Marriage Relations as Portrayed in British and American Proverbs and Anti-Proverbs

Abstract

The society tends to promptly respond to numerous social changes in the modern world. These changes are reflected in national cultures, customs, everyday and professional practices and, needless to say, in the language. Applying the continuous sampling method, the author selected gender-marked English proverbs (48) and anti-proverbs (48) containing the lexemes wife, husband, man, woman, bride, groom, and bachelor in order to discover gender role shifts in Anglo-American linguoculture. The dictionaries by A.T. Litovkina and W. Mieder (1999 and 2006) as well as The Penguin Dictionary of English Proverbs edited by R. Fergusson and J. Law (2000) were used. The descriptive and analytical method as well as definition analysis were utilized. The research revealed more negative female connotations in anti-proverbs compared with traditional proverbs. Wife proves to be the most active lexeme in the structure of proverbs and anti-proverbs, which indicates a strong social interest in the woman, her lifestyle pattern, model of behaviour, and moral values. At the same time, the image of the wife is more negative than the image of the husband, who is presented as a victim. These facts allow us to infer that both proverbs and anti-proverbs are mainly authored by men. Thus, it can be concluded that the androcentric worldview is still characteristic of the English and American societies.