Haiping Lin

Haiping Lin

Oct. 31, 2026

Proverbs, Paremiology, Phonological rhetoric, French, Chinese, Contrastive linguistics.

Proverbs are short and fixed expressions which often have particular phonological forms. Rhyme, repetition of consonants or vowels, similarity of sounds and regular rhythm can be found in both French and Chinese proverbs. However, French and Chinese have different phonological systems, and these rhetorical forms are not used in the same way. This paper makes a contrastive study of phonological rhetoric in French and Chinese proverbs. The examples are selected mainly from French and Chinese proverb dictionaries and databases. The study focuses on alliteration, paronomasia, antanaclasis, assonance, rhyme and rhythm. The results show that alliteration and paronomasia are particularly noticeable in French proverbs, while Chinese proverbs make frequent use of finals, rhyme and balanced syllabic structures. Assonance and rhythmic organization are important in both languages. The comparison also shows that similar rhetorical effects may be produced by different phonological means in French and Chinese.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

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