Popular Proverbs in Southeastern Tunisia: Between Functions and Meanings

Abstract

Folk proverbs in Southeastern Tunisia represent a significant component of oral cultural heritage, serving as a mirror that reflects the Bedouin community's perspective on life, values, and social relations. These proverbs vary in content and function; they perform communicative and educational roles, conveying ancestral experiences in a simple and concise manner. Furthermore, they are utilized for instructional and directive purposes, employed to justify or criticize behaviors, or to urge individuals to adopt specific attitudes. On the semantic level, folk proverbs carry symbolic contents expressing the local environment, family relations, individual roles, and social status. These proverbs also reflect the community's perceptions of values regarding work, honor, poverty, and destiny. They are often formulated using metaphorical language and rhetorical structures that make them memorable and persuasive. Moreover, folk proverbs in Southeastern Tunisia demonstrate the local community's ability to interpret and interact with its reality through condensed artistic styles. They are not merely traditional sayings, but intellectual and cultural tools that transmit the essence of collective experience and contribute to constructing the cultural identity of Southeastern Tunisia. Through analyzing their functions and semantics, deep aspects of the region's socio-cultural structure can be understood.