BOUNDARIES

Abstract

The relationship between proverbs and aphorisms remains a contested issue in paremiological and phraseological research, particularly where conventionalized expressions retain identifiable literary or philosophical origins. Although both categories are characterized by conciseness, generalized reference, and communicative reusability, their classification frequently depends on criteria that do not operate consistently across discourse contexts. This article investigates the linguistic relationship between English proverbs and aphorisms through an integrated cognitive-pragmatic approach. Drawing on established research in paremiology, cognitive semantics, speech act theory, and discourse conventionalization, the study develops a multidimensional framework for describing the intersection of proverbial and aphoristic properties. The research adopts a qualitative, theory-building design and applies close semantic and pragmatic analysis to ten purposively selected English expressions. The findings identify three analytically significant distinctions: the difference between authorship and conventionalization, the relationship between generalized meaning and contextual communicative force, and the contrast between inherited cultural authority and attributed intellectual authority. On this basis, the article proposes a five-dimensional model of paremiological positioning encompassing provenance, conceptual organization, pragmatic orientation, discourse circulation, and authority construction. The model challenges strictly binary classifications and treats proverbiality as a gradient property.