AGE STEREOTYPES IN THE ANGLO-SAXON LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD: STATIC AND DYNAMIC ASPECTS

Abstract

The relevance of this work is due to the importance of age stereotypes for the life of society and the language picture of the world and the need to study the dynamic aspect of these stereotypes. Traditional age stereotypes are represented in proverbs correlated with this phenomenon and reflecting the axiology of age. However, these stereotypes cannot be considered permanent even within a certain linguistic and cultural community, they are subject to changes that can occur both over a long time and relatively quickly. The aim of the work is to identify the dynamics of age stereotypes in the Anglo-Saxon language picture of the world on the basis of comparing their representation in proverbs and English-language corpora. The comparative analysis of English proverbs and utterances in British and American corpora shows that most of the negative as well as positive stereotypes associated with youth and old age remain unchanged or are further detailed in the corpora. However, many new stereotypes are emerging, which is due to such factors as rapid technological progress, the emergence of digital technologies, the focus of society on intensive work and money-making, the tendency to youth obsession. New negative stereotypes concerning old age include increased fear of old age, disability, forgetfulness, loneliness, the need of older people for empathy, egocentrism. An additional positive stereotype is the stereotype about the love of old people for children. New negative stereotypes connected with youth include commitment of young people to bad habits, a tendency to crime, lack of perseverance, unwillingness to study, emotional instability, excessive haste, dependence on technology, leading to social isolation. There are also such new positive stereotypes as good adaptability, health and activity of young people, a large number of opportunities that are open up to them, rapid growth on the career ladder.

Keywords

• age stereotype
• proverb
• corpus
• anglo-saxon culture
• ageism