ETHNOLEXICAL CODES IN AZERBAIJANI PAREMIOLOGY: CULTURAL MEMORY, SYMBOLIC MEANING AND SEMANTIC TRANSFORMATION
Authors
Hajiyeva Leyla
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This article examines the ethnolexical layer of Azerbaijani paremiology as a linguistic repository of cultural memory, social norms, and historically formed symbolic meanings. The study is theoretical and qualitative rather than corpus-based. Its material consists of Azerbaijani proverbs and sayings containing culturally marked lexical units such as papaq, qonaq, ər, ana, çörək, aşıq, and bazar, together with scholarly descriptions of ethnographic vocabulary, cultural codes, and paremiological semantics. Descriptive, semantic, contextual, and ethnolinguistic methods are used to determine how these lexical items function at denotative, connotative, symbolic, and value-oriented levels. The analysis shows that ethnolexical components in paremias preserve not only references to material culture and everyday life but also socially significant concepts such as honor, hospitality, family responsibility, motherhood, sacred bread, artistic tradition, collective accountability, and professional competence. The article argues that the ethnolexical component of a paremia often undergoes semantic expansion: a concrete object, profession, social role, or place becomes a cultural sign that organizes collective experience.
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Authors
Hajiyeva Leyla
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References:
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