The linguistic view of woman in English and Polish proverbs
The aim of this paper is to present the linguistic view of woman in English and Polish proverbs. According to philosophers and linguists whose ideas shaped the concept of the linguistic worldview and cognitive definition, the language we use provides us with a specific interpretation of the world. Cognitive definitions should account for the way language users perceive particular phenomena. This article looks at connotative features encoded in English and Polish proverbs about women, which are sets of implicit judgments that build the linguistic stereotype of woman. The analysis of the material shows that the linguistic stereotypes of woman in English and Polish proverbs are to a great extent similar and predominantly negative. Yet, there are language specific differences concerning the overall attitude towards women, as well as relative salience of particular features.