Representations of women and men in Turkish and Egyptian Arabic: A cultural linguistic analysis of proverbs

This study aims to comparatively examine the representations of women and men in Turkish and Egyptian Arabic proverbs from a cultural linguistic perspective. Proverbs, as linguistic constructs reflecting the historical, cultural, and social structures of societies, play a significant role in the transmission and reinforcement of gender roles. In the study, a total of 50 proverbs -25 from Turkish and 25 from Egyptian Arabicwere analyzed using cultural linguistic analysis methods. Turkish proverbs were selected from the source published by the Turkish Language Association (2004), while the Egyptian Arabic proverbs were drawn from the compilation by Teymour Pasha (2012). During the sampling process, key terms such as "woman," "man," "husband," "wife," and "spouse" were used. The selected proverbs were evaluated through content and thematic analysis. The analysis was grounded in Sharifian's cultural linguistics model, which enabled the identification of cultural schemas, metaphors, and conceptualizations embedded in the proverbs. The results show that gender representations in both societies are shaped by certain stereotypical patterns. However, the roles attributed to women and men vary depending on cultural context: in Turkish, female figures are predominantly associated with domestic roles, while in Egyptian Arabic, women are more frequently represented in emotional and social relationship contexts. The findings demonstrate that language not only reflects cultural structure but also actively participates in the reproduction of gender roles. In this regard, the study aims to contribute to the fields of cultural linguistics, gender studies, and linguistic research. Keywords: Proverbs, Gender, Cultural Linguistics, Women Representation, Men Representation, Turkish, Egyptian Arabic.