Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society: Online-First Articles

Representation of women in English and Persian proverbs

A Cultural-Linguistic perspective

ORCID logo | Gonbad Kavous University
ORCID logo | Fujian Normal University

The present study aims to investigate the portrayal of women in English and Persian proverbs using the multidisciplinary field of Cultural Linguistics as an alternative to critical discourse analysis. Utilizing a corpus analysis approach for Cultural Linguistics (Jensen 2017), 124 English and 186 Persian proverbs representing the theme of ‘woman’ were compared and contrasted cross-culturally. Results of grounded-theory driven analysis revealed: (a) while various cultural schemata and cultural metaphors reflecting both dark and bright sides of women in proverbs were unveiled, only one cultural category in Persian proverbs with no similar instance in English proverbs was revealed; and (b) in some English and Persian proverbs, interpreting cultural schemas predicates upon eliciting and understanding the cultural metaphors hidden in the proverbs. The results are discussed with reference to the potentiality of Cultural Linguistics as an analytical framework for paremiology that can provide an in-depth interpretation of proverbs as a culturally-loaded discourse.

Keywords: paremiology, cultural linguistics, cultural conceptualizations, women representation, English/Persian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Proverbs and their nature
    • 2.2Representation of women in proverbs
      • 2.2.1Women in proverbs: Comparative paremiology
      • 2.2.2Women in proverbs: Descriptive paremiology
    • 2.3Cultural Linguistics
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2Analytical framework
    • 3.3Procedure
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Cultural schema of woman in English and Persian proverbs
    • 4.2Cultural metaphors of woman in English and Persian proverbs
    • 4.3Cultural categories of woman in English and Persian proverbs
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 1 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.21019.dab
References (60)
Afifi, Rahim
1992 Proverbs and Mottos in the Phenomas of 3rd-11thHijra Centuries’ Poets. Tehran: Soroush. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Andersson, Daniel
2012 “ ‘Courting is Like Trading Horses, You Have to Keep Your Eyes Open’: Gender Related Proverbs in a Peasant Society in Northern Sweden.” Journal of Northern Studies 6 (2): 9–36.Google Scholar
2013 “Understanding Figurative Proverbs: A Model Based on Conceptual Blending.” Folklore 124 (1): 28–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ansah, Gladys N.
2017 “Cultural Conceptualizations of DEMOCRACY and Political Discourse Practices in Ghana.” In Advances in Cultural Linguistics, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 369–387. Singapore: Springer Nature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anscombre, Jean-Claude
2000 The Proverbial Speech Languages. Paris: Larousse. (In French)Google Scholar
Baxter, Judith
2003 Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
1998 Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Burr, Vivien
1995 An Introduction to Social Constructionism. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Connor, Ulla, and Moreno, Ana I.
2005 “Teritium Comparationis: A Vital Component in Contrastive Research Methodology.” In Directions in Applied Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Robert B. Kaplan, ed. by Paul Bruthiaux, Dwight Atkinson, William. G. Eggington, William Grabe, and Vaidehi Ramanathan, 153–164. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dabbagh, Ali
2017 “Cultural Linguistics as an Investigative Framework for Paremiology: Comparing Time in English and Persian.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 27(3): 577–595. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dabbagh, Ali, and Noshadi, Mahdi
2015 “An Interpretation into the Significance of ‘Time’: The Case of English and Persian Proverbs.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5(12): 2581–2590. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dehgan, Bahman
2004 The Comprehensive Dictionary of Persian Proverbs. Tehran: Assar Publications. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Derakhshan, Ali, Dabbagh, Ali, and Shakki, Farzaneh
In press. “Conceptualizations of Homeland in Rumi’s Poetry: A Cultural Linguistics Approach.” In The Handbook of Cultural Linguistics ed. by Alireza Korangy xxx xxx Springer Nature
Diabah, Grace, and Amfo, Nana Aba Apiah
2015 “Caring Supporters or Daring Usurpers? Representation of Women in Akan Proverbs.” Discourse & Society 26 (1): 3–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frank, Roslyn. M.
2015 “A future agenda for research on language and culture.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 493–512. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gaby, Alice
2017 “Kinship Semantics: Culture in the Lexicon.” In Advances in Cultural Linguistics, edited by Farzad Sharifian, 173–188. Singapore: Springer Nature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ghobadi, Alireza
2013 “Folklore: An Instrument for Cultural Studies.” Quarterly Journal of Iranian Association for Cultural Studies & Communication 30 (9): 155–78. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Glushko, Robert J., Maglio, Paul, Matlock, Teenie, and Barsalou, Lawrence. W.
2008 “Categorization in the Wild.” Trends in Cognitive Science 12 (4): 129–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gorjian, Bahman, and Molonia, Shiva
2004 A Comprehensive Bilingual English-Persian Dictionary of Proverbs. Tehran: Moatabar. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Granbom-Herranen, Lissa
2010 “Women’s Place in Finish Proverbs from Childhood.” Electronic Journal of Folklore 461: 93–108.Google Scholar
Hedayat, Sadegh
2001 Folklore of Iranian People. Tehran: Cheshmeh. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Honeck, Richard P. A.
1997 A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Jensen, Kim E.
2017 “Corpora and Cultural Cognition: How Corpus-Linguistic Methodology Can Contribute to Cultural Linguistics.” In Advances in Cultural Linguistics, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 477–506. Singapore: Springer Nature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kecskes, Istvan
2006 “On My mind: Thoughts about Salience, Context and Figurative Language from a Second Language Perspective.” Second Language Research 22 (2): 219–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kerschen, Lois
