Linguo-Cultural Image of a Woman in the Turkic Gender <Conceptosphere>

Abstract

Gender linguistics is an important branch of cognitive linguistics. The current study investigated the gender linguistics as portrayed in the concept of zhenge, a symbolic and conceptual woman figure in Turkic linguoculture. The study attempted a discourse analysis of a few selected figurative expressions from lexicographic sources and collections of proverbs and sayings which dealt with the gender concept zhenge. The methodology used was a conceptual and component analysis, definitional and cognitive interpretation of linguistic, semantic and linguacultural, and sociocultural interpretation, stereotyping, linguacultural analysis of gender-marked components represented in zhenge. The findings made evident the complex analysis of the concept zhenge and revealed unique characteristics of a gender picture of the Turkic world, and also its linguistic and linguacultural contents as a gender concept. This study has thus introduced readers with material definitions such as lexemes, collocations (phraseological units and simile), proverbs, sayings, and speech expressions of modern native speakers through which the concept of zhenge is manifested in the Turkic linguoculture. This study has theoretical implications in the form of a conceptualization of the kinship and family relationships of the Turkic linguoculture in the role of zhenge and practical implications in the form of a supporter, mother figure and a confidant in the form of a zhenge in the family itself.