FEATURES OF AESTHETIC SIGNS IN KOREAN ZODIAC-RELATED COMPARATIVE PROVERBS

Abstract

Aesthetic signs in Korean comparative proverbs having the structure t like B with t  being a verb refer to aesthetic material, which are the 12 animals in Oriental Zodiac and their typical action. The verbs expressing t in aesthetic signs include human actions and actions/movements of the Zodiac animals. Aesthetic signs with t being monovalent verbs (or those which do not require an object) include verbs of movements (e.g. go, walk, chase, jump), non-movement (e.g. sit, stick, shake, gather) and verbs of sound (e.g. talk, scream, yell, call). Aesthetic signs with t being bivalent verbs (or those requiring an object) include verbs denoting human basic daily activities (e.g. look, eat/drink, hit/throw, copy). Proverbs are expressed in very lively and clear manner, reflecting how Korean people think, feel and treat the world around in general and the Zodiac animals in particular.