REFLECTION OF INDIVIDUAL POSITIVE TRAITS OF WOMEN IN POLISH AND UKRAINIAN PAREMIAS

Abstract

The article undertakes a comparative analysis of the means and modes of verbalising individual positive attributes of female representatives, based on Polish and Ukrainian proverbs and sayings. The author has ascertained the quantitative ratio between paremias that mark individual positive and negative character traits of women. Through the prism of paremiological units, the article elucidates the perspectives on the ideal female representative within traditional Polish and Ukrainian cultures. The findings of the study of the paremiological material of the compared languages indicate that individual positive characteristics of women encompass industriousness and domesticity; chastity and fidelity; submissiveness, modesty, thriftiness; care and empathy; amiability, good disposition, hospitality; the capacity for love; wisdom; childcare and attachment to the home; robust health; taciturnity; religiosity, and generosity. Diligence and thrift, underscoring the woman's role as the guardian of the domestic hearth, are identified as dominant individual positive traits of women in Polish and Ukrainian cultures. The next most quantitatively represented thematic group of paremias positively portraying women encompasses Polish and Ukrainian proverbs and sayings denoting female chastity and fidelity. Furthermore, feminine caregiving, emotionality, and the capacity for empathy are depicted as significant female characteristics, a reflection of which is found in the paremiological material of both languages under comparison. Paremiological units that positively characterise the intellectual capabilities of individual female representatives indicate a recognition of women's cognitive abilities within traditional Polish and Ukrainian society. It has been determined that Polish proverbs and sayings predominantly emphasise the chastity, fidelity, submissiveness, and modesty of females, reflecting more conservative values. In contrast, Ukrainian paremiological units underscore the nurturing nature, empathy, hospitality, and generosity of female representatives, allowing for the conceptualisation of a more open and emotionally expressive image of women in Ukrainian culture.