Functions and Uses of the Sarawak Malay Proverbs

Abstract

Proverbs are the integral part of spiritual treasures of the culture and language of the people, the age-old wisdom and skills used by them. Proverbs are also an interesting pieces of popular wisdom and tradition belonging to any culture, which help us to foreground the values a shared beliefs held by a speech community. By applying Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory, this dissertation research aims to analyze the functions and uses of Sarawak Malays’ proverbs which up to now received very little attention amongst the local researchers. Besides, the application of this theory has successfully explains how the proverbs allow the speaker to express his or her intentions, feelings and insights in an implicit way and tacit manner. The findings demonstrate that the main functions of the Sarawak Malays’ proverbs are criticism, advice, warning, educating, sarcasm and insinuation which also reflect the wisdoms and wits of the Sarawak Malays. This research also offered an explanation of how the often ironical, metaphorical and figurative nature of the proverbs significantly affects their understanding. In addition, I have also studied the use of ellipsis in the familiar proverbs as well as found out the existence of various types of proverbs amongst the Sarawak Malays’ community. Ultimately, the conclusions of the research are to attain a better comprehension of the functions and uses of the Sarawak Malays’ proverbs