Language objectification of marital relations in the english paremiological units

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of marital relationships objectifivized in English proverbs. The relevance of the work is determined by its anthropocentric direction, which corresponds to the general tendency of modern linguistics to study language as a factor in regulating social, in particular gender-specific human behavior, as well as an insufficient number of prior scientific studies in Ukrainian and foreign linguistics devoted to the investigation of ethnolinguocultural characteristics of marital relationships represented by English proverbs. The current stage of linguistics is characterized by the priority of studying the universal and idioethnic language peculiarities. Every nation during its functioning accumulates knowledge about the surrounding world, and as a result, its cognitive activity is reflected in the linguistic and paremiological pictures of the world. The paremiological picture of the world reflects the national and cultural identity of the people. The content of paremiological units, which update the notions husband and wife, made it possible to get acquainted with the peculiarities of creating marital relations in the British society. The proverbs revealing specific norms of husband’s and wife’s behavior have been chosen. Acording to the empirical material, a husband is considered as the head of the family, its supporter. The folk wisdom says that the main function of a husband is to provide for, care for and protect his family. The analyzed paremias allowed us to determine the degree of significance of such social roles as a husband and a wife in the English society. In the English linguistic consciousness, the notion a wife occupies one of the central places, since she is presented as a home guardian and the most precious treasure for a husband. The first place is put forward not the external attractiveness and a woman’s beauty, but her character traits and behavior that meet the established norms and rules of society. The presented proverbs are generally of didactic nature. They contain instructions, warnings, and advices aimed at forming strong marital relationships.