Content area
Full Text
Keywords: Upper Sorbian language, Upper Sorbian phraseology, Upper Sorbian paremiology, national stereotypes, self-stereotype
Abstract
National stereotypes, as with any stereotype, are a simplified representation of the external world. These simplified images find their reflection and are preserved in the language, in words, metaphors, proverbs, and phraseology.
In Upper Sorbian paremiology a self-stereotype of the Sorb is found, a man who primarily sees himself in a positive light, as good, honest, devoted and faithful. A "true" Sorb is also hospitable and pious. The most important component of the sense of identity is, however, the linguistic distinctiveness, which is stressed in the proverbs and expressions.
The self-evaluation is formulated against a clear stereotype of the German, who is treated as a "foreigner", as well as a symbol of oppression. This stems from the common history and the co-existence of the two nations. However, the image of the German emerging from the Upper Sorbian proverbs is not exclusively negative. There is no ethnocentrism in the Sorbs' self-stereotype as, despite stressing their own positive traits, they are objective and have a critical attitude towards their own vices. A clearly negative feature of the Sorbs, which appears regularly in the collected material, is the imitation of German customs. In order to describe such representatives of the Sorbian nation a pejorative ethnonym Nempula is used.
1. National stereotype vs. self-stereotype
The question about the stereotype - is a question about nationality, it is - as has become customary to say - primarily a question about identity.
This brief statement by Karl Dedecius (1995: 280) highlights two important features of stereotypes: they are an essential factor in the integration of society, and they perform an important role in the shaping of national identity. Numerous researchers note a link between the concept of national identity and the concept of national stereotype (cf. Bluszkowski 2005).
Berting and Villain-Gandossi (1994: 11) point to other important aspects of the stereotype:
[. . .] the stereotypes are not concepts, but more or less general representations of social phenomena. Those representations are very often tied to linguistic topics (lexemes, or leximatical configurations), or verbalisations which evoke a halo of more or less confused associations or connotations, and the representations are always connected to value judgements.
Thus, stereotypes...