A cross-cultural linguistic analysis of the gendered representations of “Wife” in Egyptian Arabic and American English Proverbs

Abstract

This study investigates how language, gender, and culture are intertwined in two purpose-built corpora of Egyptian Arabic and American English proverbs. It discusses the ideological representations of the potentially gendered term “wife” in such proverbs, as well as the cultural affinities and discrepancies around them. The study has methodically operated at three stages, drawing on theoretical insights from feminist critical discourse analysis and conceptual metaphor theory: (1) determining the frequency of Arabic and English proverbs that represent the social actor “wife” in terms of the various socio-cultural roles assigned to them; (2) demarcating and comparing the principal themes and ideologies associated with the proverbial usage of the lexical term “wife” in Egyptian and American cultures; and (3) describing the underlying source domains that conceptually underpin and discursively legitimatize such themes and ideologies. Results revealed that, firstly, not all of the social functions associated with “wife” are covered in the American-English corpus due to cultural differences regarding the concept of the extended family. Second, the Egyptian-Arabic corpus often portrays the social actor “wife” negatively. Thirdly, to control the public mind regarding gender power dynamics, both corpora shared certain source domains. The wife’s negative portrayals are also used to justify gender hegemony and keep women suppressed, marginalized, and stigmatized.