1998 American Proverbs about Women: A Reference Guide. Greenwood publishing group: Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George, and Johnson, Mark
1980 Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lauhakangas, Outi
2001 The Matti Kuusi International Type System of Proverbs. FF. Communications 275. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica.Google Scholar
Lazar, Michelle M.
2007 “Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Articulating a Feminist Discourse Praxis.” Critical Discourse Studies 4 (2): 141–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liontas, John. I.
2007 “The Eye Never Sees What the Brain Understands: Making Sense of Idioms in Second Languages.” Lingua et Linguistica 1 (2): 25–44.Google Scholar
2015 “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Idiomaticity Revisited.” In Bilingual Figurative Language Processing, ed. by Roberto R. Heredia and Anna B. Cieślicka, 301–40. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 “Proverbs and Idioms in Raising Cultural Awareness.” In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, ed. by Liontas, John. I., T. International Association, and Margo DelliCarpini, John Wiley and Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lu, Wei-lun
2017 “Cultural Conceptualizations of DEATH in Taiwanese Buddhist and Christian Eulogistic Idioms.” In Advances in Cultural Linguistics, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 49–64. Singapore: Springer Nature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mac Coinnigh, Marcas
2014 “Structural Aspects of Proverbs.” In Introduction to Paremiology: A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies, ed. by Hrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt, and Melita A. Varga, 112–132. Warsaw: Mouton De Gruyter Open Ltd.Google Scholar
Masoomi, Mohsen, and Rahiminejad, Vida
2013 “Woman and Gender Proverbs.” Persian Language and Literature Quarterly Journal 4 (11): 135–158. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Mieder, Wolfgang
2008 Proverbs Speak Louder than Words: Wisdom in Art, Culture, Folklore, History, Literature and Mass Media. York: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mousavi, Mohammad
1963 A Versified Dictionary of Farsi Proverbs and their English Equivalents. Tehran: Jahan Rayaneh.Google Scholar
Nakhavaly, Fekhteh, and Sharifi, Shahla
2013 “On Sex Discrimination in Persian Proverbs.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 3 (1): 195–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ncube, Bhekezakhe, and Moyo, Thamsanqa
2011 “Portraying Women as the Other: Ndebele Proverbs and Idioms in the Context of Gender Construction.” Africana 5 (3): 126–142.Google Scholar
Norrick, Neal R.
2014 “Subject Area, Terminology, Proverb Definitions, Proverb Features.” In Introduction to Paremiology: A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies, ed. by Hrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt, and Melita A. Varga, 7–27. Warsaw: Mouton De Gruyter Open Ltd.Google Scholar
Palmer, Garry B.
1996 Toward a Theory of Cultural Linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Partovi Amoli, Mehdi
2000 Historical Roots of Proverbs. 21 vols. Tehran: Sanaii. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Post, Emily. R., and Macfarlan, Shane J.
2020 Tracking Cross-Cultural Gender Bias in Reputations. Cross-Cultural Research 54 (4): 346–363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rasul, Sarwet
2015 “Gender and Power Relationships in the Language of Proverbs: Image of a Woman” FWU Journal of Social Sciences 9 (2): 53–62.Google Scholar
Shafaghi, Maryam, and Tamimdari, Ahmad
2014 “Linguistic comparative investigation of expressions about useless tasks in Russian and Persian.” Language Related Research 17 (1): 107–26. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Sharifian, Farzad
2011 Cultural Conceptualizations and Language: Theoretical Framework and Applications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Cultural Linguistics.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 473–492. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2017 Cultural Linguistics: Cultural Conceptualizations and Language. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2020 Cultural Linguistics and Poetry: The Case of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. International Journal of Persian Literature 5 1: 21–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharifian, Farzad, Dirven, R. René, Yu, Ning, and Niemeier, Susanne
eds. 2008 Culture, Body, and Language: Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharifian, Farzad, and Tayebi, Tahmineh
2017 “Perception of (Im)politeness and the Underlying Cultural Conceptualizations: A Study of Persian.” Pragmatics and Society 8 (2): 231–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shi-xu
2012 “A Multicultural Approach to Discourse Studies.” In The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, ed. by. James P. Gee, and Michael Handford, 642–653. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stewart, John. R., Gapenne, Olivier, and Di Paolo, Ezequiel A.
(eds) 2011 Enaction: Towards a New Paradigm in Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sunderland, Jane
2004 Gendered Discourses. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sutton, John
2006 “Introduction: Memory, Embodied Cognition, and the Extended Mind.” Philosophical Psychology 19 (3): 281–289. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Underhill, James. W.
2012 Ethnolinguistics and Cultural Concepts: Truth, Love, Hate and War. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Shifeng
2012 “On Sex Discrimination in English Proverbs and their Translation.” Lecture Notes in Information Technology 16–171: 150–153.Google Scholar
Wolf, Hans-Georg
2017 “De-escalation-A Cultural-Linguistic View on Military English and Military Conflicts.” In Advances in Cultural Linguistics, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, 683–702. Singapore: Springer Nature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zahedi, Keivan, and Imani, Asieh
2012 “Woman in English Proverbs: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach.” Critical Language and Literary Studies 4 (7): 81–113. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Zolfaghari, H.
2009 The Big Dictionary of Persian Proverbs. Tehran: Moein. (In Persian)Google Scholar
2015 Folk Beliefs of Iranian People. Tehran: Cheshmeh. (In Persian)Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by 1 other publications

Latić, Denisa, Frank Polzenhagen, Hans‐Georg Wolf & Arne Peters
2024. A research bibliography for World Englishes and Cultural Linguistics. World Englishes DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.