Paremiological Analysis of Francisco Franco’s New Year messages

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the New Year messages delivered by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War and his mandate as chief of state (1937–1974) from a paremiological perspective to determine the frequency of use of proverbs in them and establish the characteristics and purpose of these paremiological uses in relation to the principles of the “National Movement,” the socio-political framework enforced by the francoist-regime. Although Franco’s speeches do not show a strong stylistic awareness, paremias find their way into them, usually as allusions to proverbial wisdom. In relation to this, some recurring items and themes have been found, among which, those with a religious origin or motivation stand out as the most frequent. This is coherent with the ideals that his regime imposed on the Spanish population during his rule and which will be commented on in relation to the paremias used and how they reflect those ideals.

KEYWORDS:

• Dictator
• Franco
• politics
• proverbs
• speeches

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See Colombi (1995), Carter (2016, 2017), Mieder (1982, Wolfgang and Bryan 1997, Mieder 2001, Mieder 2005, Mieder 2009, Mieder 2020), or Wolfgang and Bryan (1995, 1997).

2. Developmental disorders cause difficulties in the interpretation of figurative language (see Vulchanova et al. 2015). Franco’s personality evidenced some traits that made him a “deeply flawed individual” (Hodges 2002, 5) with the same “ideas and prejudices […] link[ed] to the sado-masochistic personality” (Hodges 2002, 4). Some authors point out his “folie des grandeurs” (Moradiellos 2018, 81) and narcissistic components (Viñas 2015, 58) typical of dictators. Hodges (2002, 3) agrees that he was “frighteningly cold,” and Palacios and Payne (2008, 535), that he was polite and correct but rarely friendly, whereas Preston (2008, 258–259) describes him as a “manipulator.” Furthermore, his “startling capacity for self-delusion” (Hodges 2002, 3), the lack of affection typical of his manners (Palacios and Payne 2008, 535) and the “use of terror” as a warfare and political tool (Preston 2008, 60–61) give an idea of Franco’s personality.

3. This proverb translates into English, loosely, as “there’s no ill that doesn’t bring some good”

4. P. Bourdieu (2018) offers valuable insights into how holding a position of privilege affects communicative exchanges, which is of special relevance in the case under analysis.

5. This proverb may be translated into English as “with blood, letters go in”

6. “No se sabe lo que se tiene hasta que se pierde” (Martínez Kleiser 1989, 180), i.e. “you don’t know what you have until you lose it” (own translation).

7. “A río revuelto, ganancia de pescadores’ (Cantera Ortiz de Urbina 2012, 55; Martínez Kleiser 1989, 539), i.e. “a stirred river is profitable for fishermen” (own translation).

8. “Si quieres la paz, prepárate para la guerra” (Cantera Ortiz de Urbina 2012, 708; Martínez Kleiser 1989, 562), i.e. “if you want peace, prepare for war” (Wilson 1970, 616).

9. See Honeck (1997), Mieder (2001), Mason Bradbury (2002), Billig and MacMillan (2005), Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen (2005), Lomotey (2019), among others.

10. All the speeches have been retrieved from https://prensahistorica.mcu.es.