Abstract:

Proverbs are wise sayings about life which have a rich cultural connotations. As proverbs convey wisdom, truth or morals, English as second language students in Malaysia are encouraged to use English proverbs in their essay. However, they face linguistics obstacles as there are various challenges and difficulties in applying proverbs. Thus, it is important to make a comparative study of English and Malay proverbs as it helps with English as second language teaching and learning. This study investigates the similarities and differences between English and Malay proverbs which are equivalent. A list of English and Malay common proverbs were randomly selected and analysed qualitatively by the researchers. A semantic and pragmatic analysis was integrated in explaining the differences in proverbs as cultural linguistics. The findings indicate that it is worthwhile to examine equivalent English and Malay proverbs. A detailed discussion and recommendations for further research are given based on the analysis.

Keywords:

English proverbs, Malay proverbs, ESL, comparative study, semantic analysis, pragmatic analysis.