Gender Stereotypes in Turkic Languages: Features of Phraseological Modeling

Abstract

Introduction. The article deals with phraseological means of modeling gender stereotypes that reflect certain femininity- and masculinity-related peculiarities observed in the Turkic languages. Gender stereotypes are a key category of contemporary gender linguistics. The typological study of gender stereotype modeling phraseological tools across a number of Turkic languages makes it possible to outline some linguistic and cultural features inherent to the phraseological representation of femininity and masculinity in Kazakh, Tatar, Bashkir, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz. Goals. The work seeks to describe linguistic and cultural features of phraseological gender stereotype modeling in the Turkic languages. Materials. The paper focuses on phraseological units contained in various dictionaries of the examined Turkic languages, in particular, phraseological, explanatory and bilingual ones. Results. The study yields a number of key theses as follows: 1) phraseological units serve as linguistic and cultural means of modeling gender stereotypes in the Turkic languages; 2) linguoculturological features of femininity and masculinity are represented in the investigated Turkic languages by various models of phraseological units containing characteristic components of cultural codes; 3) certain Turkic languages have a number of typological similarities and differences in the formation and representation of gender stereotypes, irrespective of actual genealogical connections between corresponding languages; 4) the study of phraseological gender stereotype modeling shall contribute to further development of gender studies and provide deeper insights into the phenomenon of gender in the Turkic worldview. Conclusions. The analysis of phraseological material shows the Turkic languages are distinguished by various ways of gender stereotype modeling, reveals some linguoculturological features of representing femininity and masculinity in genetically related languages characterized by certain similarities and differences in the formation of such stereotypes, contributes to the identification of priority components of linguoculturological codes that shape the peculiarities of gender stereotypes in Turkic languages. A significant part of phraseological units express gender stereotypes through the following components of cultural codes — astronomical, zoomorphic, somatic, vestimentary, gastronomic, color and physical ones — that are characteristic of each language and gender separately.

Keywords

• phraseology
• phraseological modeling
• gender linguistics
• gender stereotypes
• femininity
• masculinity
• turkic languages
• linguistic and cultural codes