Jak nie ma w domu chłopa, zgłupieje i Penelopa – męskość i żeńskość w polskiej leksyce i frazeologii o proweniencji mitologicznej

Abstract

The proposed description of mythology-based lexemes and phrases is situated in the area of cultural linguistics and attempts to confirm again that the Polish language is a repository of cultural ideas, among which a stereotypical image of woman and man is an important element. The language units under study were grouped semantically and pragmatically into those mythology-based phrasemes, which (i) are only used to talk about one gender (only women or only men), (ii) are used to discuss both women and men (sometimes one gender more often), and (iii) are not used to discuss gender directly. Examples drawn from the first two groups, perused by means of linguistic, cultural, and axiological analysis, broaden our knowledge of the image of women and men which is coded into and preserved in Polish lexical and phraseological stock, insofar as that image is asymmetrical and dependent on social conditions. The asymmetry can also be seen in the lexico-grammatical analysis of the source material, which supports the view the set of Polish mythological expressions contains more units with male than with female mythological components.