Ethnocultural Analysis of the Concepts 'Marriage' and 'Family' in Paremiology of Chinese Language

Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics. Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Anafartalar Campus Faculty of Education Department of Foreign Language Education, Canakkale 07100, Turkey. e-mail: editor@ejal.info; Website: https://ejal.info/

Y

11

Marriage; Family (Sociological Unit); Proverbs; Foreign Countries; Gender Bias; Cultural Influences; Values; Chinese; Dictionaries; Spouses; Moral Values

2149-1135

Proverbs are maxims that reflect the values, beliefs, and cultural heritage of a society. This study attempted to conduct ethnocultural analysis of two concepts, marriage and family, in the Chinese Paremiology. The topics of 'marriage' and 'family' are extensively covered in Chinese proverbs; hence this study aimed to find out how Chinese proverbs about marriage and family reflect the Chinese cultural view of these institutions. A sample of 333 proverbs from the Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs was chosen and was categorized into several categories like partner selection criteria, forms of marriage, divorce, remarriage, relations between husband and wife, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law and wife, parent-child relationship, and resolution of family conflicts. The study found out that most Chinese proverbs dealt with the concept of male superiority over women. A few proverbs presented the Chinese ethno-cultural practices adopted in choosing a spouse, marriage and family customs, and family values. The research has practical significance as the results can be used in compiling a guide to the study of proverbs, a dictionary of Chinese proverbs, and a corpus of proverbs in philological science.

As Provided

2024

EJ1434456