Dixon, Izabela and Harald Ulland. "He who sleeps…" formal and semantic typology of implication proverbs: a cross-linguistic study [In:] ICP16. 10 th Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Proverbs. Tavira: Associação Internacional de Paremiologia / International Association of Paremiology (AIP-IAP), 206-214. ISBN 978-989-98685-7-1. 'HE WHO SLEEPS…', FORMAL AND SEMANTIC TYPOLOGY OF IMPLICATION PROVERBS: A CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY Izabela DIXON, Koszalin University of Technology, Poland Harald ULLAND, University of Bergen, Norway Abstract Although some proverbs condemn those who indulge in sleeping too much: He who sleeps all the morning, may go a-begging all the day after, there are also many proverbial wisdoms connected with the beneficial effects of sleep; take, for example, such proverbs as: Sleep is better than medicine; The beginning of health is sleep; or Sleep is the poor man's treasure. In Norwegian, there is also a well known proverb claiming that if you are asleep, you do not sin: Den som sover, synder ikke. This proverb seems to have its correlates in many other languages, some of which will be investigated in this paper. These will include such languages as English: He who sleeps, does not sin; German: Wer schläft, sündigt nicht; Polish: Kto śpi, nie grzeszy; and Portuguese: Quem dorme, não peca. However, at this stage of the research it is difficult to say whether these proverbs are used to any extent apart from in Norwegian (and Danish). Although the origin of the proverb in Norwegian can be traced back to the Norwegian-Danish playwright Ludvig Holberg's 18 th -century satirical play Erasmus Montanus, the syllogism that explicates the supposed logic behind He who sleeps well does not sin is probably much older. Although the authors of the presentation will delve to a degree into the morality of sleeping and drinking, the paper will focus on the formal structure of implication proverbs as well as their semantic typology. Key-words: implication proverbs, morality (sleeping and drinking), semantic typology, syllogisms. Introduction Much is known about the benefits of a good night's sleep. Women, for example, treasure so- called beauty sleep, which they need to look radiant the following day. In general, a sound sleep has the restorative properties needed for another day's work. In terms of axiological charges, sleep may be found at either end of the positive/negative axis. As may be seen in the following proverbs, sleep(ing) may be valued in a positive way (+): Sleep is better than medicine. The beginning of health is sleep. Sleep is the poor man's treasure. In sleep all passes away. He that sleeps bites nobody. He who sleeps does not sin. In these examples sleep