Shortened verbal narretive forms: Proverbs and idioms

Abstract

Although proverbs and idioms have been generated in "primary oral cultures", they still play a considerable role in modern urban life. It could be observed that proverbs and idioms are not frozen forms; on the contrary, they change in the course of time. For instance, this fact could be illustrated from the samples in the newspapers in which proverbs and idioms have been used in shorter forms. Although proverbs and idioms have been used in shorter forms in the newspapers and, readers fill in the blanks and perceive them as whole. In this respect, it could be claimed that a kind of "cultural code" has been used and this code has been shared and easily deciphered by the readers. In this regard, it could be argued that "shortened" proverbs form a kind of communication betweeen the reader and writer. Since the writers of newspapers leave blank spaces in proverbs to be filled out by the reader, they invite the readers to become a part of writings. Precisely, it could be shown from samples in the newspapers that oral culture still exerts it power in modern urban life in which writing has been already internalized.