Proverbs and stereotyped structures in language

Proverbs are traditionally described either as being a proposition or as be ing a name. In this paper, I shall concentrate on the second definition typ e and analyse Kleiber's proposal on that matter. Kleiber claims indeed that proverbs can be defined by taking into account the nature of the referenti al relation in which they enter. In this perspective, Kleiber makes of the referential relation by proverb a referential relation similar to that link ing a name to its referent. In this sense, proverbs should be considered in Kleiber's terms as a "metalinguistics" denomination. The first step of my analysis will consist in checking Kleiber's hypothesis by testing the validity of such a nominal conception of the proverb. This investigation will lead to a double conclusion. On the one hand, proverbs e xhibit referential specificities that are not shared by names. On the other hand, defining proverbs in purely denominative terms can be shown not to p rovide a satisfying picture of proverbial semantics. The second step of the analysis shall then consist in introducing the phrasal dimension that char acterises propositionalist approaches. The aim will be at that stage to put together the nominal and phrasal traits observed in all proverbial units. The last stage of my analysis will consist in describing an interpretive pr ocedure integrating the specificities of this double proverbial status.