A Critical Handbook for the Karbi Paremiology

A ‘word’ constitutes a ‘world’ for it is through words that sensible people in this world strive to objectify their abstract thoughts and creative impulses. It is more so with that of the proverbs and so many other figurative symbolic and allegorical expressions loaded with deeper implications that people endeavour to paint a lively picture and concretize their cultural values that shape their unique worldview. Words become ‘signifiers’ and values representing the cultural ethos become the ‘signified’ and hence the proverbs and other figurative phraseologies assume the forms of more expressive signifiers as meaningful semiotic symbols. This book is seminal research work on Karbi Proverbs Adages and Maxims and various Proverbial and Idiomatic expressions nourished by the community since yesteryears and the typical cultural worldview that they seek to represent. The book also critically examines as to how the ‘paremilogical minimum’ deeply ingrained into the collective psyche of the community become not only the meaningful semiotic symbols but also soul-force of its unique ethno-cultural tradition.