Gendered Ideology and Proverbs: A Critical Social Analysis (CSA) of Urdu and English Proverbs

Abstract

Proverbs are considered a treasure house of wisdom and embody practical wisdom in them. Although they are most often culture-specific, they are an embodiment of practical wisdom accepted almost everywhere. They are the gems of wisdom in concise and precise form. The present study attempts to analyze the gendered proverbs collected from the Dictionary of Proverbs, both in English and Urdu. The Dictionary of Urdu Proverbs by Rehmat Aziz and the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs by Jennifer are the data sources used in the study.  The data used in the present study has been analyzed by employing Fairclough’s (2015) model of Critical Social Analysis (CSA) and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) by Lazar (2005). This integration has been done to locate gendered and Marxist perspectives embedded in the proverbs collected from English and Urdu sources. The levels of analysis include social and Marxist critique of language along with exploring power inequality embedded in the proverbs to represent Fe/male positively or otherwise. The findings of the study reveal that both men and women are rendered invisible at linguistic and social levels. This supports Fairclough’s stance that language use is never neutral and the powerful group is most often represented in-group positively and vice versa. Besides, the study finds that most often women are represented as marginalized, silenced, and as a commodity.  It contends that the concept of power politics is mostly played up through proverbs. It is also observed that proverbs mirror social reality prevailing in a particular context.