provverbi

Provverbi is a theoretical framework and repertoire for studying proverbs and proverbial language. It aims to capture how figurative expressions function across languages by collecting representative items, their meanings, and contextual cues in a structured, reusable way. It is used in linguistics, folklore, and language technology.

Etymology: The name blends "proverb" with the Latin verbi, meaning "of words," signaling its focus on proverbial language and word-use patterns.

Contents and structure: A Provverbi entry typically includes the proverb in its original language, a glossed translation, literal and figurative interpretations, cultural notes, usage examples, and metadata such as region, register, and variant forms. Items are linked into semantic categories (metaphor, irony, analogy) and cross-referenced to related expressions to support cross-linguistic comparison.

Applications: The framework supports linguistic analysis of metaphor, translation studies, and educational tools. In computational linguistics, Provverbi items can be used to train models on idiom recognition, sentiment adapted to figurative language, and evaluation datasets for natural language understanding.

Criticism and limitations: Debates focus on definitional boundaries between proverbs, idioms, and fixed expressions; cultural specificity and potential stereotyping; and the challenges of compiling balanced, representative corpora. Researchers stress transparent criteria and ongoing updates.

See also: proverb, idiom, figurative language, cross-linguistic semantics, natural language processing datasets.