A Study Of English Proverb Memes From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Proverbs belong to a part of idioms and folk literature. Generally speaking, the language of proverbs possesses such features as being simple, concise, and vivid. Its rhyme is elegant and harmonious. Proverbs are the crystal of language and culture, the summary of life, struggle and experience, and cognition of the world. Proverbs are pregnant with wisdom, which begets enlightment for our life. Moreover, proverbs are characterized by race and they are a mirror of national culture.Proverbs play a critical and primary role in language and culture, which have been concerned by domestic and overseas scholars. They have done researches on them from several aspects which are the national characteristics of proverbs, the traits of language and rhetoric of proverbs, the classification of proverbs, the function of proverbs, the translation of proverbs and the contrast between Chinese and English proverbs. Granted that the cognitive linguistics emerges, numerous scholars study proverbs from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, but a few scholars study proverbs from the perspective of pragmatics.In the light of the reasons mentioned above, the thesis mainly studies the reasons why proverbs can spread widely and have long lifespan by combining Adaptation Theory with Memetics. To begin with, the thesis introduces previous studies on English proverbs overseas and at home and the general statement of English proverbs. Next, it elaborates the theoretical frame of this thesis. Subsequently, it elucidates the selection criteria for English proverb memes in the process of replication and transmission. Finally, it probes the reasons why most English proverb memes can propagate widely and survive for a long time from the perspective of Adaptation Theory which chiefly adapts to cognition, emotion and culture respectively.The thesis arrives at a conclusion via the mentioned studies above:English proverbs are a kind of meme in nature, which conform to the features of memes. Language memes like gene are a process of natural selection and survival of the fittest in the process of coming into being and development. Therefore, only those memes that adapt to the people’s needs can procure strong vitality and be passed on from one generation to another in communication.