Androcentrism in English proverbs as a result of gender stereotypes verbalization

Ostapenko Anna Borisovna

The article presents a study of gender stereotypes in English proverbs. The peculiarities of gender in linguistics show the dominant position of male forms, which implies linguistic asymmetry. Comparative analysis of semantic fields "masculine" – "feminine" in English proverbs revealed a tendency to androcentricity and dominance of masculine forms in the function of socialization, as well as a lower assessment of female qualities in relation to male. There is a need to create gender-neutral lexical structures and careful use of folklore heritage in everyday discourse in order to promote the formation of a conflict-free communicative field.

Keywords:gender, asymmetry, androcentrism, gender stereotypes, verbalization, paremia, gender-neutral, semantic field.