
GENDER ASPECTS IN ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS: CULTURAL AND COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES
Maftuna Mukhammadieva Hamidullayevna ,Abstract
The present study explores the gender aspects embedded in English phraseological units through the lens of cognitive linguistics and cultural semiotics. Phraseological expressions are not merely linguistic constructs; they encode cultural values, social hierarchies, and gendered ideologies that reflect centuries of human experience. By examining idioms, proverbs, and fixed expressions, this research seeks to uncover how gender conceptualization is linguistically represented and how it mirrors the sociocultural environment of English-speaking communities. The study also briefly compares the English data to patterns observed in Uzbek phraseology, offering insight into how different societies linguistically encode gender roles. The findings reveal that English phraseological semantics is deeply influenced by patriarchal traditions and stereotypes, where men are often depicted as active, dominant, and rational, while women are associated with emotionality, passivity, and domesticity. These tendencies, though changing under the influence of modern social transformations, remain persistent in linguistic memory.
Keywords
gender linguistics, phraseological units, cognitive linguistics, cultural semantics, metaphor, stereotype
References
Babushkin, A. P. (1996). Types of Concepts in Lexical and Phraseological Semantics of Language. Voronezh: Voronezh University Press.
Cameron, D. (1998). Gender, Language, and Discourse: A Review Essay. Signs, 23(4), 945–973.
Dobrovol’skiy, D., & Piirainen, E. (2005). Figurative Language: Cross-cultural and Cross-linguistic Perspectives. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Kirilina, A. V. (2001). Gender Studies in Linguistics. Moscow: Academia.
Lakoff, G. (1975). Language and Woman’s Place. New York: Harper & Row.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mills, S. (2008). Language and Sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Safarov, Sh. D. (2011). Cognitive Linguistics. Tashkent: Fan.
Telia, V. N. (1996). Russian Phraseology: Semantic, Pragmatic, and Linguocultural Aspects. Moscow: Shkola “Yazyki Russkoy Kultury.”
Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pirnazarova, N. X. (2024). Language Learner Profiles and Krashen’s Hypotheses. Ta’limning Zamonaviy Transformatsiyasi, 10(1), 16-19. https://pedagoglar.org/03/article/view/4470
Pirnazarova, N. X. (2025). The power of gamification: transforming education into an engaging experience. Journal of Multidisciplinary Sciences and Innovations, 4(8), 444-445. https://doi.org/10.55640/
Article Statistics
Downloads
Copyright License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.