STEREOTYP JĘZYKOWY KOBIETY W PRZYSŁOWIACH FRANCUSKICH I POLSKICH
The linguistic stereotype of a woman in French and Polish proverbs

Summary/Abstract: The aim and object of this paper is to confront the image of the Polish woman and the French woman as fossilized in proverbs. These are images-stereotypes that are particularly strong and persistent, despite the fact that they are oftentimes treated jokingly. Polish and French proverbs related to women concentrate on the following words: kobieta/ femme [woman], żona/ femme [wife], dziewczyna/ fille [girl], panna/ demoiselle [maiden/ young lady], stara panna/ vieille fille [spinster], wdowa/ veuve [widow].Through a comparison of the most important semantic features, beliefs, and symbols, the author shows the most essential differences and similarities in the ways the notion of woman functions in Polish and French. The underlying differences concern: (1) lexemes (in the Polish language there are seven lexemes; the lexical field in French is much less complex), (2) connotational meanings ascribed to these lexemes (the connotational features of kobieta/ femme form a very rich set, which can be organized according to the following categories: ‘physical aspect’, ‘psychological aspect’, ‘social aspect’, and ‘sexual aspect’).

